Neuronal correlates of strategic cooperation in monkeys

We recorded neural activity in male monkeys playing a variant of the game 'chicken' in which they made decisions to cooperate or not cooperate to obtain rewards of different sizes. Neurons in the middle superior temporal sulcus (mSTS)-previously implicated in social perception-signaled str...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature neuroscience 2021-01, Vol.24 (1), p.116-128
Main Authors: Ong, Wei Song, Madlon-Kay, Seth, Platt, Michael L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain Mapping
Brain research
Chickens
Cooperation
Cooperative Behavior
Decision Making - physiology
Decisions
Empathy
Game theory
Gyrus Cinguli - diagnostic imaging
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Macaca mulatta
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Monkeys
Monkeys & apes
Nervous System Physiological Phenomena
Neural Pathways - diagnostic imaging
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurons
Physiological aspects
Primates
Psychological aspects
Reinforcement
Reinforcement, Psychology
Reward
Social behavior
Social behavior in animals
Superior temporal sulcus
Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging
Temporal Lobe - physiology
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Summary:We recorded neural activity in male monkeys playing a variant of the game 'chicken' in which they made decisions to cooperate or not cooperate to obtain rewards of different sizes. Neurons in the middle superior temporal sulcus (mSTS)-previously implicated in social perception-signaled strategic information, including payoffs, intentions of the other player, reward outcomes and predictions about the other player. Moreover, a subpopulation of mSTS neurons selectively signaled cooperatively obtained rewards. Neurons in the anterior cingulate gyrus, previously implicated in vicarious reinforcement and empathy, carried less information about strategic variables, especially cooperative reward. Strategic signals were not reducible to perceptual information about the other player or motor contingencies. These findings suggest that the capacity to compute models of other agents has deep roots in the strategic social behavior of primates and that the anterior cingulate gyrus and the mSTS support these computations.
ISSN:1097-6256
1546-1726
DOI:10.1038/s41593-020-00746-9