Abstract
Trust is multi-dimensional because it can be characterized by subjective trust, trust antecedent, and behavioral trust. Previous research has investigated functional brain responses to subjective trust (e.g., a judgment of trustworthiness) or behavioral trust (e.g., decisions to trust) in perfect information, where all relevant information is available to all participants. In contrast, we conducted a novel examination of the patterns of functional brain activity to a trust antecedent, specifically truth telling, in asymmetric information, where one individual has more information than others, with the effect of varying risk propensity. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and recruited 13 adults, who played the Communication Game, where they served as the “Sender” and chose either truth telling (true advice) or lie telling (false advice) regarding the best payment allocation for their partner. Our behavioral results revealed that subjects with recreational high risk tended to choose true advice. Moreover, fMRI results yielded that the choices of true advice were associated with increased cortical activation in the anterior rostral medial and frontopolar prefrontal cortices, middle frontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and precuneus. Furthermore, when we specifically evaluated a role of the bilateral amygdala as the region of interest (ROI), decreased amygdala response was associated with high risk propensity, regardless of truth telling or lying. In conclusion, our results have implications for how differential functions of the cortical areas may contribute to the neural processing of truth telling.
Highlights
Trust is characterized by three constructs: subjective trust, behavioral trust, and trust antecedents [1]
This was because the present study aimed to examine functional brain responses to the choices of true advice/truth telling as a trust antecedent in asymmetric information
When subjects served as the Sender and chose true advice, the following brain regions showed increased hemodynamic activity: bilateral anterior rostral medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral middle frontal cortex, right temporoparietal junction (TPJ), bilateral frontopolar prefrontal cortex, and right precuneus
Summary
Trust is characterized by three constructs: subjective trust, behavioral trust, and trust antecedents [1]. Subjective trust is an internal state of cognitive and social processing of trust (e.g., a perception/evaluation of others as trustworthy or not), which results from a trust antecedent (a psychological precursor leading to trust) and in behavioral trust (an overt action reflecting trust). The interplay of these constructs directly or indirectly optimizes group performance [2,3,4,5,6,7] and helps accomplish social capital in practical settings, such as the treatment success in psychotherapy [8, 9], it is important to study subjective trust, behavioral trust, and trust antecedents. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex, involved in the central-executive network [16], may alternatively serve to scrutinize trustworthiness
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