Ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions disrupt learning to reward others.

ABSTRACT: Reinforcement learning is a fundamental process through which humans and other animals attain rewards for themselves. However, to act prosocially, we must also learn how our choices reward others. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex has been independently linked to reinforcement learning and prosocial behaviour, yet its causal impact on prosocial reinforcement learning and the roles of its multiple subregions remain unknown. Here, a large group of adults with rare focal ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage (n = 28) and two carefully age- and gender-matched control groups (lesions elsewhere, n = 21; healthy controls, n = 124) completed a reinforcement learning task where they learnt to win rewards for another person (prosocial), for themselves (self) or in a control condition where particip

SUBMITTER: Gueguen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12493044 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature