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Significance Considering the immense economic costs associated with dishonest behavior, such as tax evasion or music piracy, reducing dishonesty is of great relevance to policy-makers. However, targeting dishonesty with interventions requires a thorough understanding of the underlying (neuro)cognitive processes. We combine neuroimaging with a task that pioneers in measuring the neural mechanisms underlying (dis)honesty. While replicating previous findings that greed drives dishonesty, we reveal that self-referential thinking processes promoted honest behavior. Moreover, we found that cognitive control does not serve the same purpose across individuals but facilitates honest decisions for cheaters, whereas it enables cheating for honest participants. We thus observe that different processes prevent dishonesty for different individuals, which can prove instrumental in the development of more effective interventions., Every day, we are faced with the conflict between the temptation to cheat for financial gains and maintaining a positive image of ourselves as being a “good person.” While it has been proposed that cognitive control is needed to mediate this conflict between reward and our moral self-image, the exact role of cognitive control in (dis)honesty remains elusive. Here we identify this role, by investigating the neural mechanism underlying cheating. We developed a task which allows for inconspicuously measuring spontaneous cheating on a trial-by-trial basis in the MRI scanner. We found that activity in the nucleus accumbens promotes cheating, particularly for individuals who cheat a lot, while a network consisting of posterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction, and medial prefrontal cortex promotes honesty, particularly in individuals who are generally honest. Finally, activity in areas associated with cognitive control (anterior cingulate cortex and inferior frontal gyrus) helped dishonest participants to be honest, whereas it enabled cheating for honest participants. Thus, our results suggest that cognitive control is not needed to be honest or dishonest per se but that it depends on an individual’s moral default.

Highlights • This study examined the resting-state functional network connectivity underlying eating disorder symptoms in a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 693). • Individuals with higher levels of eating disorder symptoms displayed weaker intra-network connectivity of the executive control network and basal ganglia network, as well as weaker inter-network connectivity in the three examined networks (i.e., the executive control network, basal ganglia network, and default mode network). • The findings suggest that these neural circuits may play a key role in symptoms of disordered eating in healthy adults. They further reveal that the less efficient information exchange within and between intrinsic networks associated with self-referential thinking, inhibitory control, and reward sensitivity are strongly related to eating disorder symptoms., Previous neuroimaging research of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa has mainly focused on clinical patients, indicating the crucial role of intrinsic connectivity networks involved in aberrant behavioral control (i.e., executive control network), reward reactivity (i.e., basal ganglia network), and excessive self-focused and body-focused ruminations (i.e., default mode network) in the onset and maintenance of eating disturbances. However, examinations of large-scale resting-state networks that support the role of cognitive control, reward sensitivity, and self-directed thinking in disordered eating have rarely involved non-clinical samples from the general population. This study, involving a total of 693 healthy young adults (68.69% females; mean age, 18.37 years), investigated these issues by using pre-defined functional regions of interest from the executive control network, basal ganglia network, default mode network, and a seed-based region of interest-to-region of interest approach. After statistically controlling for differences in age, sex, body mass index, and head motion, we observed significant associations of higher levels of eating disorder symptoms, especially bulimia-type eating (i.e., binge eating and a combination of binge eating and compensatory behaviors, such as purging via self-induced vomiting or laxative use, and compulsive exercise), with weaker intra-network and inter-network functional synchrony. These results remained significant after excluding underweight, overweight, and obese participants. These findings suggest that these neural circuits may play a key role in the symptoms of disordered eating in healthy adults. They further reveal that the less efficient information exchange within and between intrinsic networks associated with self-referential thinking, inhibitory control, and reward sensitivity are strongly related to eating disorder symptoms.

Brooding rumination is considered a central aspect of depression in midlife. As older people tend to review their past, rumination tendency might be particularly crucial in late life since it might hinder older adults to adequately evaluate previous events. We scanned 22 non-depressed older adults with varying degrees of brooding tendency with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while they performed the construction and elaboration of autobiographical memories. Behavioral findings demonstrate that brooders reported lower mood states, needed more time for memory construction and rated their memories as less detailed and less positive. On the neural level, brooding tendency was related to increased amygdala activation during the search for specific memories and reduced engagement of cortical networks during elaboration. Moreover, coupling patterns of the subgenual cingulate cortex with the hippocampus (HC) and the amygdala predicted details and less positive valence of memories in brooders. Our findings support the hypothesis that ruminative thinking interferes with the search for specific memories while facilitating the uncontrolled retrieval of negatively biased self-schemes. The observed neurobehavioral dysfunctions might put older people with brooding tendency at high risk for becoming depressed when reviewing their past. Training of autobiographical memory ability might therefore be a promising approach to increase resilience against depression in late-life.