Fig. 6: Damage to medial portions of vmPFC specifically is associated with reduced prosocial behaviour.
From: Human ventromedial prefrontal cortex is necessary for prosocial motivation
a, Permutation-based, whole-brain, non-parametric VLSM reveals subregions of vmPFC on the medial surface where damage is associated with reduced prosociality. This effect was found for both the self–other difference in choices to accept the work over the rest option (orange) and the self–other difference in devaluing rewards by effort (Κ parameters; red). Specifically, the recipient effect on choices was associated with damage to area 14 (peak 0, 30, −22; Supplementary Fig. 5) and area 25 (sgACC; peak ±2, 16, −6). The recipient effect on discounting Κ parameters was also associated with damage to area 14 (peak ±2, 14, −20) and area 25 (peak ±2, 14, −8). b,c, Plotting the (ranked) effect of the recipient on choices (b) and Κ parameters (c) separately for participants with damage or no damage in the areas identified by the relevant VLSM analysis reveals that damage decreases prosociality. The data are presented as mean values ± s.e.m. The dots show individual data points for each participant (n = 40). To further interpret these differences, we also plotted choices and Κ parameters for self and other separately by damage to the medial vmPFC regions (Supplementary Fig. 6).
