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From Blame To Punishment: Disrupting Prefrontal Cortex Activity Reveals Norm Enforcement Mechanisms, Owen D. Jones, Justin W. Martin, Joshua W. Buckholtz, Michael T. Treadway, Katherine Jan, David H. Zald, Rene Marois
From Blame To Punishment: Disrupting Prefrontal Cortex Activity Reveals Norm Enforcement Mechanisms, Owen D. Jones, Justin W. Martin, Joshua W. Buckholtz, Michael T. Treadway, Katherine Jan, David H. Zald, Rene Marois
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The social welfare provided by cooperation depends on the enforcement of social norms. Determining blameworthiness and assigning a deserved punishment are two cognitive cornerstones of norm enforcement. Although prior work has implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in norm-based judgments, the relative contribution of this region to blameworthiness and punishment decisions remains poorly understood. Here, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and fMRI to determine the specific role of DLPFC function in norm-enforcement behavior. DLPFC rTMS reduced punishment for wrongful acts without affecting blameworthiness ratings, and fMRI revealed punishment-selective DLPFC recruitment, suggesting that these two facets of norm-based …