Altered third‐party punishment in Huntingtons disease: A study using neuroeconomic games

摘要

Huntington's disease (HD) is a heritable degenerative brain disease caused by a mutation in the huntingtin gene with excessive repeats of the base triplet cytosine–adenine–guanine (CAG), which codes for the aminoacid glutamine. HD is associated with a broad spectrum of neurocognitive dysfunction, including deficits in social cognition. The appreciation of fairness rules and reciprocity has not been studied in HD. Based on theoretical considerations suggesting that brain regions known to be affected from HD are involved in economic decision‐making, the present study sought to examine HD patients' performance in two neuroeconomic games.