Cooperative and Competitive Contextual Effects on Social Cognitive and Empathic Neural Responses

Abstract

We aimed to differentiate the neural responses to cooperative and competitive contexts, which are the two of the most important social contexts in human society. Healthy male college students were asked to complete a Tetris-like task requiring mental rotation skills under individual, cooperative, and competitive contexts in an fMRI scanner. While the participants completed the task, pictures of others experiencing pain evoking emotional empathy randomly appeared to capture contextual effects on empathic neural responses. Behavioral results indicated that, in the presence of cooperation, participants solved the tasks more accurately and quickly than what they did when in the presence of competition. The fMRI results revealed activations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) related to executive functions and theory of mind when participants performed the task under both cooperative and competitive contexts, whereas no activation of such areas was observed in the individual context. Cooperation condition exhibited stronger neural responses in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dmPFC than competition condition. Competition condition, however, showed marginal neural responses in the cerebellum and anterior insular cortex (AIC). The two social contexts involved stronger empathic neural responses to other’s pain than the individual context, but no substantial differences between cooperation and competition were present. Regions of interest analyses revealed that individual’s trait empathy modulated the neural activity in the state empathy network, the AIC, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) depending on the social context. These results suggest that cooperation improves task performance and activates neural responses associated with reward and mentalizing. Furthermore, the interaction between trait- and state-empathy was explored by correlation analyses between individual’s trait empathy score and changing empathic brain activations along with the exposure to the cooperative and competitive social contexts.

Competitive Intensity Modulates the Pain Empathy Response: An Event-Related Potentials Study

“…In these previous studies mentioned above, the influence of competitive social context on empathy was investigated by comparing empathy response in competitive and cooperative context ( Koban et al, 2012 ; De Dreu and Kret, 2016 ; Lee et al, 2018 ) or by recording empathic response only in competitive context ( Yamada et al, 2011 ). The intensity of competitive context was not taken into account.…”

“…Evidences from ERP studies have shown that the temporal dynamics of empathy for pain consists of an early affective arousal component (N1/N2) followed by a late cognitive reappraisal and regulation component (P3/LPP) ( Luck and Hillyard, 2000 ; Fan and Han, 2008 ; Han et al, 2008 ; Cheng et al, 2017 ; Decety et al, 2017 ). Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have also demonstrated engagement of the anterior insula (AI), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), brain stem, and cerebellum during observation of other people in painful situations ( Singer et al, 2004 ; Jackson et al, 2005 ; Cheng et al, 2007 ; Gu and Han, 2007 ; Lamm et al, 2007 , 2011 ; Walter et al, 2016 ; Lee et al, 2018 ). It also remains to be clarified whether bottom-up and top-down information processes of pain empathy are associated with these differences in competitive intensity.…”

Neuroscience Tools for Group Decision and Negotiation

“…• Emotional self-regulation and reward processing strongly influence game choices (Hollmann et al 2011). Hunt et al (2014), Trepel et al (2005), Barberis and Xiong (2009), Goucher-Lambert et al (2017), Sylcott et al (2013), Ravaja et al (2016), Linkov et al (2012) Other features Brocas (2012), Preuschoff et al (2006), Kuhnen (2015) Negotiation processes Game theory Krueger et al (2008), Hollmann et al (2011), Rilling et al (2002) Interaction processes Lee (2006Lee ( , 2008, Fehr and Camerer (2007), Gęsiarz and Crockett (2015) Emotions Bechara and Damasio (2005), Liu et al (2016), Tabibnia et al (2008) Cooperation and competition Balconi and Vanutelli (2018), Lee et al (2018) Cultural differences Briley et al 2014, Wawra (2009), Kubota et al (2012) • Emotions support advantageous decisions (Bechara and Damasio 2005);…”

“…• Competitive conditions, inspired by positive feedback, improve outcomes (Balconi and Vanutelli 2018). • In cooperation scenario, participants make decisions more accurately (Lee et al 2018). • Empathy is an important element in an intercultural communication (Wawra 2009).…”

“…The authors commented that based on neuroscience research it is observed that competitive situations involve less neural mechanisms than cooperative. Lee et al (2018) also investigated the competition and cooperation behavior trying to distinguish these behaviors. An experiment using fMRI was developed: in this experiment, participants played a Tetris-like game.…”