The manipulation of the proposer’s description in the ultimatum game (UG) using mentalistic labels might influence the final decision along with the sensitivity toward fairness. The present study aimed to investigate neural changes related to the mentalistic description of the proposer in the UG task. For this purpose, 21 healthy adults played the UG task for real during a functional MRI session. According with previous evidence, we considered the responder’s behavior to unfair offers in an UG paradigm, in which proposers were described as generous, selfish and neutral. Our results showed that the mentalistic labels significantly influence the acceptance rate; however, no significant differences emerged with respect to the response time. At the neural level, we observed activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in the theory of mind network. The mentalistic labels did not result in changes of the neural network activated in the unfair condition during the UG task, except for the level of activation within the cingulate cortex. Particularly, the most incoherent situation where a generous proposer made an unfair offer was associated with a greater activation of the posterior cingulate cortex, an area involved in maintaining a state of vigilance and attention. These results support the idea that the posterior cingulate cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are coinvolved when dealing with incoherent situations due to different mentalistic features of the proposer in the UG task.

中文翻译：

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心理标签能否在不公平的情况下影响决策过程？使用最后通牒游戏任务的行为和神经证据。

在最后通牒博弈 (UG) 中使用心理标签操纵提议者的描述可能会影响最终决定以及对公平的敏感性。本研究旨在调查与 UG 任务中提议者的心理描述相关的神经变化。为此，21 名健康成年人在功能性 MRI 会议期间真正执行了 UG 任务。根据之前的证据，我们在 UG 范式中考虑了响应者对不公平提议的行为，其中提议者被描述为慷慨、自私和中立。我们的结果表明，心理标签显着影响接受率；然而，在响应时间方面没有出现显着差异。在神经层面，我们观察到背外侧前额叶皮层的激活，涉及心智网络理论的大脑区域。除了扣带回皮层内的激活水平外，心理标签不会导致在 UG 任务期间在不公平条件下激活的神经网络发生变化。特别是，慷慨的提议者提出不公平报价的最不连贯的情况与后扣带皮层的更大激活有关，这是一个涉及保持警惕和注意力状态的区域。这些结果支持后扣带回皮层和背外侧前额叶皮层在处理不连贯情况时共同参与的观点，这是由于 UG 任务中提议者的不同心理特征。除了扣带回皮层内的激活水平。特别是，慷慨的提议者提出不公平报价的最不连贯的情况与后扣带皮层的更大激活有关，这是一个涉及保持警惕和注意力状态的区域。这些结果支持后扣带回皮层和背外侧前额叶皮层在处理不连贯情况时共同参与的观点，这是由于 UG 任务中提议者的不同心理特征。除了扣带回皮层内的激活水平。特别是，慷慨的提议者提出不公平报价的最不连贯的情况与后扣带皮层的更大激活有关，这是一个涉及保持警惕和注意力状态的区域。这些结果支持后扣带回皮层和背外侧前额叶皮层在处理不连贯情况时共同参与的观点，这是由于 UG 任务中提议者的不同心理特征。