Shared responsibility decreases the sense of agency in the human brain

Abstract

Sharing responsibility in social decision-making helps individuals use the flexibility of the collective context to benefit themselves by claiming credit for good outcomes or avoiding the blame for bad outcomes. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we examined the neuronal basis of the impact that social context has on this flexible sense of responsibility. Participants performed a gambling task in various social contexts and reported feeling less responsibility when playing as a member of a team. A reduced MEG outcome processing effect was observed as a function of decreasing responsibility at 200 ms post outcome onset and was centred over parietal and pre-central brain regions. Prior to outcome revelation in socially made decisions, an attenuated motor preparation signature at 500 ms after stimulus onset was found. A boost in reported responsibility for positive outcomes in social contexts was associated with increased activity in regions related to social and reward processing. Together, these results show that sharing responsibility with others reduces agency, influencing pre-outcome motor preparation and post-outcome processing, and provides opportunities to flexibly claim credit for positive outcomes.