Abstract:
This experiment employed the ELICIT (Experimental Laboratory for Investigating Collaboration, Information-sharing, and Trust) program within the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) environment, to examine neural systems supporting individual information management associated during choice-making and social exchange. Previous literature notes the challenge of providing an ecologically valid and complex experience associated with turn-taking (Kalbfleisch & Nissen, 2010) and reasoning (Kalbfleisch, Van Meter & Zeffior, 2006;). Specifically, we sought to extend results for the behavioral and neural correlates affiliated with two opposing organization structures; Edge and Hierarchy (Kalbfleisch et al., in review) by examining the shape and timing characteristics of the blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal that affiliates successful performance in Edge with faster response time and support from the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) during game-play. This region-of-interest analysis indicates that the advantage in response time afforded by the Edge condition is the result of individual in-game actions supporting a more compartmentalized approach to the integrative deductive reasoning process governing the posterior parietal cortex via the aPFC.
