Will and colleagues were therefore able to relate self-esteem to the difference between predicted and received social feedback. Social prediction errors drove learning about others, but they also generated updates in one’s own self-esteem. Intriguingly two different subdivisions of the anterior cingulate cortex tracked these social prediction errors and updates in self-esteem, respectively. Whilst the sgACC and adjacent ventral striatum tracked prediction errors in social feedback, activity in the pgACC reflected update signals (Figure 1).
