Keise Izuma: Cal Tech

Human behaviors are influenced by the concern for social reputation (e.g., how other people think of us). It is well known in behavioral sciences that individuals tend to behave in a more egoistic manner under guaranteed anonymity, whereas less anonymous situations (e.g., the presence of others) increase pro-social behaviors. These observations are consistent with theoretical studies suggesting that reputation might be a key mediator of aspects of altruistic behavior that are uniquely human. Thus, reputation may be a unique and important aspect of our species that incentivizes self-interested individuals to conform to social norms. In this talk, we will present the results of three functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies showing that the medial prefrontal cortex and striatum play key roles in representing one’s own reputation and making decisions based on social reward (positive reputation). We will also present evidence that social reward based decision-making is selectively impaired in high functioning adults with autism.