Human neurocomputational mechanisms of guilt-driven and shame-driven altruistic behavior.

ABSTRACT: Although prior research has examined the psychological and neural correlates of guilt and shame, the cognitive antecedents that trigger them, as well as their transformation into social behavior, remain insufficiently understood. We developed a novel task to investigate how two cognitive antecedents, harm and responsibility, elicit guilt and shame, and how these emotions subsequently drive compensatory behavior, by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with computational modeling in human participants. Behaviorally, we found that harm had a stronger impact on guilt, whereas responsibility had a stronger impact on shame. Moreover, compared to shame, guilt exerted a greater effect on compensation. Computational modeling results indicated that the integration of harm and resp

SUBMITTER: Zhu R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12688305 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature