THURSDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- Your brain may be telling
you to be nice because it will pay off -- financially or socially,
says a new study.
Japanese researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) on people being enticed with either monetary or reputational
rewards for good deeds done found that both flip on the striatum,
the brain's reward system, in a similar fashion.
The study, published in the April 24 issue of
Neuron, is consistent with a long-held social psychological
theory that people do nice things to others to gain a good
reputation or social approval just like they work for salary. It
may provide a pivotal step toward a neural explanation for people's
everyday social behaviors.
The researchers' study on 19 people showed that acquiring a good
reputation sent reward-related brain areas, notably the striatum,
into overdrive. Many of these areas were also activated when
monetary rewards were offered, suggesting that the striatum
processes the two in a similar manner.
"Our findings indicate that the social reward of a good
reputation in the eyes of others is processed in an anatomically
and functionally similar manner to monetary rewards, and these
results represent an essential step toward a complete neural
understanding of human social behaviors," the researchers
wrote.
In a commentary appearing in the same issue of
Neuron, authors Rebecca Saxe and Johannes Haushofer said the
finding explains why drug treatments for such neurological
disorders as Parkinson's disease can trigger abnormal money-related
behaviors such as compulsive gambling.
One immediate implication of these results is for patients with
dysfunction of these brain regions, Saxe and Haushofer wrote. The
striatum is among the targets of some neurological disorders, such
as Parkinson's disease. Overtreatment of Parkinson's with dopamine
agonists is known to induce abnormal economic decision-making,
including compulsive gambling. If the same brain structures are
responsible for the reward-value of love and reputation,
pharmacological manipulation of the striatum may also have social
consequences, they said.
More information
The National Institute of Aging has more about
how the brain works.
