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Ma J, O'Malley JJ, Kreiker M, Leng Y, Khan I, Kindel M, Penzo MA. Convergent direct and indirect cortical streams shape avoidance decisions in mice via the midline thalamus. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6598. [PMID: 39097600 PMCID: PMC11297946 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50941-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 07/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Current concepts of corticothalamic organization in the mammalian brain are mainly based on sensory systems, with less focus on circuits for higher-order cognitive functions. In sensory systems, first-order thalamic relays are driven by subcortical inputs and modulated by cortical feedback, while higher-order relays receive strong excitatory cortical inputs. The applicability of these principles beyond sensory systems is uncertain. We investigated mouse prefronto-thalamic projections to the midline thalamus, revealing distinct top-down control. Unlike sensory systems, this pathway relies on indirect modulation via the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). Specifically, the prelimbic area, which influences emotional and motivated behaviors, impacts instrumental avoidance responses through direct and indirect projections to the paraventricular thalamus. Both pathways promote defensive states, but the indirect pathway via the TRN is essential for organizing avoidance decisions through disinhibition. Our findings highlight intra-thalamic circuit dynamics that integrate cortical cognitive signals and their role in shaping complex behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Ma
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Laboratory of Anesthesia and Analgesia Application Technology, Xuzhou Medical University, 221004, Xuzhou, China
| | - John J O'Malley
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Malaz Kreiker
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Yan Leng
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Isbah Khan
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Morgan Kindel
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Mario A Penzo
- Section on the Neural Circuits of Emotion and Motivation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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2
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Sui J, Rotshtein P, Lu Z, Chechlacz M. Causal Roles of Ventral and Dorsal Neural Systems for Automatic and Control Self-Reference Processing: A Function Lesion Mapping Study. J Clin Med 2024; 13:4170. [PMID: 39064210 PMCID: PMC11278450 DOI: 10.3390/jcm13144170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2024] [Revised: 07/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/15/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Background: Humans perceive and interpret the world through the lens of self-reference processes, typically facilitating enhanced performance for the task at hand. However, this research has predominantly emphasized the automatic facet of self-reference processing, overlooking how it interacts with control processes affecting everyday situations. Methods: We investigated this relationship between automatic and control self-reference processing in neuropsychological patients performing self-face perception tasks and the Birmingham frontal task measuring executive functions. Results: Principal component analysis across tasks revealed two components: one loaded on familiarity/orientation judgments reflecting automatic self-reference processing, and the other linked to the cross task and executive function indicating control processing requirements. Voxel-based morphometry and track-wise lesion-mapping analyses showed that impairments in automatic self-reference were associated with reduced grey matter in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and right inferior temporal gyrus, and white matter damage in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Deficits in executive control were linked to reduced grey matter in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and left anterior insula, and white matter disconnections in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus. Conclusions: The causal evidence suggests that automatic and control facets of self-reference processes are subserved by distinct yet integrated ventral prefrontal-temporal and dorsal frontal-parietal networks, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Sui
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
| | - Pia Rotshtein
- Neuroimaging Research Unit, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
| | - Zhuoen Lu
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
| | - Magdalena Chechlacz
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
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3
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Guthrie TD, Chavez RS. Normativity vs. uniqueness: effects of social relationship strength on neural representations of others. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae045. [PMID: 38915187 PMCID: PMC11232616 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Revised: 05/07/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding others involves inferring traits and intentions, a process complicated by our reliance on stereotypes and generalized information when we lack personal information. Yet, as relationships are formed, we shift toward nuanced and individualized perceptions of others. This study addresses how relationship strength influences the creation of unique or normative representations of others in key regions known to be involved in social cognition. Employing a round-robin interpersonal perception paradigm (N = 111, 20 groups of five to six people), we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine whether the strength of social relationships modulated the degree to which multivoxel patterns of activity that represented a specific other were similar to a normative average of all others in the study. Behaviorally, stronger social relationships were associated with more normative trait endorsements. Neural findings reveal that closer relationships lead to more unique representations in the medial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, areas associated with mentalizing and person perception. Conversely, more generalized representations emerge in posterior regions like the posterior cingulate cortex, indicating a complex interplay between individuated and generalized processing of social information in the brain. These findings suggest that cortical regions typically associated with social cognition may compute different kinds of information when representing the distinctiveness of others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor D Guthrie
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, United States
| | - Robert S Chavez
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, United States
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Guo X, Yin L. Behavioral dishonesty in multiscenes: Associations with trait honesty and neural patterns during (dis)honesty video-watching. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26710. [PMID: 38853713 PMCID: PMC11163231 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Cross-situational inconsistency is common in the expression of honesty traits; yet, there is insufficient emphasis on behavioral dishonesty across multiple contexts. The current study aimed to investigate behavioral dishonesty in various contexts and reveal the associations between trait honesty, behavioral dishonesty, and neural patterns of observing others behave honestly or dishonestly in videos (abbr.: (dis)honesty video-watching). First, the results revealed limitations in using trait honesty to reflect variations in dishonest behaviors and predict behavioral dishonesty. The finding highlights the importance of considering neural patterns in understanding and predicting dishonest behaviors. Second, by comparing the predictive performance of seven types of data across three neural networks, the results showed that functional connectivity in the hypothesis-driven network during (dis)honesty video-watching provided the highest predictive power in predicting multitask behavioral dishonesty. Last, by applying the feature elimination method, the midline self-referential regions (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex), anterior insula, and striatum were identified as the most informative brain regions in predicting behavioral dishonesty. In summary, the study offered insights into individual differences in deception and the intricate connections among trait honesty, behavioral dishonesty, and neural patterns during (dis)honesty video-watching.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoli Guo
- Department of Psychology, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental HealthSun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Lijun Yin
- Department of Psychology, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental HealthSun Yat‐Sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
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5
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Do KT, Prinstein MJ, Lindquist KA, Telzer EH. Neural Tracking of Perceived Parent, but Not Peer, Norms Is Associated with Longitudinal Changes in Adolescent Attitudes about Externalizing Behaviors. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1221-1237. [PMID: 38579244 PMCID: PMC11095915 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Adolescents' perceptions of parent and peer norms about externalizing behaviors influence the extent to which they adopt similar attitudes, yet little is known about how the trajectories of perceived parent and peer norms are related to trajectories of personal attitudes across adolescence. Neural development of midline regions implicated in self-other processing may underlie developmental changes in parent and peer influence. Here, we examined whether neural processing of perceived parent and peer norms in midline regions during self-evaluations would be associated with trajectories of personal attitudes about externalizing behaviors. Trajectories of adolescents' perceived parent and peer norms were examined longitudinally with functional neuroimaging (n = 165; ages 11-16 years across three waves; 86 girls, 79 boys; 29.7% White, 21.8% Black, 35.8% Latinx, 12.7% other/multiracial). Behavioral results showed perceived parent norms were less permissive than adolescents' own attitudes about externalizing behaviors, whereas perceived peer norms were more permissive than adolescents' own attitudes, effects that increased from early to middle adolescence. Although younger adolescents reported less permissive attitudes when they spontaneously tracked perceived parent norms in the ventromedial and medial pFCs during self-evaluations, this effect weakened as they aged. No brain-behavior effects were found when tracking perceived peer norms. These findings elucidate how perceived parent and peer norms change in parallel with personal attitudes about externalizing behaviors from early to middle adolescence and underscore the importance of spontaneous neural tracking of perceived parent norms during self-evaluations for buffering permissive personal attitudes, particularly in early adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathy T Do
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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6
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Jiang Y. A theory of the neural mechanisms underlying negative cognitive bias in major depression. Front Psychiatry 2024; 15:1348474. [PMID: 38532986 PMCID: PMC10963437 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1348474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024] Open
Abstract
The widely acknowledged cognitive theory of depression, developed by Aaron Beck, focused on biased information processing that emphasizes the negative aspects of affective and conceptual information. Current attempts to discover the neurological mechanism underlying such cognitive and affective bias have successfully identified various brain regions associated with severally biased functions such as emotion, attention, rumination, and inhibition control. However, the neurobiological mechanisms of how individuals in depression develop this selective processing toward negative is still under question. This paper introduces a neurological framework centered around the frontal-limbic circuit, specifically analyzing and synthesizing the activity and functional connectivity within the amygdala, hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex. Firstly, a possible explanation of how the positive feedback loop contributes to the persistent hyperactivity of the amygdala in depression at an automatic level is established. Building upon this, two hypotheses are presented: hypothesis 1 revolves around the bidirectional amygdalohippocampal projection facilitating the amplification of negative emotions and memories while concurrently contributing to the impediment of the retrieval of opposing information in the hippocampus attractor network. Hypothesis 2 highlights the involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the establishment of a negative cognitive framework through the generalization of conceptual and emotional information in conjunction with the amygdala and hippocampus. The primary objective of this study is to improve and complement existing pathological models of depression, pushing the frontiers of current understanding in neuroscience of affective disorders, and eventually contributing to successful recovery from the debilitating affective disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuyue Jiang
- University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
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7
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Flannery JS, Burnell K, Kwon SJ, Jorgensen NA, Prinstein MJ, Lindquist KA, Telzer EH. Developmental changes in brain function linked with addiction-like social media use two years later. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae008. [PMID: 38334692 PMCID: PMC10873518 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Addiction-like social media use (ASMU) is widely reported among adolescents and is associated with depression and other negative health outcomes. We aimed to identify developmental trajectories of neural social feedback processing that are linked to higher levels of ASMU in later adolescence. Within a longitudinal design, 103 adolescents completed a social incentive delay task during 1-3 fMRI scans (6-9th grade), and a 4th self-report assessment of ASMU and depressive symptoms ∼2 years later (10-11th grade). We assessed ASMU effects on brain responsivity to positive social feedback across puberty and relationships between brain responsivity development, ASMU symptoms, and depressive symptoms while considering gender effects. Findings demonstrate decreasing responsivity, across puberty, in the ventral media prefrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and right inferior frontal gyrus associated with higher ASMU symptoms over 2 years later. Significant moderated mediation models suggest that these pubertal decreases in brain responsivity are associated with increased ASMU symptoms which, among adolescent girls (but not boys), is in turn associated with increased depressive symptoms. Results suggest initial hyperresponsivity to positive social feedback, before puberty onset, and decreases in this response across development, may be risk factors for ASMU in later adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica S Flannery
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Kaitlyn Burnell
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Seh-Joo Kwon
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Nathan A Jorgensen
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Mitchell J Prinstein
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Kristen A Lindquist
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
| | - Eva H Telzer
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 235 E. Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA
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8
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Gilliam AN, Gutchess A. Influence of acculturation and cultural values on the self-reference effect. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1624. [PMID: 38238341 PMCID: PMC10796948 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46210-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Cultural milieu can influence the way information is processed and what strategies are employed to deal with ever-changing environments. This study assessed whether acculturation and cultural values of East Asians can affect memory, with a specific focus on the self-reference effect in Chinese international students. Participants encoded and retrieved adjectives, with some trials relating the words to the self (i.e., the self-referencing task), another person, or a control condition; participants also completed questionnaires assessing cultural adaptation and self-construal. Results did not show a relationship between acculturation orientation and self-construal and the magnitude of the self-reference effect in memory, defined as better memory for adjectives encoded related to the self compared to those related to close others, in this sample of Chinese international students. Future research should explore effects of acculturation over time, incorporating more heterogeneous samples and sensitive neural measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley N Gilliam
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, MA, 02543, USA.
| | - Angela Gutchess
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Waltham, MA, 02543, USA
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9
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Geng L, Feng Q, Wang X, Gao Y, Hao L, Qiu J. Connectome-based modeling reveals a resting-state functional network that mediates the relationship between social rejection and rumination. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1264221. [PMID: 37965648 PMCID: PMC10642796 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1264221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Rumination impedes problem solving and is one of the most important factors in the onset and maintenance of multiple psychiatric disorders. The current study aims to investigate the impact of social rejection on rumination and explore the underlying neural mechanisms involved in this process. Methods We utilized psychological questionnaire and resting-state brain imaging data from a sample of 560 individuals. The predictive model for rumination scores was constructed using resting-state functional connectivity data through connectome-based predictive modeling. Additionally, a mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the mediating role of the prediction network in the relationship between social rejection and rumination. Results A positive correlation between social rejection and rumination was found. We obtained the prediction model of rumination and found that the strongest contributions came from the intra- and internetwork connectivity within the default mode network (DMN), dorsal attention network (DAN), frontoparietal control network (FPCN), and sensorimotor networks (SMN). Analysis of node strength revealed the significance of the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and angular gyrus (AG) as key nodes in the prediction model. In addition, mediation analysis showed that the strength of the prediction network mediated the relationship between social rejection and rumination. Conclusion The findings highlight the crucial role of functional connections among the DMN, DAN, FPCN, and SMN in linking social rejection and rumination, particular in brain regions implicated in social cognition and emotion, namely the SMG and AG regions. These results enhance our understanding of the consequences of social rejection and provide insights for novel intervention strategies targeting rumination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Geng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Qiuyang Feng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Xueyang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Yixin Gao
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Lei Hao
- College of Teacher Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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10
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Stendardi D, Giordani LG, Gambino S, Kaplan R, Ciaramelli E. Who am I really? The ephemerality of the self-schema following vmPFC damage. Neuropsychologia 2023; 188:108651. [PMID: 37481034 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/24/2023]
Abstract
We studied the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in supporting the self-schema, by asking vmPFC patients, along with healthy and brain-damaged controls, to judge the degree to which they (or another person) were likely to engage in a series of activities, and how confident they were in their responses. Critically, participants provided their judgments on two separate occasions, a week apart. Our underlying assumption was that a strong self-schema would lead to confident and stable self-related judgments. We observed that control groups exhibited higher across-session consistency for self-related compared to other-related judgments, while this self-advantage was absent in vmPFC patients. In addition, regression analyses showed that in control groups the level of confidence associated with a specific (self- or other-related) judgment predicted the stability of that judgment across sessions. In contrast, vmPFC patients' confidence and rating consistency were aligned only for other-related judgments. By contrast, self-related judgments changed across sessions regardless of the confidence level with which they were initially endorsed. These findings indicate that the vmPFC is crucial to maintaining the self-schema and supporting the reliable retrieval of self-related information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Stendardi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia 'Renzo Canestrari', Università di Bologna, Bologna, 40126, Italy; Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy.
| | - Luca Giacometti Giordani
- Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy
| | - Silvia Gambino
- Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy
| | - Raphael Kaplan
- Department of Basic Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de La Plana, 12071, Spain
| | - Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia 'Renzo Canestrari', Università di Bologna, Bologna, 40126, Italy; Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy.
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Torabian S, Grossman ED. When shapes are more than shapes: perceptual, developmental, and neurophysiological basis for attributions of animacy and theory of mind. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1168739. [PMID: 37744598 PMCID: PMC10513434 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1168739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Among a variety of entities in their environment, what do humans consider alive or animate and how does this attribution of animacy promote development of more abstract levels of mentalizing? By decontextualizing the environment of bodily features, we review how physical movements give rise to perceived animacy in Heider-Simmel style animations. We discuss the developmental course of how perceived animacy shapes our interpretation of the social world, and specifically discuss when and how children transition from perceiving actions as goal-directed to attributing behaviors to unobservable mental states. This transition from a teleological stance, asserting a goal-oriented interpretation to an agent's actions, to a mentalistic stance allows older children to reason about more complex actions guided by hidden beliefs. The acquisition of these more complex cognitive behaviors happens developmentally at the same time neural systems for social cognition are coming online in young children. We review perceptual, developmental, and neural evidence to identify the joint cognitive and neural changes associated with when children begin to mentalize and how this ability is instantiated in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sajjad Torabian
- Visual Perception and Neuroimaging Lab, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
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12
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Vessel EA, Pasqualette L, Uran C, Koldehoff S, Bignardi G, Vinck M. Self-Relevance Predicts the Aesthetic Appeal of Real and Synthetic Artworks Generated via Neural Style Transfer. Psychol Sci 2023; 34:1007-1023. [PMID: 37578091 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231188107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
What determines the aesthetic appeal of artworks? Recent work suggests that aesthetic appeal can, to some extent, be predicted from a visual artwork's image features. Yet a large fraction of variance in aesthetic ratings remains unexplained and may relate to individual preferences. We hypothesized that an artwork's aesthetic appeal depends strongly on self-relevance. In a first study (N = 33 adults, online replication N = 208), rated aesthetic appeal for real artworks was positively predicted by rated self-relevance. In a second experiment (N = 45 online), we created synthetic, self-relevant artworks using deep neural networks that transferred the style of existing artworks to photographs. Style transfer was applied to self-relevant photographs selected to reflect participant-specific attributes such as autobiographical memories. Self-relevant, synthetic artworks were rated as more aesthetically appealing than matched control images, at a level similar to human-made artworks. Thus, self-relevance is a key determinant of aesthetic appeal, independent of artistic skill and image features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward A Vessel
- Department of Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
| | - Laura Pasqualette
- Neurocognitive Developmental Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg
| | - Cem Uran
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute
- Department of Neurophysics, Donders Centre for Neuroscience
| | - Sarah Koldehoff
- Department of Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
| | - Giacomo Bignardi
- Department of Language and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
- Max Planck School of Cognition
| | - Martin Vinck
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute
- Department of Neurophysics, Donders Centre for Neuroscience
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13
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Kotlewska I, Panek B, Nowicka A, Asanowicz D. Posterior theta activity reveals an early signal of self-face recognition. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13823. [PMID: 37620563 PMCID: PMC10449829 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41071-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Self-related visual information, especially one's own face and name, are processed in a specific, prioritized way. However, the spatio-temporal brain dynamics of self-prioritization have remained elusive. Moreover, it has been unclear whether this prioritization is an effect of enhancement and amplification, or rather a facilitating automatization of processing self-referential information. In this EEG study, 25 married women (who changed their surnames after marriage, so that their past and present surnames could be used as stimuli) performed a detection task with faces and names from five categories: self, self from the past, friend, famous, and unknown person. The aim was to determine the temporal and spatial characteristics of early electrophysiological markers of self-referential processing. We report results of event-related component (ERP) and time-frequency analyses. In the ERPs, the earliest self-relevance effect was displayed only 300 ms after stimulus onset in the midfrontal N2, and later in the parietal P3b, independently of the stimulus type. No self-relevance effect was found on the N170 component. However, local theta power at the occipito-temporal (visual) areas and inter-regional theta phase coherence between the visual and midfrontal areas showed that self-relevance differentiation of faces began already about 100-300 ms after stimulus onset. No such early effects were found for names. The results are discussed in terms of the time-course, functional localization, stimulus-specificity, and automatization of self-prioritization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilona Kotlewska
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Krakow, Poland.
| | - Bartłomiej Panek
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Krakow, Poland
| | - Anna Nowicka
- Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Pasteura 3, 02-093, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Dariusz Asanowicz
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060, Krakow, Poland
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Jagger-Rickels A, Stumps A, Rothlein D, Evans T, Lee D, McGlinchey R, DeGutis J, Esterman M. Aberrant connectivity in the right amygdala and right middle temporal gyrus before and after a suicide attempt: Examining markers of suicide risk. J Affect Disord 2023; 335:24-35. [PMID: 37086805 PMCID: PMC10330566 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.04.061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 04/24/2023]
Abstract
Functional neuroimaging has the potential to help identify those at risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, as well as inform neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to suicide. Based on whole-brain patterns of functional connectivity, our previous work identified right amygdala and right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) connectivity patterns that differentiated Veterans with a history of a suicide attempt (SA) from a Veteran control group. In this study, we aimed to replicate and extend our previous findings by examining whether this aberrant connectivity was present prior to and after a SA. In a trauma-exposed Veteran sample (92 % male, mean age = 34), we characterized if the right amygdala and right MTG connectivity differed between a psychiatric control sample (n = 56) and an independent sample of Veterans with a history of SA (n = 17), using fMRI data before and after the SA. Right MTG and amygdala connectivity differed between Veterans with and without a history of SA (replication), while MTG connectivity also distinguished Veterans prior to engaging in a SA (extension). In a second study, neither MTG or amygdala connectivity differed between those with current suicidal ideation (n = 27) relative to matched psychiatric controls (n = 27). These results indicate a potential stable marker of suicide risk (right MTG connectivity) as well as a potential marker of acute risk of or recent SA (right amygdala connectivity) that are independent of current ideation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audreyana Jagger-Rickels
- National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America; Boston Attention and Learning Lab, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America.
| | - Anna Stumps
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, United States of America
| | - David Rothlein
- National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Boston Attention and Learning Lab, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America
| | - Travis Evans
- Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America; Boston Attention and Learning Lab, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America
| | - Daniel Lee
- National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America
| | - Regina McGlinchey
- Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS), VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, United States of America; Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America
| | - Joseph DeGutis
- Boston Attention and Learning Lab, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders (TRACTS), VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, United States of America
| | - Michael Esterman
- National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America; Boston Attention and Learning Lab, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America; Neuroimaging Research for Veterans (NeRVe) Center, VA Boston Healthcare System, United States of America
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15
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Elder JJ, Davis TH, Hughes BL. A Fluid Self-Concept: How the Brain Maintains Coherence and Positivity across an Interconnected Self-Concept While Incorporating Social Feedback. J Neurosci 2023; 43:4110-4128. [PMID: 37156606 PMCID: PMC10255005 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1951-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023] Open
Abstract
People experience instances of social feedback as interdependent with potential implications for their entire self-concept. How do people maintain positivity and coherence across the self-concept while updating self-views from feedback? We present a network model describing how the brain represents the semantic dependency relations among traits and uses this information to avoid an overall loss of positivity and coherence. Both male and female human participants received social feedback during a self-evaluation task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. We modeled self-belief updating by incorporating a reinforcement learning model within the network structure. Participants learned more rapidly from positive than negative feedback and were less likely to change self-views for traits with more dependencies in the network. Further, participants back propagated feedback across network relations while retrieving prior feedback on the basis of network similarity to inform ongoing self-views. Activation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) reflected the constrained updating process such that positive feedback led to higher activation and negative feedback to less activation for traits with more dependencies. Additionally, vmPFC was associated with the novelty of a trait relative to previously self-evaluated traits in the network, and angular gyrus was associated with greater certainty for self-beliefs given the relevance of prior feedback. We propose that neural computations that selectively enhance or attenuate social feedback and retrieve past relevant experiences to guide ongoing self-evaluations may support an overall positive and coherent self-concept.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We humans experience social feedback throughout our lives, but we do not dispassionately incorporate feedback into our self-concept. The implications of feedback for our entire self-concept plays a role in how we either change or retain our prior self-beliefs. In a neuroimaging study, we find that people are less likely to change their beliefs from feedback when the feedback has broader implications for the self-concept. This resistance to change is reflected in processing in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region that is central to self-referential and social cognition. These results are broadly applicable given the role that maintaining a positive and coherent self-concept plays in promoting mental health and development throughout the lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob J Elder
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
| | | | - Brent L Hughes
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California 92521
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16
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Zhang J, Guo X, Zhang W, Liu D, Chen P, Zhang Y, Ru X. Maternal Variability of Amplitudes of Frequency Fluctuations Is Related to the Progressive Self-Other Transposition Group Intervention in Autistic Children. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13050774. [PMID: 37239246 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13050774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The self-to-other model of empathy (SOME) states that a key reason for the empathic deficiency in autistic individuals is the imbalance of the self-other switch. The existing interventions of theory of mind contain training of self-other transposition ability but combined with other cognitive trainings. The self-other distinction brain areas of autistic individuals have been revealed, but the brain areas of the self-other transposition ability and its intervention have not been investigated. There are normalized amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations (mALFFs) within 0.01-0.1 Hz and many normalized amplitudes of frequency fluctuations (mAFFs) within 0-0.01, 0.01-0.05, 0.05-0.1, 0.1-0.15, 0.15-0.2, and 0.2-0.25 Hz. Therefore, the current study established a progressive self-other transposition group intervention to specifically and systematically improve autistic children's self-other transposition abilities. The transposition test with a three mountains test, an unexpected location test, and a deception test was used to directly measure autistic children's transposition abilities. The Interpersonal Responsiveness Index Empathy Questionnaire with perspective-taking and fantasy subscales (IRI-T) was used to indirectly measure autistic children's transposition abilities. The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was used to measure autistic children's autism symptoms. The experiment was designed with two (intervention: experimental group vs. control group) independent variables and two (test time: pretest vs. posttest or tracking test) × three (test: transposition test vs. IRI-T test vs. ATEC test) dependent variables. Furthermore, it used eyes-closed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate and compare the relevant maternal mALFFs and average energy rank and energy rank variability of mAFFs of autistic children's transposition abilities, autism symptoms, and intervention effects. The results showed the following: (1) There were many improvements (pretest vs. posttest or tracking test) greater than chance 0 in the experimental group, such as the three mountains, lie, transposition, PT, IRI-T, PT tracking, cognition, behavior, ATEC, language tracking, cognition tracking, behavior tracking, and ATEC tracking improvements. However, there was no improvement greater than chance 0 in the control group. (2) The maternal mALFFs and maternal average energy rank and energy rank variability of mAFFs could predict the autistic children's transposition abilities, autism symptoms, and intervention effects with some overlap and some difference in maternal self-other distinction, sensorimotor, visual, facial expression recognition, language, memory and emotion, and self-consciousness networks. These results indicated that the progressive self-other transposition group intervention successfully improved autistic children's transposition abilities and reduced their autism symptoms; the intervention effects could be applied to daily life and last up to a month. The maternal mALFFs, average energy rank, and energy rank variability of mAFFs were three effective neural indictors of autistic children's transposition abilities, autism symptoms, and intervention effects, and the average energy rank and energy rank variability of mAFFs were two new neural indictors established in the current study. The maternal neural markers of the progressive self-other transposition group intervention effects for autistic children were found in part.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianxin Zhang
- The Autism Research Center, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
- School of Education, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
| | - Xiaorong Guo
- Department of Radiology, Dushu Lake Public Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University, Medical Center of Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Weiguo Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Dushu Lake Public Hospital Affiliated to Soochow University, Medical Center of Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Dianzhi Liu
- The Autism Research Center, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
- School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Peiqi Chen
- School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Yuqing Zhang
- School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
| | - Xiaoyuan Ru
- School of Education, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China
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17
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Zhang Y, Banihashemi L, Samolyk A, Taylor M, English G, Schmithorst VJ, Lee VK, Versace A, Stiffler R, Aslam H, Panigrahy A, Hipwell AE, Phillips ML. Early infant prefrontal gray matter volume is associated with concurrent and future infant emotionality. Transl Psychiatry 2023; 13:125. [PMID: 37069146 PMCID: PMC10110602 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-023-02427-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Revised: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023] Open
Abstract
High levels of infant negative emotionality (NE) are associated with emotional and behavioral problems later in childhood. Identifying neural markers of high NE as well as low positive emotionality (PE) in infancy can provide neural markers to aid early identification of vulnerability, and inform interventions to help delay or even prevent psychiatric disorders before the manifestation of symptoms. Prefrontal cortical (PFC) subregions support the regulation of NE and PE, with each PFC subregion differentially specializing in distinct emotional regulation processes. Gray matter (GM) volume measures show good test-retest reliability, and thus have potential use as neural markers of NE and PE. Yet, while studies showed PFC GM structural abnormalities in adolescents and young adults with affective disorders, few studies examined how PFC subregional GM measures are associated with NE and PE in infancy. We aimed to identify relationships among GM in prefrontal cortical subregions at 3 months and caregiver report of infant NE and PE, covarying for infant age and gender and caregiver sociodemographic and clinical variables, in two independent samples at 3 months (Primary: n = 75; Replication sample: n = 40) and at 9 months (Primary: n = 44; Replication sample: n = 40). In the primary sample, greater 3-month medial superior frontal cortical volume was associated with higher infant 3-month NE (p < 0.05); greater 3-month ventrolateral prefrontal cortical volume predicted lower infant 9-month PE (p < 0.05), even after controlling for 3-month NE and PE. GM volume in other PFC subregions also predicted infant 3- and 9-month NE and PE, together with infant demographic factors, caregiver age, and/or caregiver affective instability and anxiety. These findings were replicated in the independent sample. To our knowledge, this is the first study to determine in primary and replication samples associations among infant PFC GM volumes and concurrent and prospective NE and PE, and identify promising, early markers of future psychopathology risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yicheng Zhang
- University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
| | - Layla Banihashemi
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Alyssa Samolyk
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Megan Taylor
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Gabrielle English
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Vanessa J Schmithorst
- UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Vincent K Lee
- UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Amelia Versace
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Richelle Stiffler
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Haris Aslam
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Ashok Panigrahy
- UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Alison E Hipwell
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Mary L Phillips
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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18
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Broom TW, Stahl JL, Ping EEC, Wagner DD. They Saw a Debate: Political Polarization Is Associated with Greater Multivariate Neural Synchrony When Viewing the Opposing Candidate Speak. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 35:60-73. [PMID: 35802592 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
With rampant polarization in current U.S. politics, it seems as though political partisans with opposing viewpoints are living in parallel realities. Indeed, prior research shows that people's impressions/attitudes toward political candidates are intertwined with their political affiliation. The current study investigated the relationship between political affiliation and intersubject neural synchrony of multivariate patterns of activity during naturalistic viewing of a presidential debate. Before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, 20 individuals varying in political affiliation underwent functional neuroimaging while watching the first debate between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Pairs of participants with more polarized political affiliations were higher in neural synchrony in a system of brain regions involved in self-referential processing when viewing the opposing candidate speak compared with that candidate's supporters regardless of which extreme of the political spectrum they occupied. Moreover, pairs of political partisans matching in the candidate they supported were higher in neural synchrony when watching the candidate they opposed compared with the one they both supported. These findings suggest that political groups' shared understanding may be driven more by perceptions of outgroups than of their own party/candidates.
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19
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Flechsenhar A, Kanske P, Krach S, Korn C, Bertsch K. The (un)learning of social functions and its significance for mental health. Clin Psychol Rev 2022; 98:102204. [PMID: 36216722 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Social interactions are dynamic, context-dependent, and reciprocal events that influence prospective strategies and require constant practice and adaptation. This complexity of social interactions creates several research challenges. We propose a new framework encouraging future research to investigate not only individual differences in capacities relevant for social functioning and their underlying mechanisms, but also the flexibility to adapt or update one's social abilities. We suggest three key capacities relevant for social functioning: (1) social perception, (2) sharing emotions or empathizing, and (3) mentalizing. We elaborate on how adaptations in these capacities may be investigated on behavioral and neural levels. Research on these flexible adaptations of one's social behavior is needed to specify how humans actually "learn to be social". Learning to adapt implies plasticity of the relevant brain networks involved in the underlying social processes, indicating that social abilities are malleable for different contexts. To quantify such measures, researchers need to find ways to investigate learning through dynamic changes in adaptable social paradigms and examine several factors influencing social functioning within the three aformentioned social key capacities. This framework furthers insight concerning individual differences, provides a holistic approach to social functioning, and may improve interventions for ameliorating social abilities in patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleya Flechsenhar
- Department Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany.
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Sören Krach
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Germany
| | - Christoph Korn
- Section Social Neuroscience, Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Katja Bertsch
- Department Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany; NeuroImaging Core Unit Munich (NICUM), University Hospital LMU, Munich, Germany; Department of General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
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20
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Mei D, Ke Z, Li Z, Zhang W, Gao D, Yin L. Self-deception: Distorted metacognitive process in ambiguous contexts. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 44:948-969. [PMID: 36308407 PMCID: PMC9875939 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
As one of the commonly used folk psychological concepts, self-deception has been intensively discussed yet is short of solid ground from cognitive neuroscience. Self-deception is a biased cognitive process of information to obtain or maintain a false belief that could be both self-enhancing or self-diminishing. Study 1 (N = 152) captured self-deception by adopting a modified numerical discrimination task that provided cheating opportunities, quantifying errors in predicting future performance (via item-response theory model), and measuring the belief of how good they are at solving the task (i.e., self-efficacy belief). By examining whether self-efficacy belief is based upon actual ability (true belief) or prediction errors (false belief), Study 1 showed that self-deception occurred in the effortless (easier access to answer cues) rather than effortful (harder access to answer cues) cheating opportunity conditions, suggesting high ambiguity in attributions facilitates self-deception. Studies 2 and 3 probed the neural source of self-deception, linking self-deception with the metacognitive process. Both studies replicated behavioral results from Study 1. Study 2 (ERP study; N = 55) found that the amplitude of frontal slow wave significantly differed between participants with positive/self-enhancing and negative/self-diminishing self-deceiving tendencies in incorrect predictions while remaining similar in correct predictions. Study 3 (functional magnetic resonance imaging study; N = 33) identified self-deceiving associated activity in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex and showed that effortless cheating context increased cheating behaviors that further facilitated self-deception. Our findings suggest self-deception is a false belief associated with a distorted metacognitive mental process that requires ambiguity in attributions of behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongmei Mei
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina,School of PsychologyGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Zijun Ke
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Zhihao Li
- School of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive ScienceShenzhen UniversityShenzhenGuangdongChina
| | - Wenjian Zhang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Dingguo Gao
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Lijun Yin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of PsychologySun Yat‐sen UniversityGuangzhouChina
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21
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Andonovski N. Episodic representation: A mental models account. Front Psychol 2022; 13:899371. [PMID: 35936308 PMCID: PMC9355728 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.899371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper offers a modeling account of episodic representation. I argue that the episodic system constructs mental models: representations that preserve the spatiotemporal structure of represented domains. In prototypical cases, these domains are events: occurrences taken by subjects to have characteristic structures, dynamics and relatively determinate beginnings and ends. Due to their simplicity and manipulability, mental event models can be used in a variety of cognitive contexts: in remembering the personal past, but also in future-oriented and counterfactual imagination. As structural representations, they allow surrogative reasoning, supporting inferences about their constituents which can be used in reasoning about the represented events.
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22
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Yang Z, Wildschut T, Izuma K, Gu R, Luo YLL, Cai H, Sedikides C. Patterns of brain activity associated with nostalgia: a social-cognitive neuroscience perspective. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022; 17:1131-1144. [PMID: 35560158 PMCID: PMC9714426 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsac036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Nostalgia arises from tender and yearnful reflection on meaningful life events or important persons from one's past. In the last two decades, the literature has documented a variety of ways in which nostalgia benefits psychological well-being. Only a handful of studies, however, have addressed the neural basis of the emotion. In this prospective review, we postulate a neural model of nostalgia. Self-reflection, autobiographical memory, regulatory capacity and reward are core components of the emotion. Thus, nostalgia involves brain activities implicated in self-reflection processing (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus), autobiographical memory processing (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus), emotion regulation processing (anterior cingulate cortex and medial prefrontal cortex) and reward processing (striatum, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area and ventromedial prefrontal cortex). Nostalgia's potential to modulate activity in these core neural substrates has both theoretical and applied implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyan Yang
- Correspondence should be addressed to Huajian Cai, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing 100101, China. E-mail:
| | - Tim Wildschut
- Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Keise Izuma
- School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi 780-8515, Japan
| | - Ruolei Gu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yu L L Luo
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Huajian Cai
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Constantine Sedikides
- Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
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23
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Di Domenico SI, Fournier MA, Rodrigo AH, Dong M, Ayaz H, Ryan RM, Ruocco AC. Medial Prefrontal Activity During Self-Other Judgments is Modulated by Relationship Need Fulfillment. Soc Neurosci 2022; 17:236-245. [PMID: 35504857 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2022.2074135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays an important role in representing semantic self-knowledge. Studies comparing semantic self-judgments with judgments of close others suggest that interpersonal closeness may influence the degree to which the MPFC differentiates self and other. We used optical neuroimaging to examine if support for competence, relatedness, and autonomy from relationship partners moderates MPFC activity during a personality judgement task. Participants (N = 109) were asked to judge the descriptive accuracy of trait adjectives for both themselves and a friend. Participants who reported lower need fulfillment with their friend showed elevated activity only in the self-judgment condition; in contrast, participants who reported higher need fulfillment with their friend showed similarly high levels of MPFC activity across the conditions. These results are consistent with the idea that the MPFC differentially represents others on the basis of the need fulfillment experienced within the relationship.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Mengxi Dong
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough
| | - Hasan Ayaz
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University.,Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University.,Drexel Solutions Institute, Drexel University.,Department of Family and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania.,Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
| | - Richard M Ryan
- Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University
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24
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Luis EO, Akrivou K, Bermejo-Martins E, Scalzo G, Orón JV. The Interprocessual-Self Theory in Support of Human Neuroscience Studies. Front Psychol 2022; 12:686928. [PMID: 35153881 PMCID: PMC8832125 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.686928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Rather than occurring abstractly (autonomously), ethical growth occurs in interpersonal relationships (IRs). It requires optimally functioning cognitive processes [attention, working memory (WM), episodic/autobiographical memory (AM), inhibition, flexibility, among others], emotional processes (physical contact, motivation, and empathy), processes surrounding ethical, intimacy, and identity issues, and other psychological processes (self-knowledge, integration, and the capacity for agency). Without intending to be reductionist, we believe that these aspects are essential for optimally engaging in IRs and for the personal constitution. While they are all integrated into our daily life, in research and academic work, it is hard to see how they are integrated. Thus, we need better theoretical frameworks for studying them. That study and integration thereof are undertaken differently depending on different views of what it means to live as a human being. We rely on neuroscientific data to support the chosen theory to offer knowledge to understand human beings and interpersonal relational growth. We should of course note that to describe what makes up the uniqueness of being, acting, and growing as a human person involves something much more profound which requires too, a methodology that opens the way for a theory of the person that responds to the concerns of philosophy and philosophical anthropology from many disciplines and methods (Orón Semper, 2015; Polo, 2015), but this is outside the scope of this study. With these in mind, this article aims to introduce a new explanatory framework, called the Interprocessual-self (IPS), for the neuroscientific findings that allow for a holistic consideration of the previously mentioned processes. Contributing to the knowledge of personal growth and avoiding a reductionist view, we first offer a general description of the research that supports the interrelation between personal virtue in IRs and relevant cognitive, emotional, and ethic-moral processes. This reveals how relationships allow people to relate ethically and grow as persons. We include conceptualizations and descriptions of their neural bases. Secondly, with the IPS model, we explore neuroscientific findings regarding self-knowledge, integration, and agency, all psychological processes that stimulate inner exploration of the self concerning the other. We find that these fundamental conditions can be understood from IPS theory. Finally, we explore situations that involve the integration of two levels, namely the interpersonal one and the social contexts of relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elkin O. Luis
- Psychological Processes in Education and Health Group, School of Education and Psychology, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Navarra Institute for Health Research, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Kleio Akrivou
- Henley Business School, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Elena Bermejo-Martins
- Navarra Institute for Health Research, Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Community Nursing and Midwifery, School of Nursing, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Germán Scalzo
- School of Business, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - José Víctor Orón
- Fundación UpToYou Educación, Zaragoza, Spain
- *Correspondence: José Víctor Orón,
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25
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Yankouskaya A, Sui J. Self-prioritization is supported by interactions between large-scale brain networks. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 55:1244-1261. [PMID: 35083806 PMCID: PMC9303922 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 11/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has provided solid evidence that the default-mode network (DMN) is implicated in self-referential processing. The functional connectivity of the DMN has also been observed in tasks where self-referential processing leads to self-prioritization (SPE) in perception and decision-making. However, we are less certain about whether (i) SPE solely depends on the interplay within parts of the DMN or is driven by multiple brain networks; and (ii) whether SPE is associated with a unique component of interconnected networks or can be explained by related effects such as emotion prioritization. We addressed these questions by identifying and comparing topological clusters of networks involved in self-and emotion prioritization effects generated in an associative-matching task. Using network-based statistics, we found that SPE controlled by emotion is supported by a unique component of interacting networks, including the medial prefrontal part of the DMN (MPFC), Frontoparietal network (FPN) and insular Salience network (SN). This component emerged as a result of a focal effect confined to few connections, indicating that interaction between DMN, FPC and SN is critical to cognitive operations for the SPE. This result was validated on a separate data set. In contrast, prioritization of happy emotion was associated with a component formed by interactions between the rostral prefrontal part of SN, posterior parietal part of FPN and the MPFC, while sad emotion reveals a cluster of the DMN, Dorsal Attention Network (DAN) and Visual Medial Network (VMN). We discussed theoretical and methodological aspects of these findings within the more general domain of social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Yankouskaya
- Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, UK
| | - J Sui
- School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, UK
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26
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Zamani A, Carhart-Harris R, Christoff K. Prefrontal contributions to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:329-348. [PMID: 34545195 PMCID: PMC8616944 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01147-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The human prefrontal cortex is a structurally and functionally heterogenous brain region, including multiple subregions that have been linked to different large-scale brain networks. It contributes to a broad range of mental phenomena, from goal-directed thought and executive functions to mind-wandering and psychedelic experience. Here we review what is known about the functions of different prefrontal subregions and their affiliations with large-scale brain networks to examine how they may differentially contribute to the diversity of mental phenomena associated with prefrontal function. An important dimension that distinguishes across different kinds of conscious experience is the stability or variability of mental states across time. This dimension is a central feature of two recently introduced theoretical frameworks-the dynamic framework of thought (DFT) and the relaxed beliefs under psychedelics (REBUS) model-that treat neurocognitive dynamics as central to understanding and distinguishing between different mental phenomena. Here, we bring these two frameworks together to provide a synthesis of how prefrontal subregions may differentially contribute to the stability and variability of thought and conscious experience. We close by considering future directions for this work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andre Zamani
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
| | - Robin Carhart-Harris
- Centre for Psychedelic Research, Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Kalina Christoff
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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27
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Lund AE, Russell C. What is the relationship between collective memory and metacognition? PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2022; 274:31-70. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2022.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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28
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Yaoi K, Osaka M, Osaka N. Does Implicit Self-Reference Effect Occur by the Instantaneous Own-Name? Front Psychol 2021; 12:709601. [PMID: 34671294 PMCID: PMC8521069 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-reference effect (SRE) is defined as better recall or recognition performance when the materials that are memorized refer to the self. The SRE paradigm usually requires participants to explicitly refer items to themselves, but some researchers have found that the SRE also can occur for implicitly self-referenced items. Few studies though have investigated the effect of self-related stimuli without awareness. In this study, we presented self-related (participants’ names) or other (other’s names or nouns) stimuli for a very short time between masks and then explicitly presented subsequent trait adjectives to participants. Recognition performance showed no significant differences between the own-name and the other two conditions in Experiment 1 that had random-order conditions. On the other hand, the result of Experiment 2 that had block-order conditions and greater prime stimuli suggests that SRE can occur as a result of the instantaneous stimulus: Subjects who showed better memory performance also had relatively high recognition of the trait adjectives that they viewed after their instantaneously presented own-name. This effect would show that self-representation can be activated by self-related stimuli without awareness and that subsequent items are unconsciously referenced to that self-representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ken Yaoi
- Research Center for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan.,United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Suita, Japan.,Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Mariko Osaka
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita, Japan
| | - Naoyuki Osaka
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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29
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Guthrie TD, Benadjaoud YY, Chavez RS. Social Relationship Strength Modulates the Similarity of Brain-to-Brain Representations of Group Members. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:2469-2477. [PMID: 34571532 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2021] [Revised: 08/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Within our societies, humans form co-operative groups with diverse levels of relationship quality among individual group members. In establishing relationships with others, we use attitudes and beliefs about group members and the group as a whole to establish relationships with particular members of our social networks. However, we have yet to understand how brain responses to group members facilitate relationship quality between pairs of individuals. We address this here using a round-robin interpersonal perception paradigm in which each participant was both a perceiver and target for every other member of their group in a set of 20 unique groups of between 5 and 6 members in each (total N = 111). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that measures of social relationship strength modulate the brain-to-brain multivoxel similarity patterns between pairs of participants' responses when perceiving other members of their group in regions of the brain implicated in social cognition. These results provide evidence for a brain mechanism of social cognitive processes serving interpersonal relationship strength among group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor D Guthrie
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | | | - Robert S Chavez
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
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30
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Merritt CC, MacCormack JK, Stein AG, Lindquist KA, Muscatell KA. The neural underpinnings of intergroup social cognition: an fMRI meta-analysis. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:903-914. [PMID: 33760100 PMCID: PMC8421705 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Revised: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Roughly 20 years of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated the neural correlates underlying engagement in social cognition (e.g. empathy and emotion perception) about targets spanning various social categories (e.g. race and gender). Yet, findings from individual studies remain mixed. In the present quantitative functional neuroimaging meta-analysis, we summarized across 50 fMRI studies of social cognition to identify consistent differences in neural activation as a function of whether the target of social cognition was an in-group or out-group member. We investigated if such differences varied according to a specific social category (i.e. race) and specific social cognitive processes (i.e. empathy and emotion perception). We found that social cognition about in-group members was more reliably related to activity in brain regions associated with mentalizing (e.g. dorsomedial prefrontal cortex), whereas social cognition about out-group members was more reliably related to activity in regions associated with exogenous attention and salience (e.g. anterior insula). These findings replicated for studies specifically focused on the social category of race, and we further found intergroup differences in neural activation during empathy and emotion perception tasks. These results help shed light on the neural mechanisms underlying social cognition across group lines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrington C Merritt
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Jennifer K MacCormack
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Andrea G Stein
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI 53705, USA
| | - Kristen A Lindquist
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Keely A Muscatell
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27515, USA
- Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27515, USA
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31
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Examining the episodic-semantic interaction during future thinking - A reanalysis of external details. Mem Cognit 2021; 50:617-629. [PMID: 34401984 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-021-01222-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
While traditional analyses of autobiographical construction tend to focus on the 'internal' or episodic details of the narrative, contemporary studies employing fine-grained scoring measures reveal the 'external' component to contain important information relevant to the individual's life story. Here, we used the recently developed NExt scoring protocol to explore profiles of external details generated by patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 11) and semantic dementia (SD) (n = 13) on a future thinking task. Overall, distinct NExt profiles were observed for future events in AD and SD. Specifically, AD patients provided significantly more Specific Episode external details compared with Controls. Using voxel-based morphometry, these increased external details within future narratives related to grey matter intensity in medial and lateral frontal regions in AD. By contrast, SD patients displayed an elevation of Specific Episode, Extended Episode, and General Semantic details during future simulation relative to Controls, which related to grey matter intensity of medial and lateral parietal regions. Our findings suggest that the compensatory external details generated during future simulation comprise an array of episodic and semantic details that vary in terms of specificity and self-relevance, which may be differentially affected depending on the locus of underlying neuropathology in dementia. Adopting a fine-grained approach to external details helps to characterise the interplay between episodic and semantic content during future stimulation and suggests potentially differential vulnerability and preservation of distinct components of the constructed narrative in clinical disorders.
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32
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Parelman JM, Doré BP, Cooper N, O'Donnell MB, Chan HY, Falk EB. Overlapping Functional Representations of Self- and Other-Related Thought are Separable Through Multivoxel Pattern Classification. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1131-1141. [PMID: 34398230 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Self-reflection and thinking about the thoughts and behaviors of others are important skills for humans to function in the social world. These two processes overlap in terms of the component processes involved, and share overlapping functional organizations within the human brain, in particular within the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). Several functional models have been proposed to explain these two processes, but none has directly explored the extent to which they are distinctly represented within different parts of the brain. This study used multivoxel pattern classification to quantify the separability of self- and other-related thought in the MPFC and expanded this question to the entire brain. Using a large-scale mega-analytic dataset, spanning three separate studies (n = 142), we find that self- and other-related thought can be reliably distinguished above chance within the MPFC, posterior cingulate cortex and temporal lobes. We highlight subcomponents of the ventral MPFC that are particularly important in representing self-related thought, and subcomponents of the orbitofrontal cortex robustly involved in representing other-related thought. Our findings indicate that representations of self- and other-related thought in the human brain are described best by a distributed pattern rather than stark localization or a purely ventral to dorsal linear gradient in the MPFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob M Parelman
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Bruce P Doré
- Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, H3A 1G5, Montreal, Canada
| | - Nicole Cooper
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | | | - Hang-Yee Chan
- Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Emily B Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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33
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Abé C, Petrovic P, Ossler W, Thompson WH, Liberg B, Song J, Bergen SE, Sellgren CM, Fransson P, Ingvar M, Landén M. Genetic risk for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia predicts structure and function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. J Psychiatry Neurosci 2021; 46:E441-E450. [PMID: 34291628 PMCID: PMC8519489 DOI: 10.1503/jpn.200165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder is highly heritable and polygenic. The polygenic risk for bipolar disorder overlaps with that of schizophrenia, and polygenic scores are normally distributed in the population. Bipolar disorder has been associated with structural brain abnormalities, but it is unknown how these are linked to genetic risk factors for psychotic disorders. METHODS We tested whether polygenic risk scores for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia predict structural brain alterations in 98 patients with bipolar disorder and 81 healthy controls. We derived brain cortical thickness, surface area and volume from structural MRI scans. In post-hoc analyses, we correlated polygenic risk with functional hub strength, derived from resting-state functional MRI and brain connectomics. RESULTS Higher polygenic risk scores for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia were associated with a thinner ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). We found these associations in the combined group, and separately in patients and drug-naive controls. Polygenic risk for bipolar disorder was correlated with the functional hub strength of the vmPFC within the default mode network. LIMITATIONS Polygenic risk is a cumulative measure of genomic burden. Detailed genetic mechanisms underlying brain alterations and their cognitive consequences still need to be determined. CONCLUSION Our multimodal neuroimaging study linked genomic burden and brain endophenotype by demonstrating an association between polygenic risk scores for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and the structure and function of the vmPFC. Our findings suggest that genetic factors might confer risk for psychotic disorders by influencing the integrity of the vmPFC, a brain region involved in self-referential processes and emotional regulation. Our study may also provide an imaging-genetics vulnerability marker that can be used to help identify individuals at risk for developing bipolar disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Abé
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Predrag Petrovic
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - William Ossler
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - William H Thompson
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Benny Liberg
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Jie Song
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Sarah E Bergen
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Carl M Sellgren
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Peter Fransson
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Martin Ingvar
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
| | - Mikael Landén
- From the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Abé, Petrovic, Ossler, Thompson, Liberg, Fransson, Ingvar, Landén); the Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA (Thompson); the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Song, Bergen); the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (Sellgren); Karolinska University Hospital, Department of Neuroradiology, Stockholm, Sweden (Ingvar); and the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, the Sahlgrenska Academy at the Gothenburg University, Sweden (Landén)
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Broom TW, Chavez RS, Wagner DD. Becoming the King in the North: identification with fictional characters is associated with greater self-other neural overlap. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:541-551. [PMID: 33599255 PMCID: PMC8138084 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2020] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
During narrative experiences, identification with a fictional character can alter one’s attitudes and self-beliefs to be more similar to those of the character. The ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) is a brain region that shows increased activity when introspecting about the self but also when thinking of close friends. Here, we test whether identification with fictional characters is associated with increased neural overlap between self and fictional others. Nineteen fans of the HBO series Game of Thrones performed trait evaluations for the self, 9 real-world friends and 9 fictional characters during functional neuroimaging. Overall, the participants showed a larger response in the vMPFC for self compared to friends and fictional others. However, among the participants higher in trait identification, we observed a greater neural overlap in the vMPFC between self and fictional characters. Moreover, the magnitude of this association was greater for the character that participants reported feeling closest to/liked the most as compared to those they felt least close to/liked the least. These results suggest that identification with fictional characters leads people to incorporate these characters into their self-concept: the greater the immersion into experiences of ‘becoming’ characters, the more accessing knowledge about characters resembles accessing knowledge about the self.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy W Broom
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
| | - Robert S Chavez
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Dylan D Wagner
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
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35
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Leszkowicz E, Maio GR, Linden DEJ, Ihssen N. Neural coding of human values is underpinned by brain areas representing the core self in the cortical midline region. Soc Neurosci 2021; 16:486-499. [PMID: 34238118 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2021.1953582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The impact of human values on our choices depends on their nature. Self-Transcendence values motivate us to act for the benefit of others and care for the environment. Self-Enhancement values motivate us to act for our benefit. The present study examines differences in the neural processes underlying these two value domains. Extending our previous research, we used fMRI to explore first of all neural correlates of Self-Transcendence vs Self-Enhancement values, with a particular focus on the putative role of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), which has been linked to a self-transcendent mind-set. Additionally, we investigated the neural basis of Openness to Change vs Conservation values. We asked participants to reflect on and rate values as guiding principles in their lives while undergoing fMRI. Mental processing of Self-Transcendence values was associated with higher brain activity in the dorsomedial (BA9, BA8) and ventromedial (BA10) prefrontal cortices, as compared to Self-Enhancement values. The former involved activation and the latter deactivation of those regions. We did not detect differences in brain activation between Openness to Change vs Conservation values. Self-Transcendence values thus shared brain regions with social processes that have previously been linked to a self-transcendent mind-set, and the "core self" representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Leszkowicz
- Department of Animal and Human Physiology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.,School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | | | - David E J Linden
- School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Niklas Ihssen
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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36
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Ainsworth M, Sallet J, Joly O, Kyriazis D, Kriegeskorte N, Duncan J, Schüffelgen U, Rushworth MFS, Bell AH. Viewing Ambiguous Social Interactions Increases Functional Connectivity between Frontal and Temporal Nodes of the Social Brain. J Neurosci 2021; 41:6070-6086. [PMID: 34099508 PMCID: PMC8276745 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0870-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2020] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Social behavior is coordinated by a network of brain regions, including those involved in the perception of social stimuli and those involved in complex functions, such as inferring perceptual and mental states and controlling social interactions. The properties and function of many of these regions in isolation are relatively well understood, but less is known about how these regions interact while processing dynamic social interactions. To investigate whether the functional connectivity between brain regions is modulated by social context, we collected fMRI data from male monkeys (Macaca mulatta) viewing videos of social interactions labeled as "affiliative," "aggressive," or "ambiguous." We show activation related to the perception of social interactions along both banks of the superior temporal sulcus, parietal cortex, medial and lateral frontal cortex, and the caudate nucleus. Within this network, we show that fronto-temporal functional connectivity is significantly modulated by social context. Crucially, we link the observation of specific behaviors to changes in functional connectivity within our network. Viewing aggressive behavior was associated with a limited increase in temporo-temporal and a weak increase in cingulate-temporal connectivity. By contrast, viewing interactions where the outcome was uncertain was associated with a pronounced increase in temporo-temporal, and cingulate-temporal functional connectivity. We hypothesize that this widespread network synchronization occurs when cingulate and temporal areas coordinate their activity when more difficult social inferences are being made.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Processing social information from our environment requires the activation of several brain regions, which are concentrated within the frontal and temporal lobes. However, little is known about how these areas interact to facilitate the processing of different social interactions. Here we show that functional connectivity within and between the frontal and temporal lobes is modulated by social context. Specifically, we demonstrate that viewing social interactions where the outcome was unclear is associated with increased synchrony within and between the cingulate cortex and temporal cortices. These findings suggest that the coordination between the cingulate and temporal cortices is enhanced when more difficult social inferences are being made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Ainsworth
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
| | - Jérôme Sallet
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
- Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Université Lyon 1, 69500 Bron, France
| | - Olivier Joly
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
| | - Diana Kyriazis
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
| | - Nikolaus Kriegeskorte
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York, NY 10027
| | - John Duncan
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
| | - Urs Schüffelgen
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
| | - Andrew H Bell
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, CB2 7EF
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX2 6GG
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, OX3 9DU
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Yin L, Zhong S, Guo X, Li Z. Functional connectivity between the caudate and medial prefrontal cortex reflects individual honesty variations in adults and children. Neuroimage 2021; 238:118268. [PMID: 34139359 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Revised: 06/05/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Deception emerges in early childhood and prevails in adults. Activation patterns in previous adults' task-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), though sensitive to state honesty on a specific decision, are less reliable reflecting trait honesty. Besides of state honesty, most previous neuroimaging studies about dishonesty suffer the generalization problem due to the major focus on adults with children unexplored. To investigate honesty associated functional brain networks variations, 98 healthy adults (Age: 18-28 y.o.; 49 males and 49 females) were invited to participate in a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) study (Study 1). We investigated how functional connections between the caudate and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) change among adults who differ in self-reported trait honesty. Results showed that adults with higher trait honesty have increased functional connectivity from the caudate to the mPFC, which is identified as an honesty-related hub region in global brain connectivity analysis and connects more tightly to a wide range of brain regions including the amygdala. Study 2 compared functional connectivity between children with high vs. low lying frequencies (Age: 6-16 y.o.; 61 males and 39 females) based on a publicly accessible database of rfMRI. Consistent with findings in adults, increased functional connectivity from the caudate to the mPFC was found in less frequently lying children. Despite different honesty indicators of self-reported honesty trait in adults and parent-reported lying patterns in children, consistent findings have been noted in the two samples with regards to functional connectivity variations between reward-related and self-related brain regions. These findings suggest functional connectivity alterations between the caudate and the mPFC contribute to honesty variations in both adults and children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijun Yin
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 Waihuan Dong Rd., Guangzhou 510006, China.
| | - Shuo Zhong
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 Waihuan Dong Rd., Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xiaoli Guo
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, 132 Waihuan Dong Rd., Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Zhihao Li
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, South campus L3-1328, 3688 Nanhai Ave., Shenzhen, Guangdong 518060, China.
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Jauk E, Kanske P. Can neuroscience help to understand narcissism? A systematic review of an emerging field. PERSONALITY NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 4:e3. [PMID: 34124536 PMCID: PMC8170532 DOI: 10.1017/pen.2021.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Narcissism is a Janusian personality construct, associated with both grandiose self-assuredness and dominance, as well as vulnerable insecurity and reactivity. Central questions of intra- and interpersonal functioning in narcissism are still a matter of debate. Neuroscience could help to understand the paradoxical patterns of experience and behavior beyond the limitations of self-reports. We provide a systematic review of 34 neuroscience studies on grandiose, vulnerable, pathological narcissism, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), spanning experimental investigations of intra- and interpersonal mechanisms, research on neurophysiological and neuroendocrine aspects of baseline function, and brain structural correlates. While neuroscience has scarcely directly studied vulnerable narcissism, grandiose narcissism is associated with heightened vigilance to ego threat and stress responses following ego threat, as well as heightened stress indicators in baseline measures. Such responses are not commonly observed in self-reports, highlighting the potential of neuroscience to augment our understanding of self-regulatory dynamics in narcissism. Interpersonal functioning is characterized by deficits in social-affective processes. Both involve altered activity within the salience network, pointing to a double dissociation regarding the expression of narcissism and self/other oriented situational focus. Findings are summarized in an integrative model providing testable hypotheses for future research along with methodological recommendations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuel Jauk
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Porter NA, Fields EC, Moore IL, Gutchess A. Late frontal positivity effects in Self-referential Memory: Unique to the Self? Soc Neurosci 2021; 16:406-422. [PMID: 33978552 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2021.1929460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The self-reference effect in memory (SRE), in which stimuli related to self are better remembered than other stimuli, has been studied often in the fMRI literature, but much less with EEG. In two experiments, we investigated how self-referencing modulated event-related potential (ERP) markers of the subsequent memory effect, testing whether the same components that reflect memory success are impacted or whether unique components are modulated by self-referencing. Participants were asked to evaluate whether an adjective accurately described either the self or a given other by making a yes/no key press during EEG recording. Then participants were given a surprise recognition memory test where they judged each adjective as old or new. We observed a main effect of self-relevance on a late positivity at right frontal electrodes. A very similar effect was observed when comparing words subsequently remembered to those that were forgotten. However, no interaction was found between self-relevance and subsequent memory, suggesting the frontal positivity is not exclusive to the SRE, but instead a reflection of deeper encoding that leads to better memory. Thus, this frontal positivity may be a marker of a deeper encoding process that is elicited by self-referencing but not exclusive to the SRE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole A Porter
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
| | - Eric C Fields
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
| | | | - Angela Gutchess
- Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA
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Li J, Zeng M, Liu M, Zhao X, Hu W, Wang C, Deng C, Li R, Chen H, Yang J. Multivariable pattern classification differentiates relational self-esteem from personal self-esteem. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:726-735. [PMID: 33949671 PMCID: PMC8259266 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2020] [Revised: 04/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Relational self-esteem (RSE) refers to one’s sense of self-worth based on the relationship with significant others, such as family and best friends. Although previous neuroimaging research has investigated the neural processes of RSE, it is less clear how RSE is represented in multivariable neural patterns. Being able to identify a stable RSE signature could contribute to knowledge about relational self-worth. Here, using multivariate pattern classification to differentiate RSE from personal self-esteem (PSE), which pertains to self-worth derived from personal attributes, we obtained a stable diagnostic signature of RSE relative to PSE. We found that multivariable neural activities in the superior/middle temporal gyrus, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, dorsal medial Prefrontal Cortex (dmPFC) and temporo-parietal junction were responsible for diagnosis of RSE, suggesting that the evaluation of RSE involves the retrieval of relational episodic memory, perspective-taking and value calculation. Further, these diagnostic neural signatures were able to sensitively decode neural activities related to RSE in another independent test sample, indicating the reliability of the brain state represented. By providing a reliable multivariate brain pattern for RSE relative to PSE, our results informed more cognitively prominent processing of RSE than that of PSE and enriched our knowledge about how relational self-worth is generated in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiwen Li
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Mei Zeng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Mingyan Liu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Xiaolin Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Weiyu Hu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Chong Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China
| | - Chijun Deng
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China
| | - Rong Li
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China
| | - Huafu Chen
- School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China
| | - Juan Yang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
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41
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Su C, Zhou H, Gong L, Teng B, Geng F, Hu Y. Viewing personalized video clips recommended by TikTok activates default mode network and ventral tegmental area. Neuroimage 2021; 237:118136. [PMID: 33951514 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2020] [Revised: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Cutting-edge recommendation algorithms have been widely used by media platforms to suggest users with personalized content. While such user-specific recommendations may satisfy users' needs to obtain intended information, some users may develop a problematic use pattern manifested by addiction-like undesired behaviors. Using a popular video sharing and recommending platform (TikTok) as an example, the present study first characterized use-related undesired behaviors with a questionnaire, then investigated how personally recommended videos modulated brain activity with an fMRI experiment. We found more undesired symptoms were related to lower self-control ability among young adults, and about 5.9% of TikTok users may have significant problematic use. The fMRI results showed higher brain activations in sub-components of the default mode network (DMN), ventral tegmental area, and discrete regions including lateral prefrontal, anterior thalamus, and cerebellum when viewing personalized videos in contrast to non-personalized ones. Psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed stronger coupling between activated DMN subregions and neural pathways underlying auditory and visual processing, as well as the frontoparietal network. This study highlights the functional heterogeneity of DMN in viewing personalized videos and may shed light on the neural underpinnings of how recommendation algorithms are able to keep the user's attention to suggested contents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Conghui Su
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Hui Zhou
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Liangyu Gong
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Binyu Teng
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Fengji Geng
- Department of Curriculum and Learning Sciences, College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Yuzheng Hu
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
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42
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Jolly E, Chang LJ. Multivariate spatial feature selection in fMRI. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:795-806. [PMID: 33501987 PMCID: PMC8343556 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Revised: 09/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Multivariate neuroimaging analyses constitute a powerful class of techniques to identify psychological representations. However, not all psychological processes are represented at the same spatial scale throughout the brain. This heterogeneity is apparent when comparing hierarchically organized local representations of perceptual processes to flexible transmodal representations of more abstract cognitive processes such as social and affective operations. An open question is how the spatial scale of analytic approaches interacts with the spatial scale of the representations under investigation. In this article, we describe how multivariate analyses can be viewed as existing on a spatial spectrum, anchored by searchlights used to identify locally distributed patterns of information on one end, whole brain approach used to identify diffuse neural representations at the other and region-based approaches in between. We describe how these distinctions are an important and often overlooked analytic consideration and provide heuristics to compare these different techniques to choose based on the analyst’s inferential goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- E Jolly
- Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
| | - L J Chang
- Computational Social Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
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Habel U, Regenbogen C, Kammann C, Stickel S, Chechko N. Male brain processing of the body odor of ovulating women compared to that of pregnant women. Neuroimage 2021; 229:117733. [PMID: 33484852 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2020] [Revised: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 01/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Female chemical signals underlie the advertising of sexual receptivity and fertility. Whether the body odor of a pregnant woman also has a signaling function with respect to male behavior is yet to be conclusively established. This study examines how the body odors of ovulating and pregnant women differentially affect the behavior of heterosexual men. Body odor samples were collected from 5 pregnant women and 5 matched controls during ovulation. In a double-blind functional magnetic resonance imaging design, 18 heterosexual men were exposed to female body odors during ovulation (OV) and pregnancy (PRG) while being required to indicate the attractiveness of concurrently presented female portrait images. The participants were also required to indicate whether they assumed a depicted woman was pregnant. While neither OV nor PRG altered the perceived attractiveness of a presented face, the men tended to identify the women as pregnant while exposed to a PRG body odor. On the neural level, OV activated a network of the frontotemporal and limbic regions, while PRG activated the superior medial frontal gyrus. The results suggest that the detection of sexual availability activates the male brain regions associated with face processing and reward/motivation, whereas sensing pregnancy activates a region responsible for empathy and prosocial behavior. Thus, the female body odor during pregnancy likely helps foster circumstances conducive to the future care of offspring while the body odor advertising sexual availability promotes mating behavior. The brains of heterosexual men may be capable of unconsciously discriminating between these two types of olfactory stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
| | - Christina Regenbogen
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18A, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Catharina Kammann
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229 ER Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Susanne Stickel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
| | - Natalia Chechko
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
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Valenzano A, Scarinci A, Monda V, Sessa F, Messina A, Monda M, Precenzano F, Mollica MP, Carotenuto M, Messina G, Cibelli G. The Social Brain and Emotional Contagion: COVID-19 Effects. MEDICINA (KAUNAS, LITHUANIA) 2020; 56:E640. [PMID: 33255569 PMCID: PMC7760735 DOI: 10.3390/medicina56120640] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Revised: 11/19/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious infectious disease, responsible for a global pandemic that began in January 2020. Human/COVID-19 interactions cause different outcomes ranging from minor health consequences to death. Since social interaction is the default mode by which individuals communicate with their surroundings, different modes of contagion can play a role in determining the long-term consequences for mental health and emotional well-being. We examined some basic aspects of human social interaction, emphasizing some particular features of the emotional contagion. Moreover, we analyzed the main report that described brain damage related to the COVID-19 infection. Indeed, the goal of this review is to suggest a possible explanation for the relationships among emotionally impaired people, brain damage, and COVID-19 infection. RESULTS COVID-19 can cause several significant neurological disorders and the pandemic has been linked to a rise in people reporting mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety. Neurocognitive symptoms associated with COVID-19 include delirium, both acute and chronic attention and memory impairment related to hippocampal and cortical damage, as well as learning deficits in both adults and children. CONCLUSIONS Although our knowledge on the biology and long-term clinical outcomes of the COVID-19 infection is largely limited, approaching the pandemic based on lessons learnt from previous outbreaks of infectious diseases and the biology of other coronaviruses will provide a suitable pathway for developing public mental health strategies, which could be positively translated into therapeutic approaches, attempting to improve stress coping responses, thus contributing to alleviate the burden driven by the pandemic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Valenzano
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy; (A.V.); (F.S.); (G.C.)
| | - Alessia Scarinci
- Department of Education Sciences, Psychology, and Communication, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy;
| | - Vincenzo Monda
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Unit of Dietetics and Sports Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80100 Naples, Italy; (V.M.); (A.M.); (M.M.)
| | - Francesco Sessa
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy; (A.V.); (F.S.); (G.C.)
| | - Antonietta Messina
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Unit of Dietetics and Sports Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80100 Naples, Italy; (V.M.); (A.M.); (M.M.)
| | - Marcellino Monda
- Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Human Physiology and Unit of Dietetics and Sports Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80100 Naples, Italy; (V.M.); (A.M.); (M.M.)
| | - Francesco Precenzano
- Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Mental Health, Physical and Preventive Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80100 Naples, Italy; (F.P.); (M.C.)
| | - Maria Pina Mollica
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy;
| | - Marco Carotenuto
- Clinic of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Department of Mental Health, Physical and Preventive Medicine, Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80100 Naples, Italy; (F.P.); (M.C.)
| | - Giovanni Messina
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy; (A.V.); (F.S.); (G.C.)
| | - Giuseppe Cibelli
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, Italy; (A.V.); (F.S.); (G.C.)
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Krol KM, Grossmann T. Impression Formation in the Human Infant Brain. Cereb Cortex Commun 2020; 1:tgaa070. [PMID: 33134930 PMCID: PMC7592636 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgaa070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Revised: 08/26/2020] [Accepted: 09/19/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Forming an impression of another person is an essential aspect of human social cognition linked to medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function in adults. The current study examined the neurodevelopmental origins of impression formation by testing the hypothesis that infants rely on processes localized in mPFC when forming impressions about individuals who appear friendly or threatening. Infants’ brain responses were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy while watching 4 different face identities displaying either smiles or frowns directed toward or away from them (N = 77). This was followed by a looking preference test for these face identities (now displaying a neutral expression) using eyetracking. Our results show that infants’ mPFC responses distinguish between smiling and frowning faces when directed at them and that these responses predicted their subsequent person preferences. This suggests that the mPFC is involved in impression formation in human infants, attesting to the early ontogenetic emergence of brain systems supporting person perception and adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen M Krol
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
| | - Tobias Grossmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
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Tovar DT, Chavez RS. Large-scale functional coactivation patterns reflect the structural connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 16:875-882. [PMID: 32986092 PMCID: PMC8343558 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Revised: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is among the most consistently implicated brain regions in social and affective neuroscience. Yet, this region is also highly functionally heterogeneous across many domains and has diverse patterns of connectivity. The extent to which the communication of functional networks in this area is facilitated by its underlying structural connectivity fingerprint is critical for understanding how psychological phenomena are represented within this region. In the current study, we combined diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography with large-scale meta-analysis to investigate the degree to which the functional coactivation patterns of the MPFC are reflected in its underlying structural connectivity. Using unsupervised machine learning techniques, we compared parcellations between the two modalities and found congruence between parcellations at multiple spatial scales. Additionally, using connectivity and coactivation similarity analyses, we found high correspondence in voxel-to-voxel similarity between each modality across most, but not all, subregions of the MPFC. These results provide evidence that meta-analytic functional coactivation patterns are meaningfully constrained by underlying neuroanatomical connectivity and provide convergent evidence of distinct subregions within the MPFC involved in affective processing and social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dale T Tovar
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
| | - Robert S Chavez
- Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
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Chiou R, Humphreys GF, Lambon Ralph MA. Bipartite Functional Fractionation within the Default Network Supports Disparate Forms of Internally Oriented Cognition. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:5484-5501. [PMID: 32494802 PMCID: PMC7472201 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2019] [Revised: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/26/2020] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Our understanding about the functionality of the brain's default network (DN) has significantly evolved over the past decade. Whereas traditional views define this network based on its suspension/disengagement during task-oriented behavior, contemporary accounts have characterized various situations wherein the DN actively contributes to task performance. However, it is unclear how different task-contexts drive componential regions of the DN to coalesce into a unitary network and fractionate into different subnetworks. Here we report a compendium of evidence that provides answers to these questions. Across multiple analyses, we found a striking dyadic structure within the DN in terms of the profiles of task-triggered fMRI response and effective connectivity, significantly extending beyond previous inferences based on meta-analysis and resting-state activities. In this dichotomy, one subset of DN regions prefers mental activities "interfacing with" perceptible events, while the other subset prefers activities "detached from" perceptible events. While both show a common "aversion" to sensory-motoric activities, their differential preferences manifest a subdivision that sheds light upon the taxonomy of the brain's memory systems. This dichotomy is consistent with proposals of a macroscale gradational structure spanning across the cerebrum. This gradient increases its representational complexity, from primitive sensory-motoric processing, through lexical-semantic representations, to elaborated self-generated thoughts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rocco Chiou
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK
| | - Gina F Humphreys
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK
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Martínez-Pérez V, Campoy G, Palmero LB, Fuentes LJ. Examining the Dorsolateral and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Involvement in the Self-Attention Network: A Randomized, Sham-Controlled, Parallel Group, Double-Blind, and Multichannel HD-tDCS Study. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:683. [PMID: 32760241 PMCID: PMC7371986 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Attention and perception are strongly biased toward information about oneself compared to information about others. The self-attention network, an integrative theoretical framework for understanding the self-prioritization effects (SPE), proposes that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) are the two nodes responsible for the preferential processing of self-related stimuli, which interact with the attentional control network (associated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC), responsible for processing other-related stimuli. So far, neuroimaging studies have provided considerable correlational evidence supporting the self-attention network. Objective Here we went beyond correlational evidence by manipulating cortical activity using high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS), a non-invasive brain stimulation method. We assessed whether anodal and cathodal stimulation of the VMPFC or the DLPFC modulates the processing of self- and other-related stimuli. Methods We used an associative unbiased learning procedure, the so-called shape-label matching task, to assess the SPE in a sample of N = 90. We accomplished to overcome different methodological weaknesses of previous studies using different multichannel montages for excitatory and inhibitory effects over both the VMPFC and the DLPFC. Results We found no effect of shape association for non-matching pairs, whereas there was an effect of shape association in the matching condition. Performance (reaction times and accuracy) was better for the self association than for the other two associations, and performance for the friend association was better than for the stranger association. Thus, we replicated the SPE with behavioral data. At the neural level, none of the stimulation succeeded to modulate the magnitude of the SPE effect. Conclusion We discuss the implications of these findings, in particular why cognitive modeling theories about SPEs should favor an epiphenomenal rather than a causal link between VMPFC/DLPFC and the impact of personal significance stimuli on perception.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Guillermo Campoy
- Department of Basic Psychology and Methodology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Lucía B Palmero
- Department of Basic Psychology and Methodology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
| | - Luis J Fuentes
- Department of Basic Psychology and Methodology, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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Altered functional connectivity during evaluation of self-relevance in women with borderline personality disorder. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2020; 27:102324. [PMID: 32702624 PMCID: PMC7374241 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Appraisal of self-relevance is disturbed in borderline personality disorder (BPD). We introduce the first neuroimaging study about self-relevance processing in BPD. Besides the CMS, the MNS and the SMA are involved in self-relevance processing. Functional connectivity of CMS is altered in BPD during self-relevance evaluations. In BPD, valence affects the functional connectivity during self-relevance ratings.
Self-relevant functional abnormalities and identity disorders constitute the core psychopathological components in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Evidence suggests that appraising the relevance of environmental information to the self may be altered in BPD. However, only a few studies have examined self-relevance (SR) in BPD, and the neural correlates of SR processing has not yet been investigated in this patient group. The current study sought to evaluate brain activation differences between female patients with BPD and healthy controls during SR processing. A task-based fMRI paradigm was applied to evaluate SR processing in 23 female patients with BPD and 23 matched healthy controls. Participants were presented with a set of short sentences and were instructed to rate the stimuli. The differences in fMRI signals between SR rating (task of interest) and valence rating (control task) were examined. During SR rating, participants showed elevated activations of the cortical midline structures (CMS), known to be involved in the processing of self-related stimuli. Furthermore, we observed an elevated activation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the regions belonging to the mirror neuron system (MNS). Using whole-brain, seed-based connectivity analysis on the task-based fMRI data, we studied connectivity of networks anchored to the main CMS regions. We found a discrepancy in the connectivity pattern between patients and controls regarding connectivity of the CMS regions with the basal ganglia-thalamus complex. These observations have two main implications: First, they confirm the involvement of the CMS in SR evaluations of our stimuli and add evidence about the involvement of an extended network including the MNS and the SMA in this task. Second, the functional connectivity profile observed in BPD provides evidence for an altered functional interplay between the CMS and the brain regions involved in salience detection and reward evaluation, including the basal ganglia and the thalamus.
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Courtney AL, Meyer ML. Self-Other Representation in the Social Brain Reflects Social Connection. J Neurosci 2020; 40:5616-5627. [PMID: 32541067 PMCID: PMC7363469 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2826-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2019] [Revised: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Social connection is critical to well-being, yet how the brain reflects our attachment to other people remains largely unknown. We combined univariate and multivariate brain imaging analyses to assess whether and how the brain organizes representations of others based on how connected they are to our own identity. During an fMRI scan, female and male human participants (N = 43) completed a self- and other-reflection task for 16 targets: the self, five close others, five acquaintances, and five celebrities. In addition, they reported their subjective closeness to each target and their own trait loneliness. We examined neural responses to the self and others in a brain region that has been associated with self-representation (mPFC) and across the whole brain. The structure of self-other representation in the mPFC and across the social brain appeared to cluster targets into three social categories: the self, social network members (including close others and acquaintances), and celebrities. Moreover, both univariate activation in mPFC and multivariate self-other similarity in mPFC and across the social brain increased with subjective self-other closeness ratings. Critically, participants who were less socially connected (i.e., lonelier) showed altered self-other mapping in social brain regions. Most notably, in mPFC, loneliness was associated with reduced representational similarity between the self and others. The social brain apparently maintains information about broad social categories as well as closeness to the self. Moreover, these results point to the possibility that feelings of chronic social disconnection may be mirrored by a "lonelier" neural self-representation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Social connection is critical to well-being, yet how the brain reflects our attachment to people remains unclear. We found that the social brain stratifies neural representations of people based on our subjective connection to them, separately clustering people who are and are not in our social network. Moreover, the people we feel closest to are represented most closely to ourselves. Finally, lonelier individuals also appeared to have a "lonelier" neural self-representation in the mPFC, as loneliness attenuated the similarity between self and other neural representations in this region. The social brain appears to map our interpersonal ties, and alterations in this map may help explain why lonely individuals endorse statements such as "people are around me but not with me."
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea L Courtney
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
| | - Meghan L Meyer
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
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