Final Report Summary - NEUROCOOPERATION (Trust & Reciprocity: neural and psychological models of social cooperation)
The overall project was completed on schedule, and all the targeted questions were answered with results that will make important scientific contributions to the research field of decision neuroscience. Project 1 investigated how we assess trust in others, by using behavioural, neuroimaging, and computational modelling. Here, we have shown how reinforcement models capture social learning, and the psychological and neural aspects that are unique to dealing with other humans as opposed to mechanistic devices. Additionally, we have shown how in-group roles can play a determining factor in how we trust. Project 2 explored how we reciprocate trust. Here, we have demonstrated clear behavioural, computational, and neural evidence for multiple motives that are at play in these important pro-social choices, and developed novel and insightful tasks and models that will allow for many future investigations into reciprocity. Project 3 examined the factors underlying cooperation, with particular relevance to the roles of reward, punishment and agency. We have shown the important role that social comparison plays in this regard. We also explored the neural and psychological mechanisms of responses to the (non)cooperation of others, in particular when and how we choose to both punish non-cooperators and compensate victims of non-cooperation, with additional insights into the role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in this process. Project 4 investigated how our social expectations impact our decisions about justice and fairness. Here, we have shown the neural underpinnings of these expectations, as well as demonstrating how psychological fairness can be strongly influenced by the distributive norms at play. Taken together, the four work packages allow for a more comprehensive understanding of how we chose and decide in complex interactive social situations.