Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Individuals use various strategies to cope with challenging emotions such as anxiety. Mindful acceptance involves broadening attentional scope and fully experiencing present moment sensory feelings (whether pleasant or unpleasant) without judgment or elaboration. In contrast, narrative-evaluation involves focusing on a narrow band of sensory experience and generating an elaborate narrative about the meaning and desirability of ones emotional feelings. The current study examined brain network organization during these strategies using graph theoretic analyses. We used a naturalistic task paradigm in which participants reflected on an anxiety-provoking issue from their personal lives and adopted each strategy in different blocks. Compared to narrative-evaluation, mindful acceptance was associated with: (i) increased global network connectivity; (ii) greater integration of interoceptive regions (mid and posterior insula) into large-scale networks; (iii) reorganization of motivational circuits including a shift in the striatums network assignment from the default network to the salience network; and (iv) a shift from default network to frontoparietal control network (FPCN) regions as central hubs that coordinate information flow. Functional connectivity patterns within the left FPCN were associated with acceptance reports. Thus, broadening attentional scope during mindful acceptance is supported by a more globally interconnected neural landscape, as well as greater information flow through FPCN regions that underlie metacognitive awareness and cognitive control.

Existing research has found that shared neural responses to naturalistic narratives are associated with shared understanding, especially among members of the same social group. In this fMRI study, we tested whether in-group neural synchronization solely reflects explicit shared understandings, or relates to other group characteristics. To do so, we compared the neural synchronization patterns among two distinct social groups: Religious (N = 21) and Secular (N = 21). Participants were scanned while watching short video clips containing religious or neutral content and then answered questions regarding their reactions to- and interpretation of the videos. Behavioral results did not reveal group differences in responses homogeneity: neither in the engagement and agreement while watching the videos, nor in the emotions and verbal reactions elicited by it. However, neuroimaging results revealed that religious participants exhibited strikingly higher in-group synchronization than secular, both for religious and neutral narratives. Remarkably, it was possible to predict individuals religious affiliation solely based on their in-group neural synchrony, with accuracy scores of up to 92%. This pattern was consistent across all neural networks, most prominently in the Default Mode Network (DMN), Control and Attention networks. It also emerged in the Salience network and Somatomotor regions, hinting at neural processes that may foster group cohesion and identification. We propose that increased neural synchrony in the Religious group was driven mainly by greater homogenous social structure, suggesting a novel perspective for interpreting the role of neural synchrony in group dynamics.

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is an evolutionarily conserved trait describing a persons sensitivity to subtle stimuli, their depth of processing, emotional reactivity, and susceptibility to being overwhelmed. SPS is considered a fundamental and evolutionarily conserved trait, yet its neural mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. Therefore, we investigated whether SPS relates to processing movies differently in the central executive (CEN), default mode (DMN), and salience (SN) networks. We obtained positive and negative dimension Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire (short-form) scores and (neutral and threat aural framing) movie-fMRI data from a population-based sample (Healthy Brain Study, N=238, agemean=34years). We performed a priori inter-subject representation similarity, activation, and inter-subject functional connectivity analyses to characterize SPS-dimension-related neural responses during movie-viewing. More similar negative dimension SPS score related to more neural synchrony in the CEN and SN during threat. Higher negative dimension SPS score related to reduced CEN-DMN functional connectivity during threat, an effect shared across between-network regions but most strongly driven by reduced connectivity between right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and left lateral prefrontal cortex. Our findings suggest that highly sensitive individuals exhibit distinct CEN differences shaping environmental perception, process threat differently, and each SPSQ-SF dimension may involve unique neurological mechanisms.

Overarching conceptualizations propose a critical role of the default mode network (DMN) in self-referential mental time travel, particularly in autobiographical memory retrieval and episodic future thinking, and internal (intrinsic) emotion generation and regulation. However, these conceptualizations have not been directly evaluated. Against this background, the present fMRI study aimed to identify both shared and distinct neural systems underlying autobiographical episodic processing across different temporal contexts - specifically, episodic memory retrieval (EMR) and episodic future thinking (EFT) - and to examine how these systems interact with affective experiences, including valence and arousal. Our findings demonstrated the central role of the DMN - encompassing the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and medial temporal lobe (MTL) - in both EMR and EFT. Importantly, we identified a functional dissociation along both valence and temporal dimensions: the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) was more strongly associated with positive experiences and simulations, whereas the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) was consistently engaged during the processing of negative affect across past and future contexts. Moreover, representational similarity and parametric analyses indicated that the hippocampus supports differential processing of valence and arousal across temporal domains. Together, these findings provide empirical evidence for the involvement of cortical midline core DMN systems in autobiographical processing across time and suggest overlapping and distinct systems for the integration of emotional experiences across mental time travel.

Psychopathic traits have been demonstrated to be associated with different types of morality; however, the neuropsychological mechanism underlying the relationship between psychopathic traits and morality remains unclear. Our study examined the effective connectivity (EC) of psychopathic traits-related brain regions and its association to concern with different moral foundations by combining behavioral measures with resting-state fMRI. We administered the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP) and Moral Foundation Questionnaire (MFQ) to 78 college students after resting-state fMRI scanning. Our results showed that total and primary psychopathic traits score predicted concern with the Harm foundation. The EC from the posterior insula to the amygdala was negatively correlated with psychopathic traits and positively with concern with the Harm foundation. Altered posterior insula-amygdala EC partially mediated the relationship between psychopathic traits and concern with the Harm foundation. Our findings indicated that individuals with elevated psychopathic traits may have atypical processes in recognizing and integrating bodily state information into emotional responses, leading to less concern for harm-related morality. The study deepened our understanding of the neuropsychological mechanism underlying the relationship between psychopathic traits and morality and may have implications for the prevention of higher psychopathic traits individuals from committing serious transgressions.

Bargaining is a fundamental social behavior in which individuals often accept unfair offers. Traditional behavioral models, based solely on choice data, typically interpret this acceptance as simple reward-maximization. However, the suppression of emotions such as inequity aversion or pride may also play a critical role in this decision. Incorporating response time alongside choice data provides a means to quantify participants internal conflict in suppressing these emotions and deciding to accept unfair offers. In this study, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the ultimatum game, where participants decided within 10 seconds whether to accept or reject monetary distribution offers from a proposer. Using the drift diffusion model (DDM), we quantified decision-making dynamics based on both choice and response time. Participants who suppressed disadvantageous inequity (DI)-driven rejection (reflected by a lower DDM weight for DI) exhibited heightened dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity in response to DI. Functional connectivity analysis revealed a negative correlation between the dACC and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) when DI was large, which encoded both the rejection rates, and the response times associated with accepting DI offers. Furthermore, vlPFC activity was significantly correlated with amygdala activity during high DI conditions, specifically encoding response time for accepting DI offers but not rejection rates. Importantly, these findings could not be captured using standard value-based models that rely solely on choice data. Our results underscore the dACCs critical role in mediating the suppression of emotional responses to DI, enabling the acceptance of unfair offers in a dynamic bargaining process.

Guilt and shame are key moral emotions that influence mental health and regulate social behavior. Although prior research has examined the psychological and neural correlates of these emotions, the cognitive antecedents that trigger them, as well as their transformation into social behavior, remain insufficiently understood. In this study, we developed a novel task to investigate how two crucial cognitive antecedents, harm and responsibility, elicit guilt and shame, and how these emotions subsequently drive compensatory behavior, by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with computational modeling. Behaviorally, we found that harm had a stronger impact on guilt than on shame, whereas responsibility had a stronger impact on shame than guilt, which supports the functionalist theory of emotion. Moreover, compared to shame, guilt exerted a greater effect on compensation. Computational modeling results indicated that the integration of harm and responsibility by individuals is consistent with the phenomenon of responsibility diffusion. The fMRI results revealed that brain regions associated with inequity representation (posterior insula) and value computation (striatum) encode this integrated measure. Furthermore, individual differences in responsibility-driven shame sensitivity were associated with activity in theory-of-mind regions (temporoparietal junction and superior temporal sulcus). Guilt- and shame-driven compensatory behavior recruited distinct neural substrates, with shame-driven compensatory sensitivity being more strongly linked to activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex, a region implicated in cognitive control. Our findings provide computational, algorithmic, and neural accounts of guilt and shame.

Eating is inherently social for humans. Yet, most neuroimaging studies of appetite and food-induced reward have focused on studying brain responses to food intake or viewing pictures of food alone. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure haemodynamic responses to "vicarious" feeding. The subjects (n=97) viewed series of short videos representing naturalistic episodes of social eating intermixed with videos without feeding / appetite related content. Viewing the vicarious feeding (versus control) videos activated motor and premotor cortices, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, consistent with somatomotor and affective engagement. Responses to the feeding videos were also downregulated as a function of the participants BMI. Altogether these results suggest that seeing others eating engages the corresponding motor and affective programs in the viewers brain, potentially increasing appetite and promoting mutual feeding.

This study investigated the neural mechanisms involved in feelings of interpersonal guilt and responsibility evoked by social decisions. 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.

Recent studies suggest that individual differences in empathic concern may be mediated by continuous interactions between self-other resonance and cognitive control networks. To test this hypothesis, we used machine learning to examine whether resting fMRI connectivity (i.e. the degree of synchronous BOLD activity across multiple cortical areas in the absence of task demands) of resonance and control networks could predict trait empathy (n=58). Indeed, resonance and control networks interconnectivity predicted empathic concern. Empathic concern was also predicted by connectivity within the somatomotor network. In light of numerous reported sex differences in empathy, we controlled for biological sex and also studied separately what aspect of these features could predict participants sex. Sex was best predicted by the interconnectivity of the visual system with the resonance, somatomotor, and cingulo-opercular network, as well as the somatomotor-control network connectivity. These findings confirm that variation in empathic responses to others reflects characteristic network properties detectable regardless of task demands. Furthermore, network properties of the visual system may be a locus of sex differences previously unaccounted for in empathy research. Finally, these findings suggest that it may be possible to assess empathic predispositions in individuals without needing to perform conventional empathy assessments.

People as third-party observers, without direct self-interest, may punish norm violators to maintain social norms. However, third-party judgment and the follow-up punishment might be susceptible to the way we frame (i.e., verbally describe) a norm violation. We conducted a behavioral and a neuroimaging experiment to investigate the above phenomenon, which we call "third-party framing effect." In these experiments, participants observed an anonymous player A decided whether to retain her/his economic benefit while exposing player B to a risk of physical pain (described as "harming others" in one condition and "not helping others" in the other condition), then they had a chance to punish player A at their own cost. Participants were more willing to execute third-party punishment under the harm frame compared to the help frame, manifesting as a framing effect. Self-reported moral outrage toward player A mediated the relationship between empathy toward player B and the framing effect size. Correspondingly, the insula (possibly related to empathy) and cerebellum (possibly related to anger) were activated more strongly under the harm frame than the help frame. Functional connectivity between these regions showed strongest weight when predicting the framing effect size. These findings shed light on the psychological and neural mechanisms of the third-party framing effect. Graphic abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=57 SRC="FIGDIR/small/426181v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (18K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f4dd4dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1eceed3org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@3360a8org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@10ed26b_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) may lead to lower levels of psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and stress in adolescents. Past research has advanced the discovery of neural architecture recruited by MBI. However, the brain mechanisms through which mindfulness exerts more resilient responses to social stressors in teens remain unclear. Here, we examined how MBI modulates changes in brain network dynamics following social stress with different affective valence (i.e., neutral, negative, and positive). For this aim, we carried out a longitudinal randomized controlled trial in which non-clinical adolescents underwent MBI for 8 weeks. They completed a psychosocial stress task before and following MBI. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and self-reported measurements of psychological distress were collected in both measurement points (i.e., "pre" and "post" MBI). We computed co-activation patterns on fMRI data to characterize dynamic functional connectivity within whole-brain networks. The results depicted how MBI modulates transient co-activation changes in dorsal medial regions of the brain default network (DN) following the experience of stress. However, these brain changes were not specific to the affective valence of stressful stimuli. The relationship between the DN dynamics and the measurements of psychological distress was mediated by MBI. Globally, our findings support a model in which MBI causally mediate brain-behavior interactions related to psychosocial stress in adolescents.

Social anxiety is characterized by an intense fear of judgment in social situations, yet the underlying mechanisms driving this condition remain poorly understood. One hypothesis holds that specific alterations in Theory of Mind (ToM) affect the ability to interpret others thoughts and emotions. Another hypothesis proposes that broader interpretive biases lead individuals to perceive social cues as overly significant, even in neutral settings. We investigated these possibilities by measuring brain activity, pupil responses, and heart rates in socially anxious individuals and matched controls as they viewed Partly Cloudy, an animated film known to engage the ToM network during specific scenes. While overall brain activity during ToM-related scenes was similar across groups, socially anxious participants exhibited reduced activation in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), a key area for ToM processing. Additionally, intersubject correlation analysis revealed a distinct neural response pattern in the socially anxious group, marked by uniform responses in sensory regions and heightened variability in higher-order cortical areas. This pattern persisted throughout the film and occurred without changes in heart rate or pupil responses, indicating a neural processing bias that manifests even in non-evaluative settings. These findings provide a neural basis for ToM alterations and broader interpretive biases in social anxiety, supporting cognitive-behavioral models and suggesting novel targets for intervention.

Anticipation of trust from a partner with high social closeness generates the preconditions for cooperative and reciprocal interactions to occur. However, if there is uncertainty in the interaction because the partner is a stranger or because the person has mistrusted us on another occasion, an aversive experience is generated. Hence, low social closeness or mistrust makes people keep track of the others behavior. In case of experiencing deviations from social norms, the person will monitor the intentions of the partner and update their priors regarding their social preferences. The anterior insula (AIns) seems to be sensitive to these social norm violations in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments, however, the monitoring of partners with different levels of social closeness has not been investigated. In our study we wanted to find the brain regions related to (dis)trust anticipation from partners who differ in their level of social closeness. For this, we designed an experiment in which participants played an economic decision game with three people (trustors): A computer, a stranger, and a real friend. We covertly manipulated their decisions in the game so that they unexpectedly distrusted our participants. Using task-fMRI, our whole-brain analysis found that the AIns was active during the anticipation of the decisions from human partners (humans vs computer), but not during anticipation between high and low social closeness (friend vs stranger). However, using a psychophysiological interaction analysis, we found increases in functional coupling between the AIns and regions in the "mentalizing" network (such as temporal regions and parieto-occipital cortices) during trust anticipation between a high versus low social closeness partner. These results suggest that there may be a modulation of the AIns activity, specifically for high social closeness trustors, by regions that encode the intentions underlying the truster behavior.

Cognitive reappraisal is a fundamental emotion regulation strategy for mental and physical well-being, but how its neural mechanisms relate to individual differences remains poorly understood. In a consortium effort analyzing 40 fMRI datasets (N=2,175), we examined the relationship between neural activation during reappraisal tasks and three core individual difference indices of reappraisal capabilities: (1) trait questionnaires, (2) task-based affective ratings, and (3) amygdala down-regulation. Strikingly, there was no shared overlap across these three common indices. Only a very weak correlation emerged between amygdala down-regulation and task-based affective ratings. Whole-brain analyses revealed no reliable neural associations with trait questionnaires, and associations with task-based affective ratings fell outside canonical emotion regulation networks (e.g., prefrontal circuitry). Moreover, amygdala down-regulation, often interpreted as a stable individual marker, was confounded by person-specific whole-brain responses -- a limitation extending to fMRI research beyond the emotion regulation domain. These findings challenge the assumption that an individuals prefrontal activity is a valid indicator of their reappraisal capabilities and suggest that common trait, behavioral, and neural measures might capture distinct facets of emotion regulation. More broadly, our results highlight concrete methodological challenges for fMRI research on individual differences, with implications extending beyond emotion regulation to the neuroscience of personality, psychopathology, and general well-being.

Humans form selective and enduring pair bonds with romantic partners, a principal feature of human sociality. Neuroimaging studies have shown that romantic partners are differentially represented from other individuals in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and anterior insula (aINS), and that the specificity of partner representations in the NAcc diminishes as relationships mature. However, it remains unclear whether such differentiation reflects partner-specific coding or mere differences in familiarity with others, and whether these regions play different roles in romantic bonding. To address these questions, we applied multiple regression representational similarity analysis to fMRI data from 51 heterosexual male participants in early romantic relationships. The data were acquired during a social incentive delay task, in which participants anticipated social approval from their female romantic partner, a female friend, or an unfamiliar female individual. This approach allowed us to dissociate partner-specific representations from familiarity-related effects in the NAcc and aINS. We found that both regions exhibited partner-specific representations that could not be explained by familiarity. Consistent with previous findings, partner specificity in the NAcc was negatively associated with relationship duration, indicating that partner-specific coding in this region is established early in romantic relationships and diminishes as relationships progress. Moreover, greater partner specificity in the aINS was associated with more frequent intrusive thoughts about the partner. Together, these findings demonstrate that romantic partners are represented in the NAcc and aINS in a qualitatively distinct manner from other individuals, and that these regions support dissociable aspects of romantic bonding. Key PointsO_LIMultiple regression representational similarity analysis revealed partner-specific representations in the nucleus accumbens and anterior insula that cannot be explained by familiarity. C_LIO_LIIndividuals in longer relationships showed reduced partner specificity in the nucleus accumbens, consistent with prior findings. C_LIO_LIIndividuals exhibiting greater partner specificity in the anterior insula reported more frequent intrusive thoughts about their partner, indicating dissociable psychological functions across regions. C_LI

Sexual stimuli processing is a key element in the repertoire of human affective and motivational states. Previous neuroimaging studies of sexual stimulus processing have revealed a complicated mosaic of activated regions, leaving unresolved questions about their sensitivity and specificity to sexual stimuli per se, generalizability across individuals, and potential utility as neuromarkers for sexual stimulus processing. In this study, data on sexual, negative, non-sexual positive, and neutral images from Wehrum et al. (2013) (N = 100) were re-analyzed with multivariate Support Vector Machine models to create the Brain Activation-based Sexual Image Classifier (BASIC) model. This model was tested for sensitivity, specificity, and generalizability in cross-validation (N = 100) and an independent test cohort (N = 18; Kragel et al. 2019). The BASIC model showed highly accurate performance (94-100%) in classifying sexual versus neutral or nonsexual affective images in both datasets. Virtual lesions and test of individual large-scale networks (e.g., visual or attention networks) show that these individual networks are neither necessary nor sufficient to capture sexual stimulus processing. These findings suggest that brain responses to sexual stimuli constitute a category of mental event that is distinct from general affect and involves multiple brain networks. It is, however, largely conserved across individuals, permitting the development of neuromarkers for sexual processing in individual persons. Future studies could assess performance of BASIC to a broader array of affective/motivational stimuli and link brain responses with physiological and subjective measures of sexual arousal.

The present study combined a novel hypothetical investment game with functional magnetic resonance imaging systemtically examined how morality modulates economic decision making in decision phase and outcome phase. We manipulated the morality of the investments by choosing each investment project based on subjective ratings on their moral valence and social benefits. There were three categories of investment morality: Green (moral), Red (immoral), and Neutral. The behavioral and neural responses during the investment decision and outcome phases were recorded and compared. Results showed that: behaviorally, people are willing to invest a larger amount of money into a moral project that may benefit society than they are into an immoral project that they think will harm society. They also rate gains in moral investments as more pleasant and losses as the most unpleasant. In the brain, we found that the reward system, especially the bilateral striatum, was involved in modulating functional connectivity during both phases, but in different ways. During decision making, the functional connectivity between fusiform gyrus and striatum might underlie the observed investing bias (Green over Red projects), while the covariation of BOLD signals in bilateral striatum with the behavioral tendency might explain the effect observed during the outcome evaluations. Our study provides evidence that morality modulates both the decision making and the outcome evaluation in economic situations.

A cognitive conflict that is negatively arousing and results in a divergence in preference attitudes toward the chosen and rejected alternatives occurs when individuals are compelled to choose between alternatives that are similarly preferable. This phenomenon, which is frequently referred to as "cognitive dissonance," is of interest in the fields of decision neuroscience and psychology. This study examines the behavioral and neural underpinnings of Cloningers temperament traits--Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm Avoidance (HA), Reward Dependence (RD), and Persistence (PS)--in a decision-making context.Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a modified free-choice paradigm were used to formalize the effect of Cloninger temperaments on cognitive conflict induced by choice. Behavioral analysis revealed significant individual differences across the four TCI dimensions, highlighting distinct variability in participants responses. Imaging data showed that participants with the highest and lowest scores in each temperament trait exhibited unique brain activation patterns during difficult and easy decision tasks. Notably, novelty-seeking was linked to heightened activation in brain regions associated with exploration and cognitive flexibility, while harm avoidance was associated with emotional processing and conflict detection. These findings provide deeper insights into how personality traits influence both behavior and neural responses during cognitive dissonance and decision-making tasks, offering implications for understanding individual differences in decision-related behaviors. The results of this study confirm the effect of temperaments on the degree of perceived dissonance of people, which can be used in many areas such as consumer behavior in marketing. The reason for this is the hesitancy of customers after purchasing the products. Significance StatementThis study provides novel insights into how Cloningers temperament traits--Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence, and Persistence--modulate both neural and behavioral responses during decision-making processes. By combining fMRI with a modified free-choice paradigm, we reveal that temperament traits significantly impact cognitive dissonance, with distinct brain activation patterns corresponding to individual differences in decision conflict. These findings enhance our understanding of the neural basis of cognitive dissonance and have practical implications for areas such as consumer behavior, where temperament-driven decision conflict can influence post-purchase attitudes. This research highlights the importance of accounting for personality traits when examining decision-related behaviors and suggests that tailoring strategies based on temperament could improve decision outcomes in various applied fields.

Prosocial behaviours--actions that incur personal costs to benefit others--are central to human social life. Two key domains are moral harm aversion, where individuals forgo personal gains to prevent harming others, and prosocial effort, which involves exerting effort to benefit others. Although previous studies suggest a relationship between these behaviours, it remains unclear whether neural responses in one domain can predict prosocial motivation in another. Here, we tested whether neural sensitivity to morally salient information in harm aversion could predict prosocial effort later. Participants completed two tasks: a harm aversion task during fMRI, in which they traded off monetary profit against delivering electric shocks to another person; and, one week later, a prosocial effort task outside the scanner, in which they decided whether rewards for others were worth the required physical effort. We focused on three regions implicated in cost-benefit decision-making and social cognition: the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula (AI), and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Behaviourally, greater harm aversion was associated with increased prosocial effort. Neurally, AI responses to others harm predicted sensitivity to others rewards in the effort task, consistent with a role in representing others outcomes across positive and negative valences. By contrast, TPJ responses to profit from harming others predicted decreased sensitivity to others rewards, suggesting a role in context-dependent valuation that may constrain prosocial behaviour. These findings demonstrate that neural responses to morally salient information in one context correlate with prosocial motivation in another, highlighting mechanisms that bridge moral sensitivity and effortful prosociality.