Dissociable after-effects of prosocial acts: Effort is costly for others but valued for self

Abstract

Engaging in prosocial behavior requires effort, yet people are often averse to exerting effort for others benefit. However, it remains unclear how effort exertion affects subsequent reward evaluation during prosocial acts. Here, we combined high-temporal-resolution electroencephalography with a paradigm that independently manipulated effort and reward for self and others to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the reward after-effect of prosocial effort expenditure. We found dissociable reward after-effects for self-benefiting and other-benefiting effort. For self-benefiting rewards, the reward positivity (RewP) increased with effort demand, suggesting an effort-enhancement effect. In contrast, for other-benefiting rewards, the RewP decreased as effort increased, demonstrating an effort-discounting effect. Critically, this dissociation was contingent upon high reward magnitude and modulated by individual differences in effort discounting, yet remained distinct from performance evaluation. Our findings reveal distinct neural computations for self- and other-benefiting efforts, offering new insights into how prior effort expenditure shapes reward evaluation during prosocial behavior.