Distinct neurocomputational mechanisms support informational and socially normative conformity

PLoS Biol. 2022 Mar 3;20(3):e3001565. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001565. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Abstract

A change of mind in response to social influence could be driven by informational conformity to increase accuracy, or by normative conformity to comply with social norms such as reciprocity. Disentangling the behavioural, cognitive, and neurobiological underpinnings of informational and normative conformity have proven elusive. Here, participants underwent fMRI while performing a perceptual task that involved both advice-taking and advice-giving to human and computer partners. The concurrent inclusion of 2 different social roles and 2 different social partners revealed distinct behavioural and neural markers for informational and normative conformity. Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) BOLD response tracked informational conformity towards both human and computer but tracked normative conformity only when interacting with humans. A network of brain areas (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ)) that tracked normative conformity increased their functional coupling with the dACC when interacting with humans. These findings enable differentiating the neural mechanisms by which different types of conformity shape social changes of mind.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Algorithms
  • Decision Making / physiology
  • Female
  • Gyrus Cinguli / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Models, Neurological
  • Nerve Net / diagnostic imaging
  • Nerve Net / physiology
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology*
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Social Conformity
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology*
  • Young Adult