Computations Underlying Social Hierarchy Learning: Distinct Neural Mechanisms 
for Updating and Representing Self-Relevant Information

Kumaran, D; Banino, A; Blundell, C; Hassabis, D; Dayan, P

doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.10.052

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Computations Underlying Social Hierarchy Learning: Distinct Neural Mechanisms for Updating and Representing Self-Relevant Information

MPS-Authors

There are no MPG-Authors in the publication available

External Resource

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627316308029
(Publisher version)

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

There are no public fulltexts stored in PuRe

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Kumaran, D., Banino, A., Blundell, C., Hassabis, D., & Dayan, P. (2016). Computations Underlying Social Hierarchy Learning: Distinct Neural Mechanisms for Updating and Representing Self-Relevant Information. Neuron, 92(5), 1135-1147. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.10.052.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-0002-C304-D

Abstract

Knowledge about social hierarchies organizes human behavior, yet we understand little about the underlying computations. Here we show that a Bayesian inference scheme, which tracks the power of individuals, better captures behavioral and neural data compared with a reinforcement learning model inspired by rating systems used in games such as chess. We provide evidence that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) selectively mediates the updating of knowledge about one’s own hierarchy, as opposed to that of another individual, a process that underpinned successful performance and involved functional interactions with the amygdala and hippocampus. In contrast, we observed domain-general coding of rank in the amygdala and hippocampus, even when the task did not require it. Our findings reveal the computations underlying a core aspect of social cognition and provide new evidence that self-relevant information may indeed be afforded a unique representational status in the brain.