Emily N Lasko, Abigale C Dagher, Samuel J West, David S Chester
{"title":"Neural mechanisms of intergroup exclusion and retaliatory aggression.","authors":"Emily N Lasko, Abigale C Dagher, Samuel J West, David S Chester","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2086617","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2086617","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Aggression occurs frequently and severely between rival groups. Although there has been much study into the psychological and socio-ecological determinants of intergroup aggression, the neuroscience of this phenomenon remains incomplete. To examine the neural correlates of aggression directed at outgroup (versus ingroup) targets, we recruited 35 healthy young male participants who were current or former students of the same university. While undergoing functional MRI, participants completed an aggression task against both an ingroup and an outgroup opponent in which their opponents repeatedly provoked them at varying levels and then participants could retaliate. Participants were then socially included and then excluded by two outgroup members and then completed the same aggression task against the same two opponents. Both before and after outgroup exclusion, aggression toward outgroup members was positively associated with activity in the ventral striatum during decisions about how aggressive to be toward their outgroup opponent. Aggression toward outgroup members was also linked to greater post-exclusion activity in the rostral and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex during provocation from their outgroup opponent. These altered patterns of brain activity suggest that frontostriatal mechanisms may play a significant role in motivating aggression toward outgroup members.</p>","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 4","pages":"339-351"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9489608/pdf/nihms-1814008.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9916697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Theresa A. McIver, W. Craig, R. Bosma, Julian Chiarella, J. Klassen, A. Sandre, S. Goegan, L. Booij
{"title":"Empathy, defending, and functional connectivity while witnessing social exclusion","authors":"Theresa A. McIver, W. Craig, R. Bosma, Julian Chiarella, J. Klassen, A. Sandre, S. Goegan, L. Booij","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2086618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2086618","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Peers are present for most bullying episodes. Peers who witness bullying can play an important role in either stopping or perpetuating the behavior. Defending can greatly benefit victimized peers. Empathy is strongly associated with defending. Yet, less is known about defenders’ neural response to witnessing social distress, and how this response may relate to the link between empathy and defending. Forty-six first-year undergraduate students (M age = 17.7; 37 women), with varied history of peer defending, underwent fMRI scanning while witnessing a depiction of social exclusion. Functional connectivity analysis was performed across brain regions that are involved in cognitive empathy, empathetic distress, and compassion. History of defending was positively associated with functional connectivity (Exclusion > Inclusion) between the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) – medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and right OFC – left and right amygdalae. Defending was negatively associated with functional connectivity between the left OFC – anterior cingulate cortex. The relationship between history of defending and empathy (specifically, empathetic perspective taking) was moderated by functional connectivity of the right OFC – left amygdala. These findings suggest that coactivation of brain regions involved in compassionate emotion regulation and empathetic distress play a role in the relationship between empathy and peer defending.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"352 - 367"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47337347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Social NeurosciencePub Date : 2022-06-01Epub Date: 2022-06-07DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2022.2082521
Christian G Capistrano, Leah A Grande, Kateri McRae, K Luan Phan, Pilyoung Kim
{"title":"Maternal socioeconomic disadvantage, neural function during volitional emotion regulation, and parenting.","authors":"Christian G Capistrano, Leah A Grande, Kateri McRae, K Luan Phan, Pilyoung Kim","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2082521","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2082521","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The transition to becoming a mother involves numerous emotional challenges, and the ability to effectively keep negative emotions in check is critical for parenting. Evidence suggests that experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage interferes with parenting adaptations and alters neural processes related to emotion regulation. The present study examined whether socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with diminished neural activation while mothers engaged in volitional (i.e., purposeful) emotion regulation. 59 mothers, at an average of 4 months postpartum, underwent fMRI scanning and completed the Emotion Regulation Task (ERT). When asked to regulate emotions using reappraisal (i.e., Reappraise condition; reframing stimuli in order to decrease negative emotion), mothers with lower income-to-needs ratio exhibited dampened neural activation in the dorsolateral and ventrolateral PFC, middle frontal and middle temporal gyrus, and caudate. Without explicit instructions to down-regulate (i.e., Maintain condition), mothers experiencing lower income also exhibited dampened response in regulatory areas, including the middle frontal and middle temporal gyrus and caudate. Blunted middle frontal gyrus activation across both Reappraise and Maintain conditions was associated with reduced maternal sensitivity during a mother-child interaction task. Results of the present study demonstrate the influence of socioeconomic disadvantage on prefrontal engagement during emotion regulation, which may have downstream consequences for maternal behaviors.</p>","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"276-292"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10829500/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47920262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Population variation in social brain morphology: Links to socioeconomic status and health disparity.","authors":"Nathania Suryoputri, Hannah Kiesow, Danilo Bzdok","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2083230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2083230","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Health disparity across layers of society involves reasons beyond the healthcare system. Socioeconomic status (SES) shapes people's daily interaction with their social environment and is known to impact various health outcomes. Using generative probabilistic modeling, we investigate health satisfaction and complementary indicators of socioeconomic lifestyle in the human social brain. In a population cohort of ~10,000 UK Biobank participants, our first analysis probed the relationship between health status and subjective social standing (i.e., financial satisfaction). We identified volume effects in participants unhappy with their health in regions of the higher associative cortex, especially the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and bilateral temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Specifically, participants in poor subjective health showed deviations in dmPFC and TPJ volume as a function of financial satisfaction. The second analysis on health status and objective social standing (i.e., household income) revealed volume deviations in regions of the limbic system for individuals feeling unhealthy. In particular, low-SES participants dissatisfied with their health showed deviations in volume distributions in the amygdala and hippocampus bilaterally. Thus, our population-level evidence speaks to the possibility that health status and socioeconomic position have characteristic imprints in social brain differentiation.</p>","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 3","pages":"305-327"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9398728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neural network involvement for religious experiences in worship measured by EEG microstate analysis","authors":"Yoshija Walter, T. Koenig","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2083228","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2083228","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Not much is known about large-scale brain activation patterns in religious states of mind and previous studies have not set an emphasis on experience. The present study investigated the phenomenon of religious experiences through microstate analysis, and it was the first neurocognitive research to tackle the dimension of experience directly. Hence, a total of 60 evangelical Christians participated in an experiment where they were asked to engage in worship and try to connect with God. With a bar slider, people were able to continuously rate how strongly they sensed God’s presence at any given moment. A selection of songs was used to help in the induction of the desired experience. With 64 electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes, the brain activity was assessed and analyzed with five clusters of microstate classes. First, we hypothesized that the neural network for multisensory integration was involved in the religious experience. Second, we hypothesized that the same was true for the Default Mode Network (DMN). Our results suggested an association between the auditory network and the religious experience, and an association with the salience network as well as with the DMN. No associations with the network thought to be involved with multisensory integration was detected.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"258 - 275"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48316215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of contextual information in a virtual trolly problem: A psychophysiological investigation","authors":"Matthew T. Richesin, D. Baldwin, Lahai A M Wicks","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2076733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2076733","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Trolley problems have persisted as a popular method to examine moral decision-making in the face of many criticisms. One such criticism is that thought experiments provide unrealistically abundant contextual information, leading to mental simulation. Recent work utilizing virtual reality technology has reduced contextual information with mixed results. However, this work has not departed entirely from the thought experiment tradition, often providing written or verbal descriptions of the trolley problem before or during the simulation. This approach may still allow for mental simulation prior to decision-making. The goal of the current study is to examine whether or not this criticism is relevant for the classic version of the trolley problem. One hundred and nineteen participants were randomly assigned to either receive prior contextual information about the trolley problem or receive no information. All participants then entered a virtual reality simulation of the classic trolley problem. We examined decision-making from an affective and autonomic nervous system perspective. We found no effect on any measure in response to the reduction of contextual information. There were, however, surprising gender differences in decision-making and autonomic response. Further, we discuss how these findings relate to competing dual-process models of moral decision-making.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"246 - 257"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42549649","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sensorimotor anticipation of others’ actions in real-world and video settings: Modulation by level of engagement?","authors":"Manon A Krol, T. Jellema","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2083229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2083229","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Electroencephalography (EEG) studies investigating social cognition have used both video and real-world stimuli, often without a strong reasoning as to why one or the other was chosen. Video stimuli can be selected for practical reasons, while naturalistic real-world stimuli are ecologically valid. The current study investigated modulatory effects on EEG mu (8–13 Hz) suppression, directly prior to the onset – and during the course – of observed actions, related to real-world and video settings. Recordings were made over sensorimotor cortex and stimuli in both settings consisted of identical (un)predictable object-related grasping and placing actions. In both settings, a very similar mu suppression was found during unfolding of the action, irrespective of predictability. However, mu suppression related to the anticipation of upcoming predictable actions was found exclusively in the real-world setting. Thus, even though the presentation setting does not seem to modulate mu suppression during action observation, it does affect the anticipation-related mu suppression. We discuss the possibility that this may be due to increased social engagement in real-world settings, which in particular affects anticipation. The findings emphasize the importance of using real-world stimuli to bring out the subtle, anticipatory, aspects related to action observation.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"293 - 304"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42913689","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stefano I. Di Domenico, M. Fournier, A. Rodrigo, Mengxi Dong, H. Ayaz, R. Ryan, A. Ruocco
{"title":"Medial prefrontal activity during self-other judgments is modulated by relationship need fulfillment","authors":"Stefano I. Di Domenico, M. Fournier, A. Rodrigo, Mengxi Dong, H. Ayaz, R. Ryan, A. Ruocco","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2074135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2074135","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays an important role in representing semantic self-knowledge. Studies comparing semantic self-judgments with judgments of close others suggest that interpersonal closeness may influence the degree to which the MPFC differentiates self and other. We used optical neuroimaging to examine if support for competence, relatedness, and autonomy from relationship partners moderates MPFC activity during a personality judgment task. Participants (N = 109) were asked to judge the descriptive accuracy of trait adjectives for both themselves and a friend. Participants who reported lower need fulfillment with their friend showed elevated activity only in the self-judgment condition; in contrast, participants who reported higher need fulfillment with their friend showed similarly high levels of MPFC activity across the conditions. These results are consistent with the idea that the MPFC differentially represents others on the basis of the need fulfillment experienced within the relationship.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"236 - 245"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47740146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mengxue Lan, Maoying Peng, Xiaolin Zhao, Haopeng Chen, Yadong Liu, Juan Yang
{"title":"Facial attractiveness is more associated with individual warmth than with competence: Behavioral and neural evidence","authors":"Mengxue Lan, Maoying Peng, Xiaolin Zhao, Haopeng Chen, Yadong Liu, Juan Yang","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2069152","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2069152","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Individuals appear to infer others’ psychological characteristics according to facial attractiveness and these psychological characteristics can be classified into two categories in social cognition, that is, warmth and competence. However, which category of psychological characteristic is more associated with face attractiveness and its neural mechanisms have not been explored. To address this, participants were asked to judge others’ warmth and competence traits based on face attractiveness, while their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They also assessed the attractiveness of faces after scanning. Behavioral results showed that the correlation between face attractiveness and warmth ratings was significantly higher than that with competence ratings. fMRI results demonstrated that the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), lateral prefrontal cortex, and lateral temporal lobe were more involved in the warmth task. Moreover, attractiveness ratings were negatively correlated with activation of the dmPFC and TPJ only in the warmth task. Furthermore, the attractiveness ratings were negatively correlated with the defined dmPFC, region related to attractiveness judgment, only in the warmth task. In conclusion, people are more inclined to infer others’ warmth than competence characteristics from face attractiveness, that is, face attractiveness is more associated with warmth than with competence.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"225 - 235"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44657777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“We will be in touch”. A neuroscientific assessment of remote vs. face-to-face job interviews via EEG hyperscanning","authors":"M. Balconi, Federico Cassioli","doi":"10.1080/17470919.2022.2064910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2022.2064910","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the last decades, improving remote communications in companies has been a compelling issue. With the outspread of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, this phenomenon has undergone an acceleration. Despite this, little to no research, considering neurocognitive and emotional systems, was conducted on job interviews, a critical organizational phase that significantly contributes to a company's long-term success. In this study, we aimed at exploring the emotional and cognitive processes related to different phases of a job interview (introductory, attitudinal, technical, and conclusion), when considering two conditions: face-to-face and remote, by simultaneously gathering EEG (frequency bands: alpha, beta, delta, and theta) and autonomic data (skin-conductance-level, SCL, skin-conductance-response, SCR, and heart rate, HR) in both candidates and recruiters. Data highlighted a generalized alpha desynchronization during the job interview interaction. Recruiters showed increased frontal theta activity, which is connected to socio-emotional situations and emotional processing. In addition, results showed how face-to-face condition is related to increased SCL and theta power in the central brain area, associated with learning processes, via the midbrain dopamine system and the anterior cingulate cortex. Furthermore, we found higher HR in the candidates. The present results call to reexamine the impact of information-technology on the organization, opening up to translational opportunities.","PeriodicalId":49511,"journal":{"name":"Social Neuroscience","volume":"17 1","pages":"209 - 224"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48604934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}