Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25984890›Full record

ArticleNature neuroscience2015

Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers' choices.

Dongil Chung, George I Christopoulos, Brooks King-Casas, Sheryl B Ball, Pearl H Chiu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature neuroscience, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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  9. Article
  10. Social Risk Coding by Amygdala Activity and Connectivity with the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article
  11. Article
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  20. Distinctive Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex Subregions in Strategic Conformity to Social Hierarchy.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Dongil ChungVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
George I Christopoulos *Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
Brooks King-Casas *Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
Sheryl B BallVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
Pearl H ChiuVirginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.

Funding

Neurobehavioral Determinants of Health Risk Behaviors: From Adolescence to Young AdulthoodR01DA036017 · NIDA · VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV · PI CASAS, BROOKS, KIM-SPOON, JUNGMEEN · 2013 to 2022
$7.2M
Neuroimaging Major Depression and Nicotine Dependence on Axes of ValuationR01MH091872 · NIMH · VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV · PI CHIU, PEARL H · 2010 to 2014
$1.8M
Neurobehavioral metrics for the assessment and treatment of depressionR01MH087692 · NIMH · VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV · PI CHIU, PEARL H · 2010 to 2014
$1.6M
NIDA NIH HHS DA036017NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA036017NIMH NIH HHS MH087692NIMH NIH HHS MH091872NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH087692NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH091872
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Individuals' risk attitudes are known to guide choices about uncertain options. However, in the presence of others' decisions, these choices can be swayed and manifest as riskier or safer behavior than one would express alone. To test the mechanisms underlying effective social 'nudges' in human decision-making, we used functional neuroimaging and a task in which participants made choices about gambles alone and after observing others' selections. Against three alternative explanations, we found that observing others' choices of gambles increased the subjective value (utility) of those gambles for the observer. This 'other-conferred utility' was encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and these neural signals predicted conformity. We further identified a parametric interaction with individual risk preferences in anterior cingulate cortex and insula. These data provide a neuromechanistic account of how information from others is integrated with individual preferences that may explain preference-congruent susceptibility to social signals of safety and risk.

Indexed as

Risk-TakingSafetySocial EnvironmentSocial PerceptionAdultAlgorithmsAttitudeDecision MakingFemaleHumansLinear ModelsMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleModels, Psychological

Identifiers

PMID25984890
PMCPMC4447111

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.