When Cooperation Was Efficient or Inefficient. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Evidence

Area of Science:

• Social cognition
• Neuroscience
• Behavioral science

Background:

• Cooperation relies on self-perception and understanding others' actions.
• Social efficacy influences motivation for synergistic actions.
• Performance feedback impacts cooperative strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of performance feedback valence on cooperative behavior.
• To examine neural activation patterns during successful and unsuccessful cooperation.
• To understand how feedback influences self-perceived efficacy in social exchange.

Main Methods:

• Comparison of behavioral performance and neural activation (fNIRS).
• Participants played a cooperative game with synchronized response requirements.
• External feedback indicated either good or poor outcomes.

Main Results:

• Negative feedback significantly worsened behavioral performance compared to positive feedback.
• Positive feedback significantly increased performance.
• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) revealed lateralized brain activation: right DLPFC for negative feedback, left-sided for positive feedback.

Conclusions:

• Feedback valence critically affects cooperative task performance.
• Neural lateralization in DLPFC reflects processing of cooperation success or failure.
• Inefficient cooperation may be perceived similarly to competitive contexts, hindering cooperative attitudes.