Neural mechanisms of social decision-making in the primate amygdala
Abstract
Making social decisions requires evaluation of benefits and costs to self and others. Long associated with emotion and vigilance, neurons in primate amygdala also signal reward and punishment as well as information about the faces and eyes of others. Here we show that neurons in the basolateral amygdala signal the value of rewards for self and others when monkeys make social decisions. These value-mirroring neurons reflected monkeys’ tendency to make prosocial decisions on a momentary as well as long-term basis. We also found that delivering the social peptide oxytocin into basolateral amygdala enhances both prosocial tendencies and attention to the recipients of prosocial decisions. Our findings endorse the amygdala as a critical neural nexus regulating social decisions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 14, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1514761112
Entities
People
- Amanda V. Utevsky
- John M Pearson
- Koji Toda
- Michael L Platt
- Nicholas A. Fagan
- Steve W. C. Chang
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Duke University
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- National Institute of Mental Health
- University of Pennsylvania
- Yale University