Neural correlate of cooperation and reciprocity in social context

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12987
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Kato Junko 東京大学, 大学院法学政治学研究科(法学部), 教授 (00251314)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 福祉国家 / 平等 / fMRI / 心の理論 / 報酬系 / 政治行動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Equality is one of the greatest concerns in the humanities and social sciences. Our functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study used an experimental framework with a relevance to a real problem, i.e., equality in income redistribution. The experimental game used here imitates a real problem of redistribution among income classes, replicating the uncertainty of the veil of igonorance that has been considered to affect support for equality in society. Both consideration of others and self-prospection appear as distinct motivators in behavioural analysis. The neural correlates indicate that individuals may view the world from the perspective of others or simulate their own future situation when equality is pursued under conditions of uncertainty in society. Our project demonstrate that accumulated knowledge in political science contributes to devising the experimental framework that is relevant to understanding real dynamics and thus to exploring the human mind.

Free Research Field

政治学