Reliance on functional resting-state network for stable task control predicts behavioral tendency for cooperation

Humans display individual variability in cooperative behavior. While an ever-growing body of research has investigated the neural correlates of task-specific cooperation, the mechanisms by which situation-independent, stable differences in cooperation render behavior consistent across a wide range of situations remain elusive. Addressing this issue, we show that the individual tendency to behave in a prosocial or individualistic manner can be predicted from the functional resting-state connectome. More specifically, connections of the cinguloopercular network which supports goal-directed behavior encode cooperative tendency. Effects of virtual lesions to this network on the efficacy of information exchange throughout the brain corroborate our findings. These results shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying individualists' and prosocials' habitual social decisions by showing that reliance on the cinguloopercular task-control network predicts stable cooperative behavior. Based on this evidence, we provide a unifying framework for the interpretation of functional imaging and behavioral studies of cooperative behavior. •The pattern of resting-state fMRI connectivity predicts tendency for cooperation.•Individualists and prosocials differ in their reliance on the cinguloopercular network.•We suggest a unifying framework for the interpretation of recent empirical findings.