Department of Psychology, University of California, LA, USA.
Neuroimage. 2011 Sep 1;58(1):242-9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.06.013. Epub 2011 Jun 15.
Prosocial decisions can be difficult because they often involve personal sacrifices that do not generate any direct, immediate benefits to the self. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to understand how individuals decide to provide support to others. Twenty-five participants were scanned as they completed a task in which they made costly decisions to contribute money to their family and noncostly decisions to accept personal monetary rewards. Decisions to contribute to the family recruited brain regions involved in self-control and mentalizing, especially for individuals with stronger family obligation preferences. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses revealed that individuals with stronger family obligation preferences showed greater functional coupling between regions involved in self-control and mentalizing with the ventral striatum, a region involved in reward processing. These findings suggest that prosocial behavior may require both social cognition and deliberate effort, and the application of these processes may result in greater positive reinforcement during prosocial behavior.
亲社会决策可能很困难，因为它们通常涉及个人牺牲，而这些牺牲不会给自己带来任何直接的、即时的好处。本研究使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来了解个体如何决定为他人提供支持。25 名参与者在完成一项任务时接受了扫描，在该任务中，他们做出了昂贵的决定，即向家人捐款，以及做出了不那么昂贵的决定，即接受个人金钱奖励。向家庭捐款的决定招募了参与自我控制和心理化的大脑区域，特别是对于那些家庭义务偏好较强的个体。心理生理交互（PPI）分析显示，家庭义务偏好较强的个体在自我控制和心理化区域与参与奖励处理的腹侧纹状体之间表现出更强的功能耦合。这些发现表明，亲社会行为可能既需要社会认知，也需要刻意的努力，而这些过程的应用可能会导致亲社会行为期间产生更大的正强化。
