Parsing the Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms of Third-Party Punishment

Authors

Owen D. Jones
Matthew Ginther, Court of Federal Claims
Richard J. Bonnie, University of Virginia
Morris B. Hoffman, Second Judicial District Court, State of Colorado
Francis X. Shen, University of Minnesota
Kenneth W. Simons, University of California, Irvine
Rene Marois, Vanderbilt University

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Neuroscience

Publication Date

2016

ISSN

0270-6474

Page Number

9420

Keywords

punishment; crime; neuroscience; mental state; harm; judges; decision making; jurors; law and neuroscience; brain imaging; neuroimaging; magnetic resonance imaging; cognitive neuroscience

Disciplines

Criminal Law | Judges | Law | Mental Disorders | Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Abstract

The evolved capacity for third-party punishment is considered crucial to the emergence and maintenance of elaborate human social organization and is central to the modern provision of fairness and justice within society. Although it is well established that the mental state of the offender and the severity of the harm he caused are the two primary predictors of punishment decisions, the precise cognitive and brain mechanisms by which these distinct components are evaluated and integrated into a punishment decision are poorly understood.

Using a brain-scanning technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we implemented a novel experimental design to functionally dissociate the mechanisms underlying evaluation, integration, and decision. This work revealed that multiple parts of the brain – some analytic, some subconscious or emotional – work in a systematic pattern to decide blameworthiness, assess harms, integrate those two decisions, and then ultimately select how a person should be punished. Specifically, harm and mental state evaluations are conducted in two different brain networks and then combined in the medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate areas of the brain, while the amygdala acts as a pivotal hub of the interaction between harm and mental state. This integrated information is then used by the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when the brain is making a decision on punishment amount.

These findings provide a blueprint of the brain mechanisms by which neutral third parties make punishment decisions.

Recommended Citation

Owen D. Jones, Matthew Ginther, Richard J. Bonnie, Morris B. Hoffman, Francis X. Shen, Kenneth W. Simons, and Rene Marois, Parsing the Behavioral and Brain Mechanisms of Third-Party Punishment, 36 Journal of Neuroscience. 9420 (2016)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1080