关键词: 公平, 奖赏, 独裁者游戏, 合作决策, 情景记忆

Abstract:

Episodic memory is of great significance due to its adaptability, as it allows individuals to employ fair information from past experiences to guide current decisions. However, although some studies have explored the impact of fairness on episodic memory using the dictator game paradigm, there is still no academic consensus on individual episodic memory biases. Specifically, it remains unclear whether lower or higher fair allocations are more likely to be remembered. Moreover, an often - overlooked issue is that, despite the high correlation and correspondence between fairness and reward in experiments, most existing studies have not fully considered or controlled the potential influence of rewards on memory.

Consequently, with the aim of delving into the influence of fairness on episodic memory and the moderating effect of rewards therein, this research employed the dictator game paradigm. The degree of fairness was manipulated by varying the ratio of the two parties' payoffs, and three formal experiments were carried out. Experiment 1 was designed to disentangle the effects of rewards and fairness, with the purpose of uncovering the solitary impact of fairness on episodic memory. In contrast, Experiments 2 and 3 were dedicated to exploring and comparing the roles of different reward types. Specifically, in Experiment 2, relative rewards were manipulated within the context of small absolute rewards, while in Experiment 3, this was done under large absolute - reward conditions. By comparing the episodic memory outcomes of these two experiments, the effect of the magnitude of absolute rewards was elucidated.

The results of Experiment 1 showed that when the reward was held constant and the allocations of different dictators varied only in fairness, high-fairness allocations led to better episodic memory. Experiments 2 and 3 results revealed the stable moderating role of relative rewards in the fairness-episodic memory relationship. Subjects preferred to remember low-fairness allocations with small relative rewards and high-fairness allocations with large relative rewards. Absolute rewards had no such effect and did not change the moderating function of relative rewards. This reveals a significant mutual enhancement effect between fairness and relative rewards when the motivation directions they evoke are consistent, both being either approach-oriented or avoidance-oriented. In addition, all experiments strongly verified the adaptability of episodic memory. People can use the episodic memory of past cooperation to guide future decisions, making them more favorable to themselves.

In summary, this study provides a new perspective for understanding the formation mechanism of social episodic memory by revealing the complex interaction between social fairness and non-social reward factors. These findings not only enrich the theoretical framework of memory research, but also provide valuable references for decision-making in real life.

Key words: fairness, reward, dictator game, cooperative decision-making, episodic memory