Parsing the Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms of Third-Party Punishment.

ABSTRACT:

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The evolved capacity for third-party punishment is considered crucial to the emergence and maintenance of elaborate human social organization and is central to the modern provision of fairness and justice within society. Although it is well established that the mental state of the offender and the severity of the harm he caused are the two primary predictors of punishment decisions, the precise cognitive and brain mechanisms by which these distinct components are evaluated and integrated into a punishment decision are poorly understood. Using fMRI, here we implement a novel experimental design to functionally dissociate the mechanisms underlying evaluation, integration, and decision that were conflated in previous studies of third-party punishment. Behaviorally, the puni

SUBMITTER: Ginther MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5013189 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature