Neural representations of vicarious rewards are linked to interoception and prosocial behaviour
Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta,
Michel-Pierre Coll,
Geoffrey Bird,
Hongbo Yu,
Annayah Prosser,
Patricia L. Lockwood,
Jennifer Murphy,
M.J. Crockett,
Matthew A.J. Apps
Affiliations
Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience (CSCN), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Viña del Mar, Chile; Corresponding authors at: Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Michel-Pierre Coll
School of Psychology and CIRRIS research center, Laval University, Quebec City QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Geoffrey Bird
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK; School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Hongbo Yu
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
Annayah Prosser
Department of Psychology, University of Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom
Patricia L. Lockwood
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1DP, UK
Jennifer Murphy
Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London TW20 0EY, UK
M.J. Crockett
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK; Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Psychology and University Center for Human Values, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
Matthew A.J. Apps
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1DP, UK; Corresponding authors at: Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Every day we constantly observe other people receiving rewards. Theoretical accounts posit that vicarious reward processing might be linked to people's sensitivity to internal body states (interoception) and facilitates a tendency to act prosocially. However, the neural processes underlying the links between vicarious reward processing, interoception, and prosocial behaviour are poorly understood. Previous research has linked vicarious reward processing to the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACCg) and the anterior insula (AI). Can we predict someone's propensity to be prosocial or to be aware of interoceptive signals from variability in how the ACCg and AI process rewards? Here, participants monitored rewards being delivered to themselves or a stranger during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Later, they performed a task measuring their willingness to exert effort to obtain rewards for others, and a task measuring their propensity to be aware and use interoceptive respiratory signals. Using multivariate similarity analysis, we show that people's willingness to be prosocial is predicted by greater similarity between self and other representations in the ACCg. Moreover, greater dissimilarity in self-other representations in the AI is linked to interoceptive propensity. These findings highlight that vicarious reward is linked to bodily signals in AI, and foster prosocial tendencies through the ACCg.
