Lindner Michael, Rudorf Sarah, Birg Robert, Falk Armin, Weber Bernd, Fliessbach Klaus
Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, Nachtigallenweg 86, 53127 Bonn, Germany, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 7BE, United Kingdom, Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany, Life&Brain Center, Department of NeuroCognition, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, Nachtigallenweg 86, 53127 Bonn, Germany, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 7BE, United Kingdom, Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany, Life&Brain Center, Department of NeuroCognition, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany
Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, Nachtigallenweg 86, 53127 Bonn, Germany, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 7BE, United Kingdom, Department of Epileptology, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany, Life&Brain Center, Department of NeuroCognition, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Sigmund-Freud-Str. 25, 53105 Bonn, Germany
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 Apr;10(4):569-76. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu087. Epub 2014 Jun 18.
Humans often evaluate their abilities by comparing their personal performance with that of others. For this process, it is critical whether the comparison turns out in one's favor or against it. Here, we investigate how social comparisons of performance are encoded and integrated on the neural level. We collected functional magnetic resonance images while subjects answered questions in a knowledge quiz that was related to their profession. After each question, subjects received a feedback about their personal performance, followed by a feedback about the performance of a reference group who had been quizzed beforehand. Based on the subjects' personal performance, we divided trials in downward and upward comparisons. We found that upward comparisons correlated with activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior insula. Downward comparisons were associated with increased activation in the ventral striatum (VS), the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The extent to which subjects outperformed the reference group modulated the activity in the VS and in the dorsal ACC. We suggest that the co-activation of the VS and the dorsal ACC contributes to the integration of downward comparisons into the evaluation of personal performance.
人类常常通过将自己的个人表现与他人的表现进行比较来评估自身能力。对于这一过程而言，比较结果对自己有利还是不利至关重要。在此，我们研究了表现的社会比较在神经层面是如何被编码和整合的。我们在受试者回答与他们职业相关的知识问答时收集了功能磁共振图像。每个问题之后，受试者会收到关于其个人表现的反馈，随后是关于一个事先接受过测试的参照组表现的反馈。基于受试者的个人表现，我们将试验分为向下比较和向上比较。我们发现向上比较与背外侧前额叶皮层和前脑岛的活动相关。向下比较与腹侧纹状体（VS）、内侧眶额皮层和腹侧前扣带回皮层（ACC）的激活增加有关。受试者超过参照组的程度调节了VS和背侧ACC的活动。我们认为VS和背侧ACC的共同激活有助于将向下比较整合到个人表现评估中。
