The brain adapts to dishonesty.
The brain adapts to dishonesty.
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DOI：
10.1038/nn.4426
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发表时间：
2016-12
影响因子：
25
通讯作者：
Sharot T
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Garrett N;Lazzaro SC;Ariely D;Sharot T
不诚实是我们社交世界不可或缺的一部分，影响着从金融、政治到人际关系等各个领域。坊间传闻，道德准则的偏离通常被描述为一系列随着时间推移而增长的小漏洞。在这里，我们为自私自利的不诚实逐渐升级提供了经验证据，并揭示了支持它的神经机制。在行为上，我们表明，参与者参与自私不诚实的程度随着重复而增加。利用功能磁共振成像，我们发现杏仁核中的信号减少对不诚实行为的历史很敏感，这与适应是一致的。关键的是，杏仁核在当前决定中大胆减少到不诚实的程度，相对于上一个决定，预测了下一次决定中自私自利的不诚实升级的程度。这些发现揭示了一种支持“滑坡”的生物学机制：最初的小不诚实行为可能会升级为更大的事件。
Dishonesty is an integral part of our social world, influencing domains ranging from finance and politics to personal relationships. Anecdotally, digressions from a moral code are often described as a series of small breaches that grow over time. Here, we provide empirical evidence for a gradual escalation of self-serving dishonesty and reveal a neural mechanism supporting it. Behaviorally, we show that the extent to which participants engage in self-serving dishonesty increases with repetition. Using fMRI we show that signal reduction in the amygdala is sensitive to the history of dishonest behavior, consistent with adaptation. Critically, the extent of amygdala BOLD reduction to dishonesty on a present decision relative to the last, predicts the magnitude of escalation of self-serving dishonesty on the next decision. The findings uncover a biological mechanism that supports a “slippery slope”: what begins as small acts of dishonesty can escalate into larger instances.