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Science 19 May 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5776, pp. 1047 - 1050
DOI: 10.1126/science.1125596
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Reports

Agent-Specific Responses in the Cingulate Cortex During Economic Exchanges

Damon Tomlin,1* M. Amin Kayali,1* Brooks King-Casas,1 Cedric Anen,3 Colin F. Camerer,3 Steven R. Quartz,3 P. Read Montague1,2

Interactions with other responsive agents lie at the core of all social exchange. During a social exchange with a partner, one fundamental variable that must be computed correctly is who gets credit for a shared outcome; this assignment is crucial for deciding on an optimal level of cooperation that avoids simple exploitation. We carried out an iterated, two-person economic exchange and made simultaneous hemodynamic measurements from each player's brain. These joint measurements revealed agent-specific responses in the social domain ("me" and "not me") arranged in a systematic spatial pattern along the cingulate cortex. This systematic response pattern did not depend on metrical aspects of the exchange, and it disappeared completely in the absence of a responding partner.

1 Human Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
2 Department of Psychiatry, Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
3 Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences 228-77, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)