Changing Social Norm Compliance with Noninvasive Brain Stimulation

Abstract

Conform to the Norm Human societies have always enforced compliance with norms of acceptable behavior among their members by threatening punishment. It has been proposed that the human brain may have developed neural processes that support norm enforcement behavior and generate appropriate behavioral responses to social punishment threats. However, evidence for the neural circuitry underlying sanction-induced norm compliance in humans is limited. Using noninvasive brain stimulation, Ruff et al. (p. 482 , published online 10 October) observed that alteration of the activity and excitability of the right lateral prefrontal cortex affected norm compliance, without affecting awareness of the content of the respective norms, or the expected sanctions. These alterations were much larger in a social, as compared to a nonsocial, context.