Neural Correlates of Prosocial Behavior: Compensating Social Exclusion in a Four-Player Cyberball Game.

Claus Lamm,Mara Van Der Meulen,Marinus H Van Ijzendoorn,Eveline A Crone

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159045

Abstract

Prior studies demonstrated contributions of the insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) for both experiencing and observing social exclusion, but it is not yet well understood how the brain processes the compensation of exclusion, as is observed in prosocial helping. Here, we tested if social brain regions, specifically the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporal parietal junction (TPJ) are involved when individuals show prosocial behavior towards excluded others. For this purpose, 23 female participants played a four-player Cyberball Game in which participants could toss balls to each other. During the exclusion game, two players excluded one of the other players. When participants observed exclusion by others, they showed elevated activity in the insula, consistent with prior studies. However, when they tossed the ball to the excluded player, they showed increased activation in the TPJ, consistent with the hypothesis that prosocial behavior is associated with social reasoning. In addition, tossing to the excluded player was associated with increased activity in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc). Given that prior studies reported that the NAcc is involved in experiencing rewards, this may suggest a warm glow for showing prosocial compensation behavior when helping excluded others.

Highlights

Prosocial behavior involves helping, sharing or comforting others without personal benefit, and is an important component of social life
A significant difference was found in tosses to player 1 compared to player 4 (F(1, 22) = 52.64, p < .001, ηp2 = 0.77), and between tosses to player 3 compared to player 4 (F(1, 22) = 78.16, p < .001, ηp2 = 0.85; see Fig 1B)
The goal of this study was to test the neural regions that are associated with prosocial behavior in a social exclusion game

Summary

Introduction

Prosocial behavior involves helping, sharing or comforting others without personal benefit, and is an important component of social life. Prior studies showed that humans compensate for others who are in need, for example by sharing distress of observed exclusion [1,2,3] and by helping victims of exclusion [4]. Prior studies documented that seeing someone in distress causes feeling of personal distress as well [5]. Knowing you can do something to alleviate another person’s distress can lead to acts of prosocial behavior, as already seen in very young children [6]. Prior studies have not attempted to separate the different components of sharing social pain and compensating others, possibly because it is difficult to disentangle these effects using behavioral measures.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion