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Ishiguro S, Paterson RL, Saito S. Positive correlation between working memory and face-to-face social interaction in everyday life. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2024; 248:104402. [PMID: 39003992 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104402] [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: 09/09/2023] [Revised: 07/08/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Working memory (WM) plays a crucial role in various cognitive tasks from language comprehension to problem-solving. However, its influence on social activities has remained largely unexplored. The current two studies on individual differences, a pilot (N = 329) and a pre-registered direct replication (N = 338) study, investigated the relationship between WM and outside-the-lab social interaction by using a listening span task and three social network questionnaires (e.g., how many people a participant had contacted in the past month). The consistent patterns in the two studies were (a) WM recall was positively correlated with social network size, (b) WM recall remained positively correlated with social network size even when accounting for online interactions on WhatsApp and Facebook, and (c) WM recall was positively correlated with social network size by face-to-face interaction. These novel findings would suggest connections between WM and face-to-face social interaction. It was, however, acknowledged that the obtained effect sizes were small, and that further investigation is indeed necessary. In light of this, we also clarify future directions for understanding the relationship between WM and social interaction.
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2
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Fendinger NJ, Dietze P, Knowles ED. Response to Fittipaldi etal. (2024). Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:388-389. [PMID: 38582655 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas J Fendinger
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
| | - Pia Dietze
- University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Eric D Knowles
- Department of Psychology, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA
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3
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Lee Masson H, Chen J, Isik L. A shared neural code for perceiving and remembering social interactions in the human superior temporal sulcus. Neuropsychologia 2024; 196:108823. [PMID: 38346576 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108823] [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: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Recognizing and remembering social information is a crucial cognitive skill. Neural patterns in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) support our ability to perceive others' social interactions. However, despite the prominence of social interactions in memory, the neural basis of remembering social interactions is still unknown. To fill this gap, we investigated the brain mechanisms underlying memory of others' social interactions during free spoken recall of a naturalistic movie. By applying machine learning-based fMRI encoding analyses to densely labeled movie and recall data we found that a subset of the STS activity evoked by viewing social interactions predicted neural responses in not only held-out movie data, but also during memory recall. These results provide the first evidence that activity in the STS is reinstated in response to specific social content and that its reactivation underlies our ability to remember others' interactions. These findings further suggest that the STS contains representations of social interactions that are not only perceptually driven, but also more abstract or conceptual in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haemy Lee Masson
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, United Kingdom; Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States.
| | - Janice Chen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States
| | - Leyla Isik
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States.
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4
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Zhang G, Xu Y, Wang X, Li J, Shi W, Bi Y, Lin N. A social-semantic working-memory account for two canonical language areas. Nat Hum Behav 2023; 7:1980-1997. [PMID: 37735521 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01704-8] [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] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023]
Abstract
Language and social cognition are traditionally studied as separate cognitive domains, yet accumulative studies reveal overlapping neural correlates at the left ventral temporoparietal junction (vTPJ) and the left lateral anterior temporal lobe (lATL), which have been attributed to sentence processing and social concept activation. We propose a common cognitive component underlying both effects: social-semantic working memory. We confirmed two key predictions of our hypothesis using functional MRI. First, the left vTPJ and lATL showed sensitivity to sentences only when the sentences conveyed social meaning; second, these regions showed persistent social-semantic-selective activity after the linguistic stimuli disappeared. We additionally found that both regions were sensitive to the socialness of non-linguistic stimuli and were more tightly connected with the social-semantic-processing areas than with the sentence-processing areas. The converging evidence indicates the social-semantic working-memory function of the left vTPJ and lATL and challenges the general-semantic and/or syntactic accounts for the neural activity of these regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangyao Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Yangwen Xu
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Xiuyi Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jixing Li
- Department of Linguistics and Translation, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Weiting Shi
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yanchao Bi
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Nan Lin
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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5
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Riadh O, Naoufel O, Ben Rejeb MR, Le Gall D. The role of cognitive estimation in understanding the mental states of others. Cogn Neuropsychol 2023; 40:381-400. [PMID: 38782712 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2024.2354449] [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: 10/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Previous studies have emphasized the critical role of the prefrontal cortex in cognitive estimation and theory of mind, however, none of them has questioned the possible role of cognitive estimation processes in understanding the mental states of others. In this study, we compared 30 patients with focal prefrontal cortex damage and 30 control subjects matched by gender, age, and education level on their performances on a cognitive estimation task and two tasks assessing theory of mind: the "Faux-Pas" task and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. The results showed that patients were significantly impaired compared with control subjects on both abilities of cognitive estimation and theory of mind. Moreover, regression analyses showed that performance on theory of mind was predicted by the scores on cognitive estimation. Finally, using voxel-based lesion analysis, we identified a partially common bilaterally distributed prefrontal network involved in both these domains centred within the ventral and dorsomedial areas with extension to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ouerchefani Riadh
- Higher Institute of Human sciences, University of Tunis El-Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
- Univ Angers, Université de Nantes, LPPL, SFR CONFLUENCES, Angers, France
| | | | - Mohamed Riadh Ben Rejeb
- Faculty of Human and Social Science of Tunisia, Department of Psychology, University of Tunis I, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Didier Le Gall
- Univ Angers, Université de Nantes, LPPL, SFR CONFLUENCES, Angers, France
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6
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Legaz A, Prado P, Moguilner S, Báez S, Santamaría-García H, Birba A, Barttfeld P, García AM, Fittipaldi S, Ibañez A. Social and non-social working memory in neurodegeneration. Neurobiol Dis 2023; 183:106171. [PMID: 37257663 PMCID: PMC11177282 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2023.106171] [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: 04/05/2023] [Revised: 05/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Although social functioning relies on working memory, whether a social-specific mechanism exists remains unclear. This undermines the characterization of neurodegenerative conditions with both working memory and social deficits. We assessed working memory domain-specificity across behavioral, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging dimensions in 245 participants. A novel working memory task involving social and non-social stimuli with three load levels was assessed across controls and different neurodegenerative conditions with recognized impairments in: working memory and social cognition (behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia); general cognition (Alzheimer's disease); and unspecific patterns (Parkinson's disease). We also examined resting-state theta oscillations and functional connectivity correlates of working memory domain-specificity. Results in controls and all groups together evidenced increased working memory demands for social stimuli associated with frontocinguloparietal theta oscillations and salience network connectivity. Canonical frontal theta oscillations and executive-default mode network anticorrelation indexed non-social stimuli. Behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia presented generalized working memory deficits related to posterior theta oscillations, with social stimuli linked to salience network connectivity. In Alzheimer's disease, generalized working memory impairments were related to temporoparietal theta oscillations, with non-social stimuli linked to the executive network. Parkinson's disease showed spared working memory performance and canonical brain correlates. Findings support a social-specific working memory and related disease-selective pathophysiological mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agustina Legaz
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Psicología, Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Pavel Prado
- Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago, Chile; Escuela de Fonoaudiología, Facultad de Odontología y Ciencias de la Rehabilitación, Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sebastián Moguilner
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago, Chile; Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, United States; Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Ireland
| | | | - Hernando Santamaría-García
- Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Medical School, Physiology and Psychiatry Departments, Memory and Cognition Center Intellectus, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Agustina Birba
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Pablo Barttfeld
- Cognitive Science Group. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIPsi), CONICET UNC, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Boulevard de la Reforma esquina Enfermera Gordillo, CP 5000. Córdoba, Argentina
| | - Adolfo M García
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, United States; Departamento de Lingüística y Literatura, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Ireland
| | - Sol Fittipaldi
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago, Chile; Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, United States; Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Agustín Ibañez
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago, Chile; Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, United States; Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin, Ireland.
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7
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Fendinger NJ, Dietze P, Knowles ED. Beyond cognitive deficits: how social class shapes social cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:528-538. [PMID: 37031013 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.03.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/10/2023]
Abstract
Lower social class is thought to contribute to poorer executive functioning and working memory. Nevertheless, lower social class individuals consistently outperform their higher-class counterparts on social cognitive tasks that rely on similar underlying cognitive processes (e.g., working memory and executive functioning). Why would lower social class inhibit such processes in one domain, but promote them in another? We argue that features of lower-class communities (e.g., resource scarcity) promote social cognition via cultural processes. We then argue that social cognition involves partially unique task and neural demands that are separate from nonsocial cognition. We conclude that unique task and neural demands, together with the distinctive cognitive proclivities of lower- and higher-class cultures, can explain variable associations between social class and cognitive functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Pia Dietze
- University of California Irvine, Department of Psychological Science, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Eric D Knowles
- New York University, Department of Psychology, New York, NY 10003, USA
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8
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Meyer ML. Don't You Forget About Me: The Importance of Studying the Brain Basis of Real-world Interpersonal Memory. J Cogn Neurosci 2023; 35:149-157. [PMID: 36306251 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Despite the fact that humans are a highly social species, we know relatively little about how people remember the rich interpersonal information filling their social lives. This gap is surprising: One function of memory has been suggested to be relationship maintenance [Neisser, U. Time present and time past. Practical Aspects of Memory: Current Research and Issues, 2, 545-560, 1988]. A major barrier to understanding the brain basis of interpersonal memory is that traditional brain imaging methods are not ideally suited to study memory for the nuanced interpersonal experiences comprising our social lives. Yet, recent and rapidly developing advances in the analysis of brain responses to naturalistic social information can help researchers surpass this methodological barrier. This perspective piece articulates the importance of studying the brain basis of real-world social memories and suggests new directions in interpersonal memory research. This includes investigating the brain mechanisms that represent the content and structure of real-world interpersonal memories as well as how they are altered in mental health conditions associated with social memory biases.
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9
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Coexistence of the social semantic effect and non-semantic effect in the default mode network. Brain Struct Funct 2023; 228:321-339. [PMID: 35394555 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-022-02476-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Neuroimaging studies have found both semantic and non-semantic effects in the default mode network (DMN), leading to an intense debate on the role of the DMN in semantic processes. Four different views have been proposed: (1) the general semantic view holds that the DMN contains several hub regions supporting general semantic processes; (2) the non-semantic view holds that the semantic effects observed in the DMN (especially the ventral angular gyrus) are confounded by difficulty and do not reflect semantic processing per se; (3) the multifunction view holds that the same areas in the DMN can support both semantic and non-semantic functions; and (4) the multisystem view holds that the DMN contains multiple subnetworks supporting different aspects of semantic processes separately. Using an fMRI experiment, we found that in one of the subnetworks of the DMN, called the social semantic network, all areas showed social semantic activation and difficulty-induced deactivation. The distributions of two non-semantic effects, that is, difficulty-induced and task-induced deactivations, showed dissociation in the DMN. In the bilateral angular gyri, the ventral subdivisions showed social semantic activation independent of difficulty, while the dorsal subdivisions showed no semantic effect but difficulty-induced activation. Our findings provide two insights into the semantic and non-semantic functions of the DMN, which are consistent with both the multisystem and multifunction views: first, the same areas of the DMN can support both social semantic and non-semantic functions; second, similar to the multiple semantic effects of the DMN, the non-semantic effects also vary across its subsystems.
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10
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Byom LJ, Whalen M, Turkstra LS. Working Memory for Emotions in Adolescents and Young Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury. BRAIN IMPAIR 2022; 22:296-310. [PMID: 36703704 PMCID: PMC9873224 DOI: 10.1017/brimp.2021.20] [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] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
This preliminary study investigated the interaction between working memory and social cognition in adolescents and young adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that participants with or without TBI would better recognize social information when working memory or social cognitive load was low, and that adolescents and young adults with TBI would be more affected by increased cognitive demand than their uninjured peers. Eight adolescents and young adults with complicated mild-severe TBI (aged 14-22 years) and eight age- and sex-matched typically developing (TD) adolescents completed computer-based n-back tasks requiring recognition of either face identity or facial affect, with 0-back, 1-, and 2-back conditions. The TBI group had lower scores overall than the TD group, and scores for both groups were lower for affect recognition than identity recognition. Scores for both groups were lower in conditions with a higher working memory load. There was a significant group-by-working memory interaction, with larger group differences in high-working memory conditions. Study results and their potential implications for social outcomes are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey J Byom
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
| | - Meaghan Whalen
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Department of Allied Health Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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11
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Ouerchefani R, Ouerchefani N, Ben Rejeb MR, Le Gall D. Neurocognitive and neural mechanisms underlying deficit on the Reading Mind In The Eyes Task: Evidence from patients with focal prefrontal cortex damage. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2022; 44:1-18. [DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2022.2057928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Riadh Ouerchefani
- Department of Psychology, University of Tunis El Manar, High Institute of Human sciences, Tunis, Tunisia
- Department of Neurosurgery, Foch Hospital, France
| | - Naoufel Ouerchefani
- Department of Psychology, University Tunis I; Faculty of Human and Social Science of Tunisia, Tunis, Tunisia
| | | | - Didier Le Gall
- Univ Angers, Université de Nantes, LPPL, SFR Confluences, Angers, France
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12
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Riadh O, Naoufel O, Ben Rejeb MR, Le Gall D. Impaired social perception from eyes and face visual cues: evidence from prefrontal cortex damage. Soc Neurosci 2021; 16:607-626. [PMID: 34544320 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2021.1983458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Despite the key role that decoding of social-perceptual cues from faces plays in interpersonal communication, it is only recently that the potential of prefrontal cortex damage to disrupt this ability has been recognized. In fact, few studies to date had assessed whether the ability to identify the state of mind of others from the whole or part of the face is disrupted after prefrontal cortex damage and whether these two abilities are associated and share overlapped neural systems. In the present study, 30 patients with focal prefrontal lesions and 30 matched control subjects were assessed on their ability to recognize six basic emotions from facial expressions of the whole face and to identify states of mind of others from photographs of only the eyes using the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task". Results showed that frontal patients were significantly impaired compared with control subjects on both tasks. Moreover, regression analyses showed that these two abilities are associated and reciprocally predictive of one another. Finally, using voxel-based lesion analysis; we identified a partially common bilaterally distributed prefrontal network in the decoding of both emotional cues from both the whole face and eyes centered within the dorsomedial and ventral regions with extension to the lateral frontal pole.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ouerchefani Riadh
- University of Tunis El Manar, High Institute of Human Sciences, Department of Psychology, 26 Boulevard Darghouth Pacha, Tunis, Tunisia.,Univ Angers, Université De Nantes, LPPL, SFR CONFLUENCES, F-49000 Angers, France
| | | | - Mohamed Riadh Ben Rejeb
- , University Tunis I, Faculty of Human and Social Science of Tunisia, Department of Psychology, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Didier Le Gall
- Univ Angers, Université De Nantes, LPPL, SFR CONFLUENCES, F-49000 Angers, France
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13
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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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14
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Using the attribute amnesia paradigm to test the automatic memory advantage of person names. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 28:2019-2026. [PMID: 34254264 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01975-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Person names, which hold within them extensive meaning, such as gender and cultural information, play an essential role in our social interaction. The intentional memory advantage of person names has been proved, but whether the automatic memory advantage of them exists remains unclear. In order to explore this question, we used a paradigm called attribute amnesia that allows us to test the automatic memory of person names in a working memory task. In Experiment 1, we adopted a classic attribute amnesia paradigm including 11 pre-surprise trials requiring participants to report the location of the target (person names or animal names) among three distractors and one surprise trial requiring them to unexpectedly report the identity of the target. The results showed that the identity report accuracy of person names in the surprise test was significantly better than that of animal names that served as a control group. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 but increased the number of pre-surprise trials that could reduce the report accuracy of surprise test according to previous studies. The results revealed that the accuracy of the surprise test of person names decreased significantly, and showed no significant difference from that of animal names. These results suggest that there exists an automatic memory advantage of person names in working memory; however, such an automatic memory advantage effect could be reduced after participants learn to stop automatically encoding the attended but no-need-to-report person names through experiencing sufficient trials.
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15
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Sippel LM, Holtzheimer PE, Huckins JF, Collier E, Feilong M, Wheatley T, Meyer ML. Neurocognitive mechanisms of poor social connection in posttraumatic stress disorder: Evidence for abnormalities in social working memory. Depress Anxiety 2021; 38:615-625. [PMID: 33621379 PMCID: PMC8169539 DOI: 10.1002/da.23139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Revised: 12/22/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Poor social connection is a central feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but little is known about the neurocognitive processes associated with social difficulties in this population. We examined recruitment of the default network and behavioral responses during social working memory (SWM; i.e., maintaining and manipulating social information on a moment-to-moment basis) in relation to PTSD and social connection. METHODS Participants with PTSD (n = 31) and a trauma-exposed control group (n = 21) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while completing a task in which they reasoned about two or four people's relationships in working memory (social condition) and alphabetized two or four people's names in working memory (nonsocial condition). Participants also completed measures of social connection (e.g., loneliness, social network size). RESULTS Compared to trauma-exposed controls, individuals with PTSD reported smaller social networks (p = .032) and greater loneliness (p = .038). Individuals with PTSD showed a selective deficit in SWM accuracy (p = .029) and hyperactivation in the default network, particularly in the dorsomedial subsystem, on trials with four relationships to consider. Moreover, default network hyperactivation in the PTSD group (vs. trauma-exposed group) differentially related to social network size and loneliness (p's < .05). Participants with PTSD also showed less resting state functional connectivity within the dorsomedial subsystem than controls (p = .002), suggesting differences in the functional integrity of a subsystem key to SWM. CONCLUSIONS SWM abnormalities in the default network may be a basic mechanism underlying poorer social connection in PTSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M Sippel
- National Center for PTSD, US Department of Veterans Affairs, White River Junction, Vermont, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Paul E Holtzheimer
- National Center for PTSD, US Department of Veterans Affairs, White River Junction, Vermont, USA.,Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Jeremy F Huckins
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Eleanor Collier
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Ma Feilong
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Thalia Wheatley
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Meghan L Meyer
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
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