Motivating forces of human actions

Evolutionary Digital Twin-Oriented Complex Networked Systems driven by node features and the mutation of feature preferences

Accurate modelling of complex social systems, where people interact with each other and those interactions change over time, has been a research challenge for many years. This study proposes an evolutionary Digital Twin-Oriented Complex Networked System (DT-CNS) framework that considers heterogeneous node features and changeable connection preferences. We create heterogeneous preference mutation mechanisms to characterise nodes' adaptive decisions on preference mutation in response to interaction patterns and epidemic risks. In this space, we use nodes' interaction utilities to characterise the positive feedback from interactions and negative impact of epidemic risks. We also introduce social capital constraint to harness the density of social connections better. The nodes' heterogeneous preference mutation styles include the (i)inactive style that keeps initial social preferences, (ii) ignorant style that randomly mutates preferences, (iii) egocentric style that optimises individual interaction utility, (iv) cooperative style that optimises the total interaction utilities by group decisions and (v) collaborative style that further allows the cooperative nodes to transfer social capital. Our simulation experiments on evolutionary DT-CNSs reveal that heterogeneous preference mutation styles lead to various interaction and infection patterns. The results also show that (i) increasing social capital enables higher interactions but higher infection risks and uncertainty in decision-making; (ii) group decisions outperform individual decisions by eliminating the unawareness of the decisions of other nodes; (iii) the collaborative nodes under a strict social capital limit can promote interactions, reduce infection risks and achieve higher overall interaction utilities.

Unlocking the neural mechanisms of consumer loan evaluations: an fNIRS and ML-based consumer neuroscience study

Introduction

This study conducts a comprehensive exploration of the neurocognitive processes underlying consumer credit decision-making using cutting-edge techniques from neuroscience and machine learning (ML). Employing functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the research examines the hemodynamic responses of participants while evaluating diverse credit offers.

Methods

The experimental phase of this study investigates the hemodynamic responses collected from 39 healthy participants with respect to different loan offers. This study integrates fNIRS data with advanced ML algorithms, specifically Extreme Gradient Boosting, CatBoost, Extra Tree Classifier, and Light Gradient Boosted Machine, to predict participants' credit decisions based on prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation patterns.

Results

Findings reveal distinctive PFC regions correlating with credit behaviors, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) associated with strategic decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) linked to emotional valuations, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) reflecting brand integration and reward processing. Notably, the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and the right vmPFC contribute to positive credit preferences.

Discussion

This interdisciplinary approach bridges neuroscience, machine learning and finance, offering unprecedented insights into the neural mechanisms guiding financial choices regarding different loan offers. The study's predictive model holds promise for refining financial services and illuminating human financial behavior within the burgeoning field of neurofinance. The work exemplifies the potential of interdisciplinary research to enhance our understanding of human financial decision-making.

Convergent regional brain abnormalities in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia: A neuroimaging meta-analysis of 73 studies

Introduction

Numerous studies have reported brain alterations in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, they pointed to inconsistent findings.

Methods

We used a meta‐analytic approach to identify the convergent structural and functional brain abnormalities in bvFTD. Following current best‐practice neuroimaging meta‐analysis guidelines, we searched PubMed and Embase databases and performed reference tracking. Then, the coordinates of group comparisons between bvFTD and controls from 73 studies were extracted and tested for convergence using activation likelihood estimation.

Results

We identified convergent abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortices, anterior insula, amygdala, paracingulate, striatum, and hippocampus. Task‐based and resting‐state functional connectivity pointed to the networks that are connected to the obtained consistent regions. Functional decoding analyses suggested associated dysfunction of emotional processing, interoception, reward processing, higher‐order cognitive functions, and olfactory and gustatory perceptions in bvFTD.

Discussion

Our findings highlighted the key role of the salience network and subcortical regions in the pathophysiology of bvFTD.

Intrinsic Functional Connectivity of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Is Associated with Tolerance to Distress

The ability to adapt under significant adversity, defined as psychological resilience, is instrumental in preventing stress-related disorders. An important aspect of resilience is the capacity to endure affective distress when in pursuit of goals, also known as distress tolerance. Evidence that links intrinsic baseline interactions within large-scale functional networks with performance under distress remains missing. We hypothesized that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may engage in distress tolerance because of its involvement in attention and emotion regulation. Accordingly, we tested whether behavioral performance under distress is associated with baseline resting-state ACC functional connectivity (FC). Distress tolerance was measured in 97 participants using the behavioral indicator of resiliency to distress (BIRD) task. Analyses contrasted participants who quit the task before its designated termination (n = 51) with those who persisted throughout it (n = 46). Seed-based FC analysis indicated greater connectivity between the ACC and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in subjects who persisted throughout the task, along with greater FC between the ACC and the precentral gyrus in those who quit before its termination. The results shed light on the mechanisms underlying interindividual differences in the ability to handle distress.

Common brain networks underlying human social interactions: Evidence from large-scale neuroimaging meta-analysis

Recent overarching frameworks propose that various human social interactions are commonly supported by a set of fundamental neuropsychological processes, including social cognition, motivation, and cognitive control. However, it remains unclear whether brain networks implicated in these functional constructs are consistently engaged in diverse social interactions. Based on ample evidence from human brain imaging studies (342 contrasts, 7234 participants, 3328 foci), we quantitatively synthesized brain areas involved in broad domains of social interactions, including social interactions versus non-social contexts, positive/negative aspects of social interactions, social learning, and social norms. We then conducted brain network analysis on the ensuing brain regions and characterized the psychological function profiles of identified brain networks. Our findings revealed that brain regions consistently involved in diverse social interactions mapped onto default mode network, salience network, subcortical network and central executive network, which were respectively implicated in social cognition, motivation and cognitive control. These findings implicate a heuristic integrative framework to understand human social life from the perspective of component process and network integration.

Visuo-motor interference with a virtual partner is equally present in cooperative and competitive interactions

Automatic imitation of observed actions is thought to be a powerful mechanism, one that may mediate the reward value of interpersonal interactions, but that could also generate visuo-motor interference when interactions involve complementary movements. Since interpersonal coordination seems to be crucial both when cooperating and competing with others, the questions arises as to whether imitation-and thus visuo-motor interference-occurs in both scenarios. To address this issue, we asked human participants to engage in high- or low-interactive (Interactive or Cued condition, respectively), cooperative or competitive, joint reach-to-grasps with a virtual partner. More specifically, interactions occurred in: (i) a Cued condition, where participants simply adapted their movement timing to synchronize with (during cooperation) or anticipate (during competition) the virtual partner's grasp; (ii) an Interactive condition requiring the same adaptation, as well as a real-time selection of their action according to the virtual character's movement. To simulate a realistic human-human interaction, the virtual character would change its movement speed in consecutive trials according to participants' behaviour. Results demonstrate that visuo-motor interference-as indexed by movement kinematics (higher maximum wrist height during complementary compared to imitative power grips)-emerge in both cooperative and competitive motor interactions only when predictions about the partner's movements are needed to perform one's own action (interactive condition). These results support the idea that simulative imitation is heavily present when individuals need to match their behaviours closely.

Unified neural structured model: A new diagnostic tool in primary care psychiatry

Overlap of multiple mental disorders in each psychiatric patient has been emphasized and the style of assessment and intervention in each patient has been gradually changed. A new practical structured model that can comprehensively explain and assess the major mental disorders integratedly has been desired. In this report, the relationships between each of the major mental disorders and each neuropsychiatric component like personality, reward system, or reinforcement learning have been comprehensively reviewed to construct a new integrated structured model for assessing the overlapped mental conditions in primary care psychiatry. This new structured model contains the following three loops: "input-output-feedback loop" (external/environmental loop), "reward-learning loop" (learning loop), and "mood-reward sensitivity loop" (mood loop), which are connected by the functions of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. With this new concept, overlapped mental conditions in each psychiatric patient could be theoretically much simply and logically explained. In conclusion, with the proposed psychiatric structured model, we can simply explain and understand the overlapped mental disorders in each patient. Inventing and developing such basic psychiatric structured model would offer us new diagnostic and therapeutic tools to realize personalized medicine, especially in the field of primary care psychiatry.

Neural mechanisms associated with treatment decision making: An fMRI study

Great progress has been made in understanding how people make financial decisions. However, there is little research on how people make health and treatment choices. Our study aimed to examine how participants weigh benefits (reduction in disease progression) and probability of risk (medications' side effects) when making hypothetical treatment decisions, and to identify the neural networks implicated in this process. Fourteen healthy participants were recruited to perform a treatment decision probability discounting task using MRI. Behavioral responses and skin conductance responses (SCRs) were measured. A whole brain analysis were performed to compare activity changes between "mild" and "severe" medications' side effects conditions. Then, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), ventral striatum (VS), amygdala and insula were chosen for effective connectivity analysis. Behavioral data showed that participants are more likely to refuse medication when side effects are high and efficacy is low. SCRs values were significantly higher when people made medication decisions in the severe compared to mild condition. Functionally, OFC and VS were activated in the mild condition and were associated with increased likehood of choosing to take medication (higher area under the curve "AUC" side effects/efficacy). These regions also demonstrated an increased effective connectivity when participants valued treatment benefits. By contrast, the OFC, insula and amygdala were activated in the severe condition and were associated with and increased likelihood to refuse treatment. These regions showed enhanced effective connectivity when participants were confronted with increased side effects severity. This is the first study to examine the behavioral and neural bases of medical decision making.

Prosody production networks are modulated by sensory cues and social context

The neurobiology of emotional prosody production is not well investigated. In particular, the effects of cues and social context are not known. The present study sought to differentiate cued from free emotion generation and the effect of social feedback from a human listener. Online speech filtering enabled functional magnetic resonance imaging during prosodic communication in 30 participants. Emotional vocalizations were (i) free, (ii) auditorily cued, (iii) visually cued or (iv) with interactive feedback. In addition to distributed language networks, cued emotions increased activity in auditory and—in case of visual stimuli—visual cortex. Responses were larger in posterior superior temporal gyrus at the right hemisphere and the ventral striatum when participants were listened to and received feedback from the experimenter. Sensory, language and reward networks contributed to prosody production and were modulated by cues and social context. The right posterior superior temporal gyrus is a central hub for communication in social interactions—in particular for interpersonal evaluation of vocal emotions.

Taking two to tango: fMRI analysis of improvised joint action with physical contact

Many forms of joint action involve physical coupling between the participants, such as when moving a sofa together or dancing a tango. We report the results of a novel two-person functional MRI study in which trained couple dancers engaged in bimanual contact with an experimenter standing next to the bore of the magnet, and in which the two alternated between being the leader and the follower of joint improvised movements. Leading showed a general pattern of self-orientation, being associated with brain areas involved in motor planning, navigation, sequencing, action monitoring, and error correction. In contrast, following showed a far more sensory, externally-oriented pattern, revealing areas involved in somatosensation, proprioception, motion tracking, social cognition, and outcome monitoring. We also had participants perform a "mutual" condition in which the movement patterns were pre-learned and the roles were symmetric, thereby minimizing any tendency toward either leading or following. The mutual condition showed greater activity in brain areas involved in mentalizing and social reward than did leading or following. Finally, the analysis of improvisation revealed the dual importance of motor-planning and working-memory areas. We discuss these results in terms of theories of both joint action and improvisation.

Socially dominant mice in C57BL6 background show increased social motivation

A series of behavioral tests measuring social dominance, social motivation, and non-social motivation are examined in adult male C57BL6 mice. By using the well-known tube dominance test to determine social dominance and rank, we find that, in the absence of competition for resource and mating, group-housed mouse cage-mates display stable and mostly linear and transitive social hierarchies. Mice with top and bottom social ranks are subjected to a three-chamber social interaction test to measure social motivation. The top ranked mice spend more time interacting with a stranger mouse than the bottom ranked mice, suggesting that social dominance may positively influence social motivation. When subjected to a novel environment, mice with different social ranks show similar locomotion and exploring activity in the open field test, suggesting no detectable difference in certain aspects of non-social motivation. These results demonstrate a behavioral correlation between social dominance and social motivation.

Risky Decision Making in Neurofibromatosis Type 1: An Exploratory Study

BACKGROUND

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a monogenic disorder affecting cognitive function. About one third of children with NF1 have attentional disorders, and the cognitive phenotype is characterized by impairment in prefrontally-mediated functions. Mouse models of NF1 show irregularities in GABA release and striatal dopamine metabolism. We hypothesized that youth with NF1 would show abnormal behavior and neural activity on a task of risk-taking reliant on prefrontal-striatal circuits.

METHODS

Youth with NF1 (N=29) and demographically comparable healthy controls (N=22), ages 8-19, were administered a developmentally sensitive gambling task, in which they chose between low-risk gambles with a high probability of obtaining a small reward, and high-risk gambles with a low probability of obtaining a large reward. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activity associated with risky decision making, as well as age-associated changes in these behavioral and neural processes.

RESULTS

Behaviorally, youth with NF1 tended to make fewer risky decisions than controls. Neuroimaging analyses revealed significantly reduced neural activity across multiple brain regions involved in higher-order semantic processing and motivation (i.e., anterior cingulate, paracingulate, supramarginal, and angular gyri) in patients with NF1 relative to controls during the task. We also observed atypical age-associated changes in neural activity in patients with NF1, such that during risk taking, neural activity tended to decrease with age in controls, whereas it tended to increase with age in patients with NF1.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that developmental trajectories of neural activity during risky decision-making may be disrupted in youth with NF1.

Boys vs. girls: Gender differences in the neural development of trust and reciprocity depend on social context

Trust and cooperation increase from adolescence to adulthood, but studies on gender differences in this development are rare. We investigated gender and age-related differences in trust and reciprocity and associated neural mechanisms in 43 individuals (16-27 years, 22 male). Participants played two multi-round trust games with a cooperative and an unfair partner. Males showed more basic trust towards unknown others than females. Both genders increased trust during cooperative interactions, with no differences in average trust. Age was unrelated to trust during cooperation. During unfair interactions males decreased their trust more with age than females. ROI analysis showed age-related increases in activation in the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) during cooperative investments, and increased age-related caudate activation during both cooperative and unfair repayments. Gender differences in brain activation were only observed during cooperative repayments, with males activating the TPJ more than females, and females activating the caudate more. The findings suggest relatively mature processes of trust and reciprocity in the investigated age range. Gender differences only occur in unfair contexts, becoming more pronounced with age. Largely similar neural activation in males and females and few age effects suggest that similar, mature cognitive strategies are employed.

Neural correlates of affective empathy and reinforcement learning in boys with conduct problems: fMRI evidence from a gambling task

BACKGROUND

Conduct problems (CP) comprise abnormal behaviors associated with aberrant aspects of affective empathy as well as learning. However, behavioral measures for affective empathy are challenging, and previous results concerning learning in patients with CP are inconsistent.

METHODS

Nineteen boys with CP and 24 typically developing (TD) boys aged 11-17 years (M=14.34, SD=1.93) participated in the study. An ultimatum-game was applied in order to elicit the feeling of like or dislike towards the opponent for a subsequent gambling task, which was played by the opponents (OTHER-condition) and by the participants themselves (SELF-condition). Functional MRI data were recorded throughout the experiment.

RESULTS

In accordance with the model of insensitivity to punishment, hypo-activation of the left amygdala, left anterior insula, ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and bilateral temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) was observed as a response to losing in participants with CP during the SELF-condition. Callous-unemotional (CU)-traits correlated negatively with activation of amygdala and right TPJ. During the OTHER-condition, TD participants showed activation in brain areas associated with theory of mind (right TPJ, left IFG), and affect regulation (right DLPFC) rather than areas associated with affective empathy. This pattern was not found in adolescents with CP. Moreover, and independently of individual characteristics of their opponents, adolescents with CP demonstrated reward-associated activation (ventral striatum) observing others win, which was positively correlated with CU-traits. This may be interpreted in line with the theory of reward dominance.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study provides support for the theory of abnormal learning processing in adolescents with CP which yields implications for further research as well as clinical practice. The gambling task did not activate affective empathy networks, but was specific for cognitive empathy, inhibition, and affect regulation.

Autism, attachment, and social learning: Three challenges and a way forward

We explore three challenges that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) poses to our understanding of the processes underlying early attachment. First, while caregiver-infant attachment and later social-affiliative behavior share common biobehavioral mechanisms, individuals with ASD are able to form secure attachment relationships, despite reduced social-emotional reciprocity and motivation for social interaction. Therefore, disruptions in social affiliation mechanisms can co-exist with secure caregiver-infant bonding. Second, while early attachment quality is associated with later social outcomes in typical development, interventions targeting caregiver-child interaction in ASD often show positive effects on parental responsivity and attachment quality, but not on child social behavior. Therefore, improvements in parent-child bonding do not necessarily result in improvements in social functioning in ASD. Third, individuals with ASD show normative brain activity and selective social affiliative behaviors in response to people that they know but not to unfamiliar people. We propose a conceptual framework to reformulate and address these three theoretical impasses posed by ASD, arguing that the dissociable pathways of child-parent bonding and social development in ASD are shaped by (1) a dissociation between externally-driven and internally-driven attachment responses and (2) atypical learning dynamics occurring during child-caregiver bonding episodes, which are governed by and influence social-affiliation motives and other operant contingencies.

Socially acquired nicotine self-administration with an aversive flavor cue in adolescent female rats

RATIONALE

Establishing a behavioral model for the effect of social environment on nicotine intake in rodents facilitates the investigation of molecular mechanisms critical for the interaction between social environment and cigarette smoking.

OBJECTIVES

Our main objective was to test the hypothesis that nicotine is the primary reinforcer in the socially acquired nicotine intravenous self-administration (IVSA) model by using an aversive flavor cue.

METHODS

Adolescent female rats were placed in operant conditioning chambers equipped with two lickometers. Operant licking triggered concurrent deliveries of a flavor (i.e., taste and odor) cue containing either quinine or saccharin and an i.v. infusion (30 μg/kg nicotine or saline). An audiovisual cue was provided for some groups of rats. A second rat that did not receive nicotine was placed in the operant conditioning chambers to provide either a neutral or an inducing (i.e., by consuming the flavored solution) social environment. These two rats were separated by a divider that allowed orofacial interactions.

RESULTS

Rats acquired stable nicotine IVSA with either the aversive or the appetitive flavor cue in the inducing social environment, and obtained similar amounts of infusions. The neutral social environment did not support nicotine IVSA with either cue. The audiovisual cue per se did not support nicotine IVSA but enhanced nicotine intake. Nicotine increased the number of concurrent nose pokes by the two rats into the center divider, a measure of social interaction.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite its aversive effects, nicotine is the primary reinforcer for the operant responses in the socially acquired nicotine IVSA model.

Orbitofrontal and limbic signatures of empathic concern and intentional harm in the behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia

Perceiving and evaluating intentional harms in an interpersonal context engages both cognitive and emotional domains. This process involves inference of intentions, moral judgment, and, crucially, empathy towards others' suffering. This latter skill is notably impaired in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, the relationship between regional brain atrophy in bvFTD and deficits in the above-mentioned abilities is not well understood. The present study investigated how gray matter (GM) atrophy in bvFTD patients correlates with the perception and evaluation of harmful actions (attribution of intentionality, evaluation of harmful behavior, empathic concern, and moral judgment). First, we compared the behavioral performance of 26 bvFTD patients and 23 healthy controls on an experimental task (ET) indexing intentionality, empathy, and moral cognition during evaluation of harmful actions. Second, we compared GM volume in patients and controls using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Third, we examined brain regions where atrophy might be associated with specific impairments in the patient group. Finally, we explored whether the patients' deficits in intentionality comprehension and empathic concern could be partially explained by regional GM atrophy or impairments in other relevant factors, such as executive functions (EFs). In bvFTD patients, atrophy of limbic structures (amygdala and anterior paracingulate cortex--APC) was related to impairments in intentionality comprehension, while atrophy of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was associated with empathic concern deficits. Intentionality comprehension impairments were predicted by EFs and orbitofrontal atrophy predicted deficits in empathic concern. Thus, although the perception and evaluation of harmful actions are variously compromised in bvFTD, deficits in empathic concern may be central to this syndrome as they are associated with one of the earliest atrophied region. More generally, our results shed light on social cognition deficits in bvFTD and may have important clinical implications.

Fast and efficient image reconstruction for high density diffuse optical imaging of the human brain

Real-time imaging of human brain has become an important technique within neuroimaging. In this study, a fast and efficient sensitivity map generation based on Finite Element Models (FEM) is developed which utilises a reduced sensitivitys matrix taking advantage of sparsity and parallelisation processes. Time and memory efficiency of these processes are evaluated and compared with conventional method showing that for a range of mesh densities from 50000 to 320000 nodes, the required memory is reduced over tenfold and computational time fourfold allowing for near real-time image recovery.

Individual differences in hedonic experience: Further evidence for the construct validity of the ACIPS

We conducted three investigations to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the Anticipatory and Consummatory Interpersonal Pleasure Scale (ACIPS; Gooding and Pflum, Psychiatry Research, 2014). In Study One, we used Mechanical Turk to individually administer the ACIPS to a diverse group of community adults aged 25-69. Reports of greater social/interpersonal pleasure was associated with greater sense of interpersonal connectedness with others, higher need to belong, and less likelihood of reporting anxiety during social interactions. In Studies Two and Three, participants were tested in group settings. Studies with undergraduate participants indicated that ACIPS scores are associated with measures of prosocial interactions and sociability as well as measures of anhedonia. Despite differences in testing conditions (i.e., online vs. paper administration) and heterogeneity in the samples in terms of educational level, geographical location, and age, the ACIPS demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity. Taken together, these studies add to the increasing body of evidence for the construct validity of the ACIPS.

Studying the effects of dietary body weight-adjusted acute tryptophan depletion on punishment-related behavioral inhibition

Background

Alterations in serotonergic (5-HT) neurotransmission are thought to play a decisive role in affective disorders and impulse control.

Objective

This study aims to reproduce and extend previous findings on the effects of acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) and subsequently diminished central 5-HT synthesis in a reinforced categorization task using a refined body weight–adjusted depletion protocol.

Design

Twenty-four young healthy adults (12 females, mean age [SD]=25.3 [2.1] years) were subjected to a double-blind within-subject crossover design. Each subject was administered both an ATD challenge and a balanced amino acid load (BAL) in two separate sessions in randomized order. Punishment-related behavioral inhibition was assessed using a forced choice go/no-go task that incorporated a variable payoff schedule.

Results

Administration of ATD resulted in significant reductions in TRP measured in peripheral blood samples, indicating reductions of TRP influx across the blood–brain barrier and related brain 5-HT synthesis. Overall accuracy and response time performance were improved after ATD administration. The ability to adjust behavioral responses to aversive outcome magnitudes and behavioral adjustments following error contingent punishment remained intact after decreased brain 5-HT synthesis. A previously observed dissociation effect of ATD on punishment-induced inhibition was not observed.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that neurodietary challenges with ATD Moja–De have no detrimental effects on task performance and punishment-related inhibition in healthy adults.

Anhedonia in the psychosis risk syndrome: associations with social impairment and basal orbitofrontal cortical activity

Background/Objectives:

Anhedonia is associated with poor social function in schizophrenia. Here, we examined this association in individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, taking into account social anxiety. We then explored correlations between anhedonia and basal metabolic activity in selected forebrain regions implicated in reward processing.

Methods:

In 62 CHR individuals and 37 healthy controls, we measured social adjustment (Social Adjustment Self-Report Scale), social and physical anhedonia (Chapman Revised Anhedonia Scales), and social anxiety (Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents) in cross-section. In a subgroup of 25 CHR individuals for whom high-spatial-resolution basal-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were available, we also assessed correlations of these socio-affective constructs with basal cerebral blood volume in orbitofrontal cortex and related regions involved in reward processing.

Results:

Relative to controls, CHR individuals reported social impairment, greater social and physical anhedonia, and more social anxiety, exhibiting impairments comparable to schizophrenia. Regression analyses showed that anhedonia predicted social impairment and correlated negatively with basal cerebral blood volume within the orbitofrontal cortex (all P’s<0.05).

Conclusions:

Anhedonia and social anxiety are prominent in CHR individuals. Trait-like anhedonia may be a core phenotype related to orbitofrontal cortical function that, independent of symptoms, predicts social impairment. These data provide a rationale for interventions that target anhedonia and related activity in orbitofrontal cortical circuits in CHR individuals.

When gaze opens the channel for communication: Integrative role of IFG and MPFC

Recent advances in the field of cognitive neuroscience have revealed that direct gaze modulates activity in cortical and subcortical key regions of the 'social brain network', including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the anterior rostral medial prefrontal cortex (arMPFC). However, very little is known about how direct gaze is processed during live interaction with a real partner. Here, for the first time we used an experimental setup allowing the participant inside an MRI scanner to interact face-to-face with a partner located in the scanner room. Depending on condition, the participant and the partner were instructed either to look at each other in the eyes or to direct their gaze away from the other. As control conditions, participants gazed at their own eyes, reflected in a mirror, or gazed at a picture of the partner's eyes. Results revealed that direct gaze by the partner was associated with activity in areas involved in production and comprehension of language and action, including the IFG, the premotor cortex (PM), and the supplementary motor area (SMA). Activations in these areas were observed regardless of the participant's gaze behavior. In contrast, increased activity in arMPFC, an area involved in inference of other mental states during social interaction and communication, was only observed when the participant reciprocated the partner's direct gaze so as to establish mutual gaze. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis revealed effective connectivity between the IFG and the arMPFC during mutual gaze. This suggests that, within a larger network concerned with the processing of social gaze, mutual gaze with a real partner is established by an increased coupling between areas involved in the detection of communicative intentions, language, and social interaction.

Event-related EEG responses to anticipation and delivery of monetary and social reward

Monetary and a social incentive delay tasks were used to characterize reward anticipation and delivery with electroencephalography. During reward anticipation, N1, P2 and P3 components were modulated by both prospective reward value and incentive type (monetary or social), suggesting distinctive allocation of attentional and motivational resources depending not only on whether rewards or non-rewards were cued, but also on the monetary and social nature of the prospective outcomes. In the delivery phase, P2, FRN and P3 components were also modulated by levels of reward value and incentive type, illustrating how distinctive affective and cognitive processes were attached to the different outcomes. Our findings imply that neural processing of both reward anticipation and delivery can be specific to incentive type, which might have implications for basic as well as translational research. These results are discussed in the light of previous electrophysiological and neuroimaging work using similar tasks.

Reduced gaze following and attention to heads when viewing a "live" social scene

Social stimuli are known to both attract and direct our attention, but most research on social attention has been conducted in highly controlled laboratory settings lacking in social context. This study examined the role of social context on viewing behaviour of participants whilst they watched a dynamic social scene, under three different conditions. In two social groups, participants believed they were watching a live webcam of other participants. The socially-engaged group believed they would later complete a group task with the people in the video, whilst the non-engaged group believed they would not meet the people in the scene. In a third condition, participants simply free-viewed the same video with the knowledge that it was pre-recorded, with no suggestion of a later interaction. Results demonstrated that the social context in which the stimulus was viewed significantly influenced viewing behaviour. Specifically, participants in the social conditions allocated less visual attention towards the heads of the actors in the scene and followed their gaze less than those in the free-viewing group. These findings suggest that by underestimating the impact of social context in social attention, researchers risk coming to inaccurate conclusions about how we attend to others in the real world.

Social intentions in Parkinson's disease patients: A kinematic study

Dysfunction of the dopaminergic system leads to motor, cognitive and motivational symptoms in brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Moreover, the dopaminergic system plays an important role in social interactions. The dopaminergic input to the basal ganglia (BG) thought to integrate social cues during the planning and execution of voluntary movements remains, however, largely unexplored. Since PD provides a model to assess this function in humans, our study aimed to investigate the effects of social intentions on actions in non-demented PDpatients receiving dopamine replacement therapy (Levodopa = l-Dopa) and in neurologically healthy control participants. Patients' ability to modulate motor patterning depending on the intention motivating the action to be performed was evaluated both in "on" (with l-Dopa) and "off" (without l-Dopa) states. Participants were instructed to reach for and to grasp an object; they were then told to hand it to another person (social condition) or to place it on a concave frame (individual condition). A 'passive-observer' condition, which was similar to the 'individual' condition except for the presence of an onlooker who simply observed the scene, was also assessed to exclude the possibility that differences might be due to the presence of another person. Movement kinematics were recorded using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. Study results demonstrated that the controls and the PD patients in an 'on' state adopted different kinematic patterning for the 'social' and the 'individual' conditions; the PD patients in the 'off' state, instead, were unable to kinematically differentiate between the two conditions. These results suggest that l-Dopa treatment has positive effects on translating social intentions into specific motor patterns in PD patients.

Rapid neural discrimination of communicative gestures

Humans are biased toward social interaction. Behaviorally, this bias is evident in the rapid effects that self-relevant communicative signals have on attention and perceptual systems. The processing of communicative cues recruits a wide network of brain regions, including mentalizing systems. Relatively less work, however, has examined the timing of the processing of self-relevant communicative cues. In the present study, we used multivariate pattern analysis (decoding) approach to the analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to study the processing dynamics of social-communicative actions. Twenty-four participants viewed images of a woman performing actions that varied on a continuum of communicative factors including self-relevance (to the participant) and emotional valence, while their brain activity was recorded using MEG. Controlling for low-level visual factors, we found early discrimination of emotional valence (70 ms) and self-relevant communicative signals (100 ms). These data offer neural support for the robust and rapid effects of self-relevant communicative cues on behavior.

I feel good whether my friends win or my foes lose: brain mechanisms underlying feeling similarity

People say they enjoy both seeing a preferred social group succeed and seeing an adversary social group fail. At the same time, they state they dislike seeing a preferred social group fail and seeing an adversary social group succeed. The current magnetic resonance imaging study investigated whether-and if so, how-such similarities in reported feeling states are reflected in neural activities. American football fans anticipated success and failure situations for their favorite or their adversary teams. The data support the idea that feeling similarities and divergences expressed in verbal reports carry with them significant neural similarities and differences, respectively. Desired (favorite team likely to win and adversary team likely to lose) rather than undesired (favorite team likely to lose and adversary team likely to win) outcomes were associated with heightened activity in the supramarginal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, insula, and cerebellum. Precuneus activity additionally distinguished anticipated desirable outcomes for favorite versus adversary teams.

Where there's smoke, there's fire: the brain reactivity of chronic smokers when exposed to the negative value of smoking

RATIONAL

The addictive nature of smoking is characterized by responses to cigarette stimuli that significantly impede smoking cessation efforts. Studies have shown that smokers are roused by appetitive smoking-related stimuli, and their consumption tends to be unaffected by the negative value of smoking.

PURPOSE

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the goal of this study was two-fold: to examine the brain reactivity of chronic smokers when processing the negative value of smoking using aversive smoking-related cues; to further characterize this response by comparing the latter to the processing of aversive nonsmoking-related and appetitive smoking-related cues.

METHOD

Thirty chronic smokers passively viewed aversive smoking-related, aversive nonsmoking-related, appetitive smoking-related and neutral images presented in a block design while being scanned.

RESULTS

Aversive smoking-related stimuli elicited significantly greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus and lateral orbitofrontal cortex than neutral stimuli. Aversive smoking-related stimuli elicited lower activation in the parahippocampal gyrus, insula and inferior frontal gyrus compared to the aversive nonsmoking-related condition, as well as lower activation in the posterior cingulate, precuneus and medial prefrontal cortices compared to appetitive smoking-related cues.

CONCLUSION

The brain activation pattern observed suggests that chronic smokers experience an aversive response when processing aversive smoking-related stimuli, however we argue that the latter triggers a weaker negative emotional and driving response than the aversive non-smoking-related and appetitive smoking-related cues respectively. These fMRI results highlight potentially important processes underlying the insensitivity to the negative value of smoking, an important characteristic of addiction.

Interoceptive-reflective regions differentiate alexithymia traits in depersonalization disorder

It is unclear to what degree depersonalization disorder (DPD) and alexithymia share abnormal brain mechanisms of emotional dysregulation. We compared cerebral processing of facial expressions of emotion in individuals with DPD to normal controls (NC). We presented happy and sad emotion expressions in increasing intensities from neutral (0%) through mild (50%) to intense (100%) to DPD and non-referred NC subjects in an implicit event-related fMRI design, and correlated respective brain activations with responses on the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and its three subscales F1-F3. The TAS-20 predicts clinical diagnosis of DPD with a unique variance proportion of 38%. Differential regression analysis was utilized to ascertain brain regions for each alexithymia subscale. Differential regions of total alexithymia severity for happy emotion were the globus pallidus externus; for identifying feelings (TAS-20 F1 subscale), the right anterior insula; for description of feelings (F2), the right dorsal mid-anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 24); and for externally oriented cognitive style (F3), the left paracingulate gyrus (BA 32). For sad emotion, the differential region for the total TAS-20 score was the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 24); for TAS-20 F1, the left inferior anterior insula; for TAS-20 F2, the right PCC (BA 31); and for TAS-20 F3, the right orbital gyrus (BA 10). Supporting our hypotheses, the ascertained brain regions for TAS-20 subscales subserve interoception, monitoring and reflection of internal states and emotion. The presented analyses provide evidence that alexithymia plays a substantial role in emotional dysregulation in DPD, presumably based on restrictions in interoception.

Neuroanatomic pathways associated with poststroke affective and apathetic depression

OBJECTIVES

Our goal was to localize lesions in poststroke depression patients using magnetic resonance imaging, based on the statistical parametric maps image analysis technique that can be used to combine image data from multiple participants and correlate these images with other data sets.

METHODS

Magnetic resonance imaging acquisitions were obtained from 149 poststroke patients, who were assessed for affective and apathetic symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Apathy Scale, respectively. We created a statistical parametric map that displayed an association between lesion location and affective and apathetic symptoms.

RESULTS

Among the patients with higher depressive scores, the lesion overlap centered on the brainstem, left basal ganglia, and left frontal cortex. Among the patients with higher apathy scores, the lesion overlap centered on the brainstem and bilateral striatum. The overlap lesion for both affective and apathetic depression centered mainly on the brainstem; however, the two types of depression often did not overlap.

CONCLUSIONS

Two core symptoms that can occur after stroke, affective and apathetic symptoms, appear to be associated with different monoaminergic neuroanatomic pathways (serotonergic and dopaminergic).

Functional and structural connectivity of frontostriatal circuitry in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abnormalities in frontostriatal circuitry potentially underlie the two core deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); social interaction and communication difficulties and restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. Whilst a few studies have examined connectivity within this circuitry in ASD, no previous study has examined both functional and structural connectivity within the same population. The present study provides the first exploration of both functional and structural frontostriatal connectivity in ASD. Twenty-eight right-handed Caucasian male ASD (17.28 ± 3.57 years) and 27 right-handed male, age and IQ matched controls (17.15 ± 3.64 years) took part in the study. Resting state functional connectivity was carried out on 21 ASD and control participants, and tractography was carried out on 22 ASD and 24 control participants, after excluding subjects for excessive motion and poor data quality. Functional connectivity analysis was carried out between the frontal cortex and striatum after which tractography was performed between regions that showed significant group differences in functional connectivity. The ASD group showed increased functional connectivity between regions in the frontal cortex [anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), paracingulate gyrus (Pcg) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)], and striatum [nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and caudate]. Increased functional connectivity between ACC and caudate was associated with deactivation to social rewards in the caudate, as previously reported in the same participants. Greater connectivity between the right MFG and caudate was associated with higher restricted interests and repetitive behaviors and connectivity between the bilateral Pcg and NAcc, and the right OFC and NAcc, was negatively associated with social and communicative deficits. Although tracts were reliably constructed for each subject, there were no group differences in structural connectivity. Results are in keeping with previously reported increased corticostriatal functional connectivity in ASD.

Segregation of the human medial prefrontal cortex in social cognition

While the human medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is widely believed to be a key node of neural networks relevant for socio-emotional processing, its functional subspecialization is still poorly understood. We thus revisited the often assumed differentiation of the mPFC in social cognition along its ventral-dorsal axis. Our neuroinformatic analysis was based on a neuroimaging meta-analysis of perspective-taking that yielded two separate clusters in the ventral and dorsal mPFC, respectively. We determined each seed region's brain-wide interaction pattern by two complementary measures of functional connectivity: co-activation across a wide range of neuroimaging studies archived in the BrainMap database and correlated signal fluctuations during unconstrained ("resting") cognition. Furthermore, we characterized the functions associated with these two regions using the BrainMap database. Across methods, the ventral mPFC was more strongly connected with the nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex, and retrosplenial cortex, while the dorsal mPFC was more strongly connected with the inferior frontal gyrus, temporo-parietal junction, and middle temporal gyrus. Further, the ventral mPFC was selectively associated with reward related tasks, while the dorsal mPFC was selectively associated with perspective-taking and episodic memory retrieval. The ventral mPFC is therefore predominantly involved in bottom-up-driven, approach/avoidance-modulating, and evaluation-related processing, whereas the dorsal mPFC is predominantly involved in top-down-driven, probabilistic-scene-informed, and metacognition-related processing in social cognition.

Electronic evaluation for video commercials by impression index

How to evaluate the effect of commercials is significantly important in neuromarketing. In this paper, we proposed an electronic way to evaluate the influence of video commercials on consumers by impression index. The impression index combines both the memorization and attention index during consumers observing video commercials by tracking the EEG activity. It extracts features from scalp EEG to evaluate the effectiveness of video commercials in terms of time-frequency-space domain. And, the general global field power was used as an impression index for evaluation of video commercial scenes as time series. Results of experiment demonstrate that the proposed approach is able to track variations of the cerebral activity related to cognitive task such as observing video commercials, and help to judge whether the scene in video commercials is impressive or not by EEG signals.

Neuroscientific model of motivational process

Considering the neuroscientific findings on reward, learning, value, decision-making, and cognitive control, motivation can be parsed into three sub processes, a process of generating motivation, a process of maintaining motivation, and a process of regulating motivation. I propose a tentative neuroscientific model of motivational processes which consists of three distinct but continuous sub processes, namely reward-driven approach, value-based decision-making, and goal-directed control. Reward-driven approach is the process in which motivation is generated by reward anticipation and selective approach behaviors toward reward. This process recruits the ventral striatum (reward area) in which basic stimulus-action association is formed, and is classified as an automatic motivation to which relatively less attention is assigned. By contrast, value-based decision-making is the process of evaluating various outcomes of actions, learning through positive prediction error, and calculating the value continuously. The striatum and the orbitofrontal cortex (valuation area) play crucial roles in sustaining motivation. Lastly, the goal-directed control is the process of regulating motivation through cognitive control to achieve goals. This consciously controlled motivation is associated with higher-level cognitive functions such as planning, retaining the goal, monitoring the performance, and regulating action. The anterior cingulate cortex (attention area) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (cognitive control area) are the main neural circuits related to regulation of motivation. These three sub processes interact with each other by sending reward prediction error signals through dopaminergic pathway from the striatum and to the prefrontal cortex. The neuroscientific model of motivational process suggests several educational implications with regard to the generation, maintenance, and regulation of motivation to learn in the learning environment.

When do people cooperate? The neuroeconomics of prosocial decision making

Understanding the roots of prosocial behavior is an interdisciplinary research endeavor that has generated an abundance of empirical data across many disciplines. This review integrates research findings from different fields into a novel theoretical framework that can account for when prosocial behavior is likely to occur. Specifically, we propose that the motivation to cooperate (or not), generated by the reward system in the brain (extending from the striatum to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex), is modulated by two neural networks: a cognitive control system (centered on the lateral prefrontal cortex) that processes extrinsic cooperative incentives, and/or a social cognition system (including the temporo-parietal junction, the medial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala) that processes trust and/or threat signals. The independent modulatory influence of incentives and trust on the decision to cooperate is substantiated by a growing body of neuroimaging data and reconciles the apparent paradox between economic versus social rationality in the literature, suggesting that we are in fact wired for both. Furthermore, the theoretical framework can account for substantial behavioral heterogeneity in prosocial behavior. Based on the existing data, we postulate that self-regarding individuals (who are more likely to adopt an economically rational strategy) are more responsive to extrinsic cooperative incentives and therefore rely relatively more on cognitive control to make (un)cooperative decisions, whereas other-regarding individuals (who are more likely to adopt a socially rational strategy) are more sensitive to trust signals to avoid betrayal and recruit relatively more brain activity in the social cognition system. Several additional hypotheses with respect to the neural roots of social preferences are derived from the model and suggested for future research.

Developmental changes in within- and between-network connectivity between late childhood and adulthood

A number of behavioral changes occur between late childhood and adulthood, including maturation of social cognition, reward receptivity, impulsiveness, risk-taking and cognitive control. Although some of these abilities show linear improvements with age, some abilities may temporarily worsen, reflecting both the restructuring and/or strengthening of connections within some brain systems. The current study uses resting state functional connectivity to examine developmental differences between late childhood and adulthood in task positive (TP) regions, which play a role in cognitive control functions, and task negative (TN) regions, which play a role in social cognition, self-referential, and internally-directed thought. Within the TP network, developmental differences in connectivity were found with the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Within the TN network, developmental differences in connectivity were found with a broad area of the medial prefrontal cortex and the right parahippocampal gyrus. Connections between the two networks also showed significant developmental differences. Stronger anticorrelations were found in the TN maps of the adult group for the right anterior insula/inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral anterior inferior parietal lobule, bilateral superior parietal lobule and an anterior portion of the right posterior cingulate cortex. There was a significant brain-behavior relationship between the strength of anticorrelation in these regions and inhibitory control performance on two Go/No-go tasks suggesting that the development of anticorrelations between late childhood and adulthood supports mature inhibitory control. Overall, maturation of these networks occurred in specific regions which are associated with cognitive control of goal-directed behavior, including those involved in working memory, social cognition, and inhibitory control.

Visual cognition during real social interaction

Laboratory studies of social visual cognition often simulate the critical aspects of joint attention by having participants interact with a computer-generated avatar. Recently, there has been a movement toward examining these processes during authentic social interaction. In this review, we will focus on attention to faces, attentional misdirection, and a phenomenon we have termed social inhibition of return (Social IOR), that have revealed aspects of social cognition that were hitherto unknown. We attribute these discoveries to the use of paradigms that allow for more realistic social interactions to take place. We also point to an area that has begun to attract a considerable amount of interest-that of Theory of Mind (ToM) and automatic perspective taking-and suggest that this too might benefit from adopting a similar approach.

Differential relationships between personality and brain function in monetary and goal-oriented subjective motivation: multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy of healthy subjects

AIM

To examine relationships between personality traits and cerebral cortex reactivity under different motivating conditions.

METHODS

Relationships between personality traits assessed using the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO-PI-R) and cerebral cortex reactivity during a verbal fluency task monitored using multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) were examined under three different motivational conditions: control, monetary reward, and goal-oriented, in healthy young male volunteers.

RESULTS

Significant correlations between cerebral cortex reactivity and personality traits were found in the frontopolar region: a positive correlation with agreeableness and a negative correlation with the neuroticism and conscientiousness scores of the NEO-PI-R under the three motivational conditions. Higher scores for agreeableness were more strongly associated with a greater increase in total hemoglobin concentration ([total-Hb]) under the goal-oriented and control conditions than under the monetary reward condition. In addition, higher scores for neuroticism were more strongly associated with a greater increase in deoxygenated hemoglobin concentration ([deoxy-Hb]) under the monetary reward condition than the goal-oriented condition, and higher scores for conscientiousness were more strongly associated with a greater increase in [deoxy-Hb] under control conditions than under the goal-oriented condition.

CONCLUSION

Using multichannel NIRS, certain personality traits of the big-five model are related to frontopolar reactivity. These relationships vary depending on the motivational condition when brain functions are monitored: agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness are all related to frontopolar reactivity depending on the motivational condition.

Self-face evaluation and self-esteem in young females: an fMRI study using contrast effect

Self-evaluation is affected by facial attractiveness, particularly in females, and may be related to self-esteem. Self-face evaluation is relative to the attractiveness of others ("contrast effect"). In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined both the neural correlates of self-face evaluation using the contrast effect and a neural relationship between self-face evaluation and self-esteem. We prepared the following three types of "target faces": one's own face (S), a close friend's face (F), and an unfamiliar face (O). They were randomly intermingled among same-sex unfamiliar foils during two block-types. Our intention was to evoke positive evaluations of target faces using unattractive foils in one block-type, and negative evaluations using attractive foils in the other. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) exhibited greater activation from the positive modulation for S than for O. Activation in these regions was positively correlated with self-esteem and showed the same tendency between S and F. PCC and VTA, which have been implicated in the processing of self-relatedness and reward, respectively, might play a role in the processing of positive self-face evaluation as self-referential stimuli and social rewards, respectively. These results suggested that the PCC and the VTA are the neural correlates of positive self-face evaluation, and that there is a neural relationship between self-face evaluation and self-esteem. The positive evaluation of a close friend's face might be perceived and processed in the same way as one's own face.

Effects of emotional preferences on value-based decision-making are mediated by mentalizing and not reward networks

Real-world decision-making often involves social considerations. Consequently, the social value of stimuli can induce preferences in choice behavior. However, it is unknown how financial and social values are integrated in the brain. Here, we investigated how smiling and angry face stimuli interacted with financial reward feedback in a stochastically rewarded decision-making task. Subjects reliably preferred the smiling faces despite equivalent reward feedback, demonstrating a socially driven bias. We fit a Bayesian reinforcement learning model to factor the effects of financial rewards and emotion preferences in individual subjects, and regressed model predictions on the trial-by-trial fMRI signal. Activity in the subcallosal cingulate and the ventral striatum, both involved in reward learning, correlated with financial reward feedback, whereas the differential contribution of social value activated dorsal temporo-parietal junction and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, previously proposed as components of a mentalizing network. We conclude that the impact of social stimuli on value-based decision processes is mediated by effects in brain regions partially separable from classical reward circuitry.

Personal responsibility and obesity: a constructive approach to a controversial issue

The concept of personal responsibility has been central to social, legal, and political approaches to obesity. It evokes language of blame, weakness, and vice and is a leading basis for inadequate government efforts, given the importance of environmental conditions in explaining high rates of obesity. These environmental conditions can override individual physical and psychological regulatory systems that might otherwise stand in the way of weight gain and obesity, hence undermining personal responsibility, narrowing choices, and eroding personal freedoms. Personal responsibility can be embraced as a value by placing priority on legislative and regulatory actions such as improving school nutrition, menu labeling, altering industry marketing practices, and even such controversial measures as the use of food taxes that create healthier defaults, thus supporting responsible behavior and bridging the divide between views based on individualistic versus collective responsibility.

ALE meta-analysis on facial judgments of trustworthiness and attractiveness

Faces convey a multitude of information in social interaction, among which are trustworthiness and attractiveness. Humans process and evaluate these two dimensions very quickly due to their great adaptive importance. Trustworthiness evaluation is crucial for modulating behavior toward strangers; attractiveness evaluation is a crucial factor for mate selection, possibly providing cues for reproductive success. As both dimensions rapidly guide social behavior, this study tests the hypothesis that both judgments may be subserved by overlapping brain networks. To this end, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis on 16 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies pertaining to facial judgments of trustworthiness and attractiveness. Throughout combined, individual, and conjunction analyses on those two facial judgments, we observed consistent maxima in the amygdala which corroborates our initial hypothesis. This finding supports the contemporary paradigm shift extending the amygdala's role from dominantly processing negative emotional stimuli to processing socially relevant ones. We speculate that the amygdala filters sensory information with evolutionarily conserved relevance. Our data suggest that such a role includes not only "fight-or-flight" decisions but also social behaviors with longer term pay-off schedules, e.g., trustworthiness and attractiveness evaluation.

Live face-to-face interaction during fMRI: a new tool for social cognitive neuroscience

Cooperative social interaction is critical for human social development and learning. Despite the importance of social interaction, previous neuroimaging studies lack two fundamental components of everyday face-to-face interactions: contingent responding and joint attention. In the current studies, functional MRI data were collected while participants interacted with a human experimenter face-to-face via live video feed as they engaged in simple cooperative games. In Experiment 1, participants engaged in a live interaction with the experimenter ("Live") or watched a video of the same interaction ("Recorded"). During the "Live" interaction, as compared to the Recorded conditions, greater activation was seen in brain regions involved in social cognition and reward, including the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right superior temporal sulcus (rSTS), ventral striatum, and amygdala. Experiment 2 isolated joint attention, a critical component of social interaction. Participants either followed the gaze of the live experimenter to a shared target of attention ("Joint Attention") or found the target of attention alone while the experimenter was visible but not sharing attention ("Solo Attention"). The right temporoparietal junction and right posterior STS were differentially recruited during Joint, as compared to Solo, attention. These findings suggest the rpSTS and rTPJ are key regions for both social interaction and joint attention. This method of allowing online, contingent social interactions in the scanner could open up new avenues of research in social cognitive neuroscience, both in typical and atypical populations.