# The Neurobiology of Social Decision-Making: Social Inference and Context

> **NIH NIH P50** · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2021 · $1,782,032

## Abstract

OVERVIEW. Project Summary.
 This renewal application of a basic research Conte Center aims to elucidate the neurobiological
mechanisms for social decision-making in humans. While our current Conte Center investigated the basic
systems for decision-making, and did so in both humans and monkeys, this renewal now focuses only on
humans, and on more translationally relevant questions. In particular, we now focus on how social inference
and context come into play. How do we attribute internal states, such as values, beliefs, and intentions, to
other people? How does this depend on the context in which we observe those other people? How does it
influence how we can learn from others, how we make altruistic decisions about them, how we deal with social
threat? This set of new questions builds directly on our current Conte Center, and is of critical translational
importance for understanding deficits in social decision-making such as those that occur in autism spectrum
disorders and other psychiatric illnesses.
 Three cores provide administrative, neuroimaging, and participant recruitment and assessment
resources for five Projects that are each directed by internationally renowned leaders, all of whom have a track
record of scientific collaboration, student training, and expertise in the topic of the planned studies. Unique
innovative strengths of this application are the combination of neuroimaging, intracranial electrophysiology, and
lesion studies in human subjects. Cross-cutting questions can be addressed with this multimodal approach,
which includes neuroimaging in the very same subjects from whom we record electrophysiologically, and in
lesion subjects.
 Project 1 begins by investigating how social inference and context guides social learning. Projects 2
and 3 examine how social inference modulates social decision-making, in either prosocial, altruistic contexts
(Project 2) or under social threat (Project 3). Project 4 examines these questions in relation to how we
represent other people and ourselves, using single-unit recordings. Project 5 focuses on lesion studies of the
prefrontal cortex, which is the brain region most closely involved in the processes under investigation. This
science is woven into a training and outreach program emphasizing dissemination and diversity; and all data
are made available for data sharing. The uniform recruitment and assessment of participants, the tight
integration and communication between Projects, and the collaborative track record of the team will leverage
these studies to a systematic and coordinated investigation of the largest outstanding questions in social
decision-making. Progress on this topic will be an essential component for better diagnoses and treatments for
a range of psychiatric disorders, including autism, addiction, and mood disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10101669
- **Project number:** 5P50MH094258-10
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** RALPH ADOLPHS
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,782,032
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-07-26 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10101669

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10101669, The Neurobiology of Social Decision-Making: Social Inference and Context (5P50MH094258-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10101669. Licensed CC0.

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