Alterations of Brain Functional Connectome After Observing Others’ Preferences in Behavioral Contagion

Alterations of Brain Functional Connectome After Observing Others’ Preferences in Behavioral Contagion | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Alterations of Brain Functional Connectome After Observing Others’ Preferences in Behavioral Contagion Mohsen Mobasseri, Abdol-Hossein Vahabie, Gholamreza Jafari, Javad Hatami, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7736226/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Behavioral contagion refers to the unconscious and automatic adoption of others’ behaviors and preferences after observing or becoming aware of them. Despite its significant impact on individual and societal behaviors the underlying brain mechanisms remain to be fully understood. This study investigated how the brain functional network differ after observing others’ behavior in a decision-making task. Therefore, we acquired fMRI data of 31 healthy participants while their behaviors were measured during an economic decision-making task. A version of the dictator game was used to assess changes in participants' preferences before and after observing others' preferences. Based on their Behavioral Contagion Rates, participants were classified into two groups: Contagion and No-Contagion. Then, changes in functional connectome before and after observation of others’ behaviors were calculated in the Contagion and the No-Contagion groups, separately. The significant changes in the Contagion and No-Contagion groups were different and were mainly observed in connectivity between precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, superior and middle temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and supramarginal gyrus. We hope these findings could provide a better insight into the neural mechanism involved in behavioral contagion. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7736226","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":530879501,"identity":"10896ed9-fad1-46b8-9320-992b23e715de","order_by":0,"name":"Mohsen Mobasseri","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Institute for Cognitive Science Studies","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohsen","middleName":"","lastName":"Mobasseri","suffix":""},{"id":530879502,"identity":"6a565079-1200-4b9f-b836-f6e73a4a6463","order_by":1,"name":"Abdol-Hossein Vahabie","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of 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Contagion","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7736226/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7736226/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eBehavioral contagion refers to the unconscious and automatic adoption of others\u0026rsquo; behaviors and preferences after observing or becoming aware of them. Despite its significant impact on individual and societal behaviors the underlying brain mechanisms remain to be fully understood. This study investigated how the brain functional network differ after observing others\u0026rsquo; behavior in a decision-making task. Therefore, we acquired fMRI data of 31 healthy participants while their behaviors were measured during an economic decision-making task. A version of the dictator game was used to assess changes in participants' preferences before and after observing others' preferences. Based on their Behavioral Contagion Rates, participants were classified into two groups: Contagion and No-Contagion. Then, changes in functional connectome before and after observation of others\u0026rsquo; behaviors were calculated in the Contagion and the No-Contagion groups, separately. The significant changes in the Contagion and No-Contagion groups were different and were mainly observed in connectivity between precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, superior and middle temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, and supramarginal gyrus. We hope these findings could provide a better insight into the neural mechanism involved in behavioral contagion.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Alterations of Brain Functional Connectome After Observing Others’ Preferences in Behavioral Contagion","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-17 23:42:55","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7736226/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3b2a0c99-d13b-4f0b-954b-9a9c0fde89a6","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 17th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-25T15:39:10+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-17 23:42:55","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7736226","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7736226","identity":"rs-7736226","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}