Effects of Emotional Preferences on Value-based Decision-making Are Mediated by Mentalizing and Not Reward Networks

摘要

Real-world decision-making often involves social considerations.nConsequently, the social value of stimuli can inducenpreferences in choice behavior. However, it is unknown hownfinancial and social values are integrated in the brain. Here,nwe investigated how smiling and angry face stimuli interactednwith financial reward feedback in a stochastically rewardedndecision-making task. Subjects reliably preferred the smilingnfaces despite equivalent reward feedback, demonstrating ansocially driven bias. We fit a Bayesian reinforcement learningnmodel to factor the effects of financial rewards and emotionnpreferences in individual subjects, and regressed model predictionsnon the trial-by-trial fMRI signal. Activity in the subcallosalncingulate and the ventral striatum, both involved in rewardnlearning, correlated with financial reward feedback, whereasnthe differential contribution of social value activated dorsalntemporo-parietal junction and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex,npreviously proposed as components of a mentalizing network.nWe conclude that the impact of social stimuli on value-basedndecision processes is mediated by effects in brain regions partiallynseparable from classical reward circuitry.