{ "paperSlug": "gadeke-2026-guilt-insula", "abstract": "This study investigated the neural mechanisms involved in feelings of interpersonal guilt and responsibility evoked by social decisions in humans. In two studies (one during fMRI), participants repeatedly chose between safe and risky monetary outcomes in social contexts. Across conditions, each participant chose for both themselves and a partner ( Social condition), or the partner chose for both themselves and the participant ( Partner condition), or the participant chose just for themselves ( Solo condition, control). If the risky option was chosen in the Social or Partner condition, participant and partner could each receive either the high or the low outcome of a lottery with 50% probability, independently of each other. Participants were shown the outcomes for themselves and for their partner on each trial and reported their momentary happiness every few trials. As expected, participant happiness decreased following both low lottery outcomes for themselves and for the partner. Crucially, happiness decreases following low outcomes for the partner were larger when the participant rather than their partner had made the choice, which fits an operational definition of guilt. This guilt effect was associated with BOLD signal increase in the left anterior insula. Connectivity between this region and the right inferior frontal gyrus varied depending on choice and experimental condition, suggesting that this part of prefrontal cortex is sensitive to guilt-related information during social choices. Variations in happiness were well explained by computational models based on participants’ and partners’ rewards and reward prediction errors. A model-based analysis revealed a left superior temporal sulcus cluster that tracked partner reward prediction errors that followed participant choices. Our findings identify neural mechanisms of guilt and social responsibility during social decisions under risk.", "sentences": [ { "n": 1, "text": "This study investigated the neural mechanisms involved in feelings of interpersonal guilt and responsibility evoked by social decisions in humans.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "responsibility-social-choice-yields-low", "anterior-insula-neural-substrate-guilt", "neural-substrate-tracks-participant-responsibility" ], "kind": "synthesis", "note": "Framing sentence naming the paper's three central bets: guilt from responsible social choice, its anterior-insula substrate, and a substrate tracking responsibility for the partner's outcomes." }, { "n": 2, "text": "In two studies (one during fMRI), participants repeatedly chose between safe and risky monetary outcomes in social contexts.", "type": "background", "claims": [], "note": "Two-study design (one behavioural, one during fMRI); states the design, not a finding." }, { "n": 3, "text": "Across conditions, each participant chose for both themselves and a partner ( Social condition), or the partner chose for both themselves and the participant ( Partner condition), or the participant chose just for themselves ( Solo condition, control).", "type": "background", "claims": [], "note": "The three conditions (Social, Partner, Solo) that structure every result; described here, asserted as a scope claim in the graph." }, { "n": 4, "text": "If the risky option was chosen in the Social or Partner condition, participant and partner could each receive either the high or the low outcome of a lottery with 50% probability, independently of each other.", "type": "background", "claims": [], "note": "The lottery structure; a method description with no paper-specific finding." }, { "n": 5, "text": "Participants were shown the outcomes for themselves and for their partner on each trial and reported their momentary happiness every few trials.", "type": "background", "claims": [], "note": "Outcome display and momentary-happiness sampling; method description." }, { "n": 6, "text": "As expected, participant happiness decreased following both low lottery outcomes for themselves and for the partner.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "participant-momentary-happiness-varied-rewards", "participant-momentary-happiness-varied-rewards-2" ], "kind": "combined", "note": "The manipulation-check finding that happiness tracks both own and partner outcomes; combines the two reward-tracking claims." }, { "n": 7, "text": "Crucially, happiness decreases following low outcomes for the partner were larger when the participant rather than their partner had made the choice, which fits an operational definition of guilt.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "when-partner-received-low-lottery", "both-studies-participants-felt-worse" ], "kind": "combined", "note": "The core behavioural guilt effect. The abstract states the interaction but drops the control that it held regardless of the participant's own outcome, which dissociates guilt from inequality aversion." }, { "n": 8, "text": "This guilt effect was associated with BOLD signal increase in the left anterior insula.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "mass-univariate-voxel-wise-analysis-found-small" ], "kind": "direct", "note": "The left anterior insula cluster. The abstract does not mention that convergence with the published Yu et al. guilt signature holds only in aggregate and not at the individual level." }, { "n": 9, "text": "Connectivity between this region and the right inferior frontal gyrus varied depending on choice and experimental condition, suggesting that this part of prefrontal cortex is sensitive to guilt-related information during social choices.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "functional-connectivity-between-left-anterior", "connectivity-between-left-anterior-insula" ], "kind": "combined", "note": "The insula–right IFG gPPI finding and its interpretation, stated together." }, { "n": 10, "text": "Variations in happiness were well explained by computational models based on participants’ and partners’ rewards and reward prediction errors.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "responsibility-redux-model-incorporating-expected", "partner-reward-prediction-errors-resulting" ], "kind": "combined", "note": "Compresses the computational-modelling result. The abstract does not surface that the responsibility-weighted partner-RPE term (social_pRPE) was the reliably positive one, nor the model comparison that selected it." }, { "n": 11, "text": "A model-based analysis revealed a left superior temporal sulcus cluster that tracked partner reward prediction errors that followed participant choices.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "one-cluster-left-sts-responded" ], "kind": "direct", "note": "The left STS cluster tracking partner RPEs that followed participant choices." }, { "n": 12, "text": "Our findings identify neural mechanisms of guilt and social responsibility during social decisions under risk.", "type": "claim", "claims": [ "anterior-insula-neural-substrate-guilt", "neural-substrate-tracks-participant-responsibility" ], "kind": "synthesis", "note": "Closing claim; states that the paper has identified neural mechanisms of guilt and responsibility." } ], "orphanClaims": [ "alt-agency-aversion-not-guilt", "alt-guilt-effect-driven-by-own-outcome", "alt-imaging-contrast-invalid", "alt-model-based-glm-invalid", "alt-participants-insensitive-to-value", "alt-social-context-shifts-risk-attitude", "among-computational-models-fitted-momentary", "anterior-insula-tracks-guilt-insula", "authors-suggest-left-sts-region", "behavioural-guilt-effect-larger-happiness", "bilateral-ventral-striatum-more-active", "connectivity-between-guilt-responsibility-related-outcome-ph", "decisions-social-compared-solo-condition", "difference-response-between-low-high", "dot-products-between-individual-neural", "during-outcome-phase-responses-low", "during-receipt-lottery-versus-safe", "each-trial-participants-chose-between", "findings-rest-two-samples-healthy", "functional-connectivity-between-guilt-responsibility-related", "guilt-effect-occurred-whether-participant", "hold-partner-behaviour-constant-across", "individual-grbs-dot-product-values-not", "insula-rois-responded-more-low", "left-ifg-cluster-showed-opposite", "left-ifg-insula-connectivity-subthreshold", "left-superior-temporal-sulcus-cluster", "likelihood-ratio-test-showed-responsibility", "linear-mixed-model-containing-all", "lower-happiness-when-participant-decision-maker", "manipulation-check-bilateral-ventral-striatum", "mixed-effects-regressions-choices-social-condition", "model-based-glm-entered-best-fitting-computational", "model-selection-among-happiness-models", "momentary-happiness-modelled-five-computational", "neural-substrate-tracks-participant-responsibility-2", "no-significant-interaction-between-difference", "only-precuneus-tpj-showed-positive", "parameter-recovery-procedure-synthetic-data-generated", "participant-happiness-lower-when-participant", "participants-chose-risky-option-lottery", "participants-own-reward-prediction-errors", "participants-probability-choosing-risky-option", "participants-showed-very-similar-risk", "participants-slightly-more-risk-averse", "pre-task-icebreaker-succeeded-establishing-positive", "prior-functional-connectivity-work-shown", "prior-literature-documents-association-between", "responsibility-choices-not-influence-happiness", "responsibility-model-yielded-higher-values", "responsibility-outcomes-generates-guilt-participant", "responsibility-partner-outcomes-influences-participant", "risk-aversion-parameter-not-differ-between", "risk-premiums-not-differ-between", "rutledge-colleagues-established-changes-momentary", "social-vs-partner-roi-risky-safe-coefficients", "social-vs-solo-roi-risky-safe-coefficients", "study-reproduced-study-design-inside" ], "orphanSentences": [], "model": "supplied:runs/gadeke-2026-guilt-insula/abstract-map.answer.v5.json" }