Neural mechanisms of social learning and decision-making

Abstract

One of the hallmarks of human society is the ubiquitous interactions among individuals. Indeed, a significant portion of human daily routine decision making is socially related. Normative economic theory, namely game theory, has prescribed the canonical decision strategy when "rational" social agents have full information about the decision environment. In reality, however, social decision is often influenced by the trait and state parameters of selves and others. Therefore, understanding the cognitive and neural processes of inferring the decision parameters is pivotal for social decision making. Recently, both correlational and causal non-invasive neuroimaging studies have started to reveal the critical neural computations underlying social learning and decision-making, and highlighted the unique roles of "social" brain structures such as temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Here we review recent advances in social decision neuroscience and maintain the focus on how the inference about others is dynamically acquired during social learning, as well as how the prosocial (altruistic) behavior results from orchestrated interactions of different brain regions specified under the social utility framework. We conclude by emphasizing the importance of combining computational decision theory with the identification of neural mechanisms that represent, evaluate and integrate value related social information and generate decision variables guiding behavioral output in the complex social environment.

Learning better by learning together: dyadic visual perceptual learning on orientation discrimination

“…In the dyadic VPL, the presence of a learning partner generated a context for social facilitation 39,40 . First, compared with performing the training task singly, one would have higher motivation and alertness to perform better in front of a learning partner.…”

“…Converging evidence shows that motivation and social comparison are associated with several key brain areas, including dlPFC, IPL, vmPFC, dorsal ACC and striatum 39,44 . Especially, dlPFC has been considered as a pivotal hub to integrate information from different sources 45 , make strategic responses 46,47 and motivate behaviors 7,8 .…”

Affective and cognitive brain-networks are differently integrated in women and men while experiencing compassion

“…Brain regions with social perception and mentalizing-related functions are proposed as part of such components: the superior temporal sulcus, the medial prefrontal cortex, and the temporoparietal junction ( Lamm et al, 2007 ; Decety and Svetlova, 2012 ; Healey and Grossman, 2018 ). In particular, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) has been proposed as the critical region involving a network for mentalizing and high-level constructional processes for social stimuli, social learning, and decision-making that allow complex social behaviors ( Baetens et al, 2017 ; Alcalá-López et al, 2018 ; Moll et al, 2018 ; de Kloet et al, 2021 ; Ni and Li, 2021 ).…”

“…We present an exploratory study assessing gender differences when watching compassion-evoking pictures and indicating compassionate experiences motivating helping behaviors. Our approach is based on functional brain connectivity using Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis ( O’Reilly et al, 2012 ) focused on four brain regions: Right AI as a crucial affective component for compassion due to its recurrent activation when perceiving suffering inflicted on others ( Singer et al, 2006 ; Lamm et al, 2011 ); right-dmPFC as a cognitive component due to its role in high-level processes and mentalization required for social learning and decision-making that favor compassionate expressions ( Baetens et al, 2017 ; Ni and Li, 2021 ); left-ACC and OFC as brain integrators due to their proposed role in the convergence of both affective and cognitive information involving social situations ( Allman and Atiyahakeem, 2001 ; Decety and Svetlova, 2012 ). These four brain regions were reported to be functionally active in a previous study using the same experimental task as the one used here ( Mercadillo et al, 2011 ).…”

Recent progress on mechanisms of human cognition and brain disorders

“…In daily life, people make social decisions that are influenced by both self and other-regarding preferences (Fehr and Camerer, 2007). In their review paper, Jian Li and Yinmin Ni (Ni and Li, 2020) reviewed recent advances in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underpinning the social learning and decisionmaking. The authors first summarized how people infer others' internal state during social learning and how social factors such as social comparison, fairness, trust and reciprocity, guilt and gratitude, and social norm compliance affect social decision-making.…”