NEUROBIOLOGY OF ENVY

Medial prefrontal cortex neurons selectively monitored self-reward and partner-reward information, whereas midbrain dopaminergic neurons integrated this information into a subjective value. Recordings of local field potentials revealed that responses to reward-predictive stimuli in medial prefrontal cortex started before those in dopaminergic midbrain nuclei and that neural information flowed predominantly in a medial prefrontal cortex-to-midbrain direction. These findings delineate a dedicated pathway for subjective reward evaluation in social environments.