Professor Li Jianbiao’s Research Group Publishes in NeuroImage to Reveal Neural Representation of Decision-making Power Differences in Partnership Investors

Recently, the research group of Professor Li Jianbiao from the School of Economics and the Center for Brain-Like Economics, Shandong University has made important progress in the field of neural representation of decision-making power differences in partnership investors. The latest research findings Decision-making power enhances investors’ neural processing of persuasive message in partnership investment have been published online in NeuroImage (Division 1 of Neuroimaging in CAS Partition), a top journal in neuroeconomics. The paper was co-authored by Professor Li Jianbiao, Associate Researcher Zhu Chengkang, doctoral student Chen Peikun from the School of Economics, Shandong University, and Dr. Pan Jingjing from the University of Jinan. Associate Researcher Zhu Chengkang is the corresponding author.

This study takes the lead in exploring how decision-making power shapes the neural mechanism of persuasive communication in partnership investment, aiming to provide neuroscientific support for the "power-responsibility hypothesis" and the "power-overconfidence hypothesis". Using fNIRS hyperscanning technology to accurately record brain activity of partnership investors during persuasion, the study reveals how decision-making power promotes recipients to tend to adopt persuaders’ suggestions. The results confirm the power-responsibility hypothesis, showing that decision-making power significantly affects the recipient’s mentalization process and neural synchronization between the recipient and the persuader, intuitively proving how decision-making power affects partnership investors’ processing of peer suggestions at the neural level. This achievement not only deepens our understanding of the neural basis of persuasion strategies in partnership investment decision-making, but also opens up a new research perspective for persuasion behavior in group decision-making environments.

This research was supported by the Major and Key Programs of the National Social Science Fund of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province. The research findings of Professor Li Jianbiao’s research group have been widely published in many top domestic and foreign academic journals, including PNAS, Management Science, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Experimental Economics, and Economic Research (Quarterly). The team has been approved as the second batch of scientific research and innovation teams by the School of Economics, Shandong University.