Computing Social Value Conversion in the Human Brain

Abstract

Social signals play powerful roles in shaping self-oriented reward valuation and decision-making. These signals activate social and valuation/decision areas, but the core computation for their integration into the self-oriented decision machinery remains unclear. Here, we study how a fundamental social signal—social value (others' reward value)—is converted into self-oriented decision-making in the human brain. Using behavioral analysis, modeling, and neuroimaging, we show three-stage processing of social value conversion from the offer to the effective value and then to the final decision value. First, a value of others' bonus on offer, called offered value, was encoded uniquely in the righ..