Neural basis of adaptation to social environment

Abstract

Neural basis of adaptation to social environment Remarkable upgrading of neuroscience has provided useful methods and knowledge in order to understand neurophysiological grounds of theories in social science. Previous studies focusing on the social exchange theory have revealed that social preference for altruistic behavior or norm compliance stems from brain regions related with reward prediction or risk evaluation, which suggests that a basic biological mechanism of adaptive behaviors applies to the case of social behaviors. According to this background, the current review summarizes empirical findings that have shown neural basis of social behaviors in humans and discuss its adaptive roles from a perspective of evolutional theory. Especially, we focus on reciprocal exchanges with others as a source of social behaviors acquired by the adaptive mechanism of brain.