Decision-making power enhances investors' neural processing of persuasive message in partnership investment

Partnership investment is a common form of business where investors have different levels of power and need to persuade each other to reach a consensus. This study investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the impact of decision-making power on persuasive communication in partnership investment, aiming to provide neural evidence to test two competing hypotheses: the power-responsibility hypothesis and the power-overconfidence hypothesis. Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we recorded brain activity from persuader-receiver dyads as they engaged in a partnership investment task. Behavioral results showed that receivers' decisions were more affected by persuaders' persuasive messages when receivers had dominant decision-making power. Neurally, the functional connectivity (FC) between the left and right temporo-parietal junctions (lTPJ and rTPJ) of the receiver was significantly increased by their decision-making power. Additionally, we identified four pairs of interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) that exhibited significant enhancement when persuaders used numeric persuasion rather than non-numeric persuasion: lTPJ-rTPJ, left superior temporal gyrus (lSTG)-rTPJ, left middle temporal gyrus (lMTG)-rTPJ, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-lTPJ. The decision-making power amplified the INS difference in the last three pairs. Furthermore, using a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, the INS could accurately predict receivers' adoption of persuasive messages when they held dominant decision-making power. Finally, we found that FC at lTPJ-rTPJ and INS at lSTG-rTPJ were positively associated with receivers' adoption of persuasive messages as well. Our study clarifies how decision-making power alters the way individuals process persuasive messages in partnership investment, providing insights into the neural basis of persuasion in group decision-making contexts and supporting the power-responsibility hypothesis.