{"title":"Segregation of Three Resting-State Brain Networks Predicts Reappraisal Success Across The Lifespan.","authors":"Jordan E Pierce, Maital Neta","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf055","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cognitive reappraisal is a form of emotion regulation that involves the reinterpretation of stimuli to change one's emotional state, often to reduce negative affect. Emotion regulation fMRI tasks generally yield increased activation in prefrontal cortex and, less consistently, decreased amygdala activation. Only a few studies, however, have examined how intrinsic brain organization, characterized via resting-state fMRI, relates to reappraisal, typically focusing on the same task-derived brain regions. Here, we administered an emotion regulation task where participants (n = 227, 6-80 years) viewed or downregulated responses to negative images, then completed a resting-state fMRI scan. We examined the functional connectivity in 300 whole-brain regions of interest comprising 13 functional networks. We found that the network segregation, or relative balance of within- and between-network connectivity, in the default mode (DMN), dorsal attention (DAN), and dorsal somatomotor (SMd) networks was associated with reappraisal success (controlling for age and movement). Specifically, greater connectivity within the DMN and DAN, lower connectivity within the SMd, and greater connectivity between the SMd and lateral SM networks predicted better reappraisal ability. These networks also partially overlapped with brain areas supporting emotion regulation and reactivity, suggesting that functional brain organization is a key factor in shaping emotion regulation across the lifespan.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144121879","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simone G Shamay-Tsoory, Anna Markovich, Andrey Markus, Tali Bitan
{"title":"Interbrain coupling during language learning contributes to learning outcomes.","authors":"Simone G Shamay-Tsoory, Anna Markovich, Andrey Markus, Tali Bitan","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf045","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsaf045","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While knowledge and skill acquisition frequently occur in social interactions, the predominant focus of existing research remains centred on individual learning. Here, we investigate whether social interaction enhances language learning, and whether interbrain coupling changes across learning sessions. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy to assess teacher-learner dyads engaging in a two-session training on a set of words and their plural inflections in a novel language. We compared a group trained with mutual communication with a noninteractive group, in which the learner could see and hear the teacher, but the teacher was unable to see or hear the learner (one-way mirror). Results revealed that compared to the No-interaction group, the Interaction group exhibited faster reaction times for vocabulary recognition and morphological inflections for the first session. The neuroimaging data revealed that interbrain coupling between the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the learner and the right IFG of the teacher positively predicted vocabulary accuracy in the first but not in the second session. The results collectively suggest that IFG interbrain coupling plays an essential role in the initial stages of learning, highlighting the significant impact of social interaction in enhancing learning, especially during the early phases of learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144048916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Predicting whole-brain neural dynamics from prefrontal cortex functional near-infrared spectroscopy signal during movie-watching.","authors":"Shan Gao, Ryleigh Nash, Shannon Burns, Yuan Chang Leong","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers a portable, cost-effective alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for noninvasively measuring neural activity. However, fNIRS measurements are limited to cortical regions near the scalp, missing important medial and deeper brain areas. We introduce a predictive model that maps prefrontal fNIRS signals to whole-brain fMRI activity during movie-watching. By aligning neural responses to a common audiovisual stimulus, our approach leverages shared dynamics across imaging modalities to map fNIRS signals to broader neural activity patterns. We scanned participants with fNIRS and utilized a publicly available fMRI dataset of participants watching the same TV episode. The model was trained on the first half of the episode and tested on a held-out participant watching the second half to assess cross-individual and cross-stimulus generalizability. The model significantly predicted fMRI time courses in 66 out of 122 brain regions, including areas otherwise inaccessible to fNIRS. It also replicated intersubject functional connectivity patterns and retained semantic information about the movie content. The model generalized to an independent dataset from a different TV series, suggesting it captures robust cross-modal mappings across stimuli. Our publicly available models enable researchers to infer broader neural dynamics from localized fNIRS data during naturalistic tasks.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144128441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Predicting whole-brain neural dynamics from prefrontal cortex functional near-infrared spectroscopy signal during movie-watching.","authors":"Shan Gao, Ryleigh Nash, Shannon Burns, Yuan Chang Leong","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf043","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsaf043","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) offers a portable, cost-effective alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for noninvasively measuring neural activity. However, fNIRS measurements are limited to cortical regions near the scalp, missing important medial and deeper brain areas. We introduce a predictive model that maps prefrontal fNIRS signals to whole-brain fMRI activity during movie-watching. By aligning neural responses to a common audiovisual stimulus, our approach leverages shared dynamics across imaging modalities to map fNIRS signals to broader neural activity patterns. We scanned participants with fNIRS and utilized a publicly available fMRI dataset of participants watching the same TV episode. The model was trained on the first half of the episode and tested on a held-out participant watching the second half to assess cross-individual and cross-stimulus generalizability. The model significantly predicted fMRI time courses in 66 out of 122 brain regions, including areas otherwise inaccessible to fNIRS. It also replicated intersubject functional connectivity patterns and retained semantic information about the movie content. The model generalized to an independent dataset from a different TV series, suggesting it captures robust cross-modal mappings across stimuli. Our publicly available models enable researchers to infer broader neural dynamics from localized fNIRS data during naturalistic tasks.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12094161/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144031660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Simone G Shamay-Tsoory, Anna Markovich, Andrey Markus, Tali Bitan
{"title":"Interbrain coupling during language learning contributes to learning outcomes.","authors":"Simone G Shamay-Tsoory, Anna Markovich, Andrey Markus, Tali Bitan","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf045","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While knowledge and skill acquisition frequently occur in social interactions, the predominant focus of existing research remains centred on individual learning. Here, we investigate whether social interaction enhances language learning, and whether interbrain coupling changes across learning sessions. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy to assess teacher-learner dyads engaging in a two-session training on a set of words and their plural inflections in a novel language. We compared a group trained with mutual communication with a noninteractive group, in which the learner could see and hear the teacher, but the teacher was unable to see or hear the learner (one-way mirror). Results revealed that compared to the No-interaction group, the Interaction group exhibited faster reaction times for vocabulary recognition and morphological inflections for the first session. The neuroimaging data revealed that interbrain coupling between the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the learner and the right IFG of the teacher positively predicted vocabulary accuracy in the first but not in the second session. The results collectively suggest that IFG interbrain coupling plays an essential role in the initial stages of learning, highlighting the significant impact of social interaction in enhancing learning, especially during the early phases of learning.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144129980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peter E Clayson, Kipras Varkala, Scott A Baldwin, Patrick R Steffen, Jonathan G Sandberg, Michael J Larson
{"title":"Spouse Support and Stress: Gender Differences in Neural Measures of Performance Monitoring Under Observation of a Spouse.","authors":"Peter E Clayson, Kipras Varkala, Scott A Baldwin, Patrick R Steffen, Jonathan G Sandberg, Michael J Larson","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf053","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spousal support can mitigate stress's impact on daily functioning and neural responses to stressors. However, the effectiveness of spousal support in reducing stress may be moderated by gender. The present study investigated the impact of observer presence in 66 heterosexual married couples, specifically a spouse or a confederate, on two neural indices of performance monitoring: early error detection (error-related negativity [ERN]) and later error awareness (error positivity [Pe]). Contrary to predictions, ERN was consistently smaller in observed conditions, suggesting that being observed, irrespective of the observer's identity, diminished attention to errors. Notably, only women exhibited an enhanced ERN in the presence of their spouse, suggesting gender-specific differences in neural responses to spousal support during performance monitoring. Pe was larger when completing the task in the presence of a spouse and men displayed larger Pe than women. The present findings underscore the complex role of social context in performance monitoring, challenging existing assumptions about the uniformity of neural indices of performance monitoring during observation. Findings emphasize the need to dissect the nuanced interplay between observer presence, gender differences, and performance monitoring and offer valuable insights into the social modulation of error processing, particularly in a stressful observation context.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144103458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Targeting the DLPFC to Enhance Memory Control: Divergent Effects on Social and Nonsocial Memories.","authors":"Hui Xie, Jialin Liang, Yun Luo, Weimao Chen, Xiaoqing Hu, Dandan Zhang","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf052","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Voluntary forgetting, governed by top-down inhibitory control in the prefrontal cortex, plays a critical role in adaptive memory regulation. This study investigated the causal role of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) in the forgetting of social and nonsocial memories. Employing high-frequency (10 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in an offline protocol, we modulated rDLPFC activity (Active TMS condition) and compared it to a Control TMS condition targeting the vertex. Participants completed a directed forgetting (DF) task framed in social and nonsocial contexts. Results revealed a dissociation in rDLPFC involvement: stimulation significantly enhanced the forgetting of negative nonsocial memories but did not affect social memories. Furthermore, rTMS moderated the relationship between social anxiety and forgetting performance: individuals with higher social anxiety struggled to forget negative social feedback in the Control TMS condition, a difficulty alleviated by rDLPFC stimulation. These findings suggest that voluntary forgetting of social and nonsocial memories engages distinct neural mechanisms and highlighting rDLPFC stimulation as a potential intervention for reducing maladaptive memory biases associated with social anxiety.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144083061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Altruistic or fair? The influence of empathy on third-party punishment: an event-related potential study.","authors":"Guanfei Zhang, Min Tan, Jin Li, Yiping Zhong","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf042","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although most individuals strongly prefer social fairness and punish behaviours that violate fairness norms, recent psychological studies have shown that empathy towards 'perpetrators' who violate fairness norms can affect people's fairness decision-making, resulting in tolerance for unfair behaviour, even as direct 'victims' of unfair behaviour. However, in real life, people more often view unfair events from a third-party perspective, and little is known about how empathy affects fairness decisions by third parties whose self-interests are not threatened and their neurocognitive mechanisms. The present study examined effects of empathy directed towards a 'perpetrator' on third-party punishment using event-related potentials. The results suggest that, in the nonempathy condition, unfair offers induced stronger unfairness aversion in third-party decision makers and increased motivation and cognitive resource investment to alleviate this negative emotion compared to fair offers, reflecting the greater amplitude differences of fairness effects on the anterior N1 component, medial frontal negative, and smaller late positive components in the nonempathy condition. However, in the empathy condition, the differential impact of the fairness effect disappeared. These findings reveal the neural basis for trade-offs between altruistic and fairness motives in third-party fairness decision-making processes involving empathy.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144129904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jake J Son, Danielle L Rice, Mikki Schantell, Giorgia Picci, Hannah J Okelberry, Anna T Coutant, Grace C Ende, Yu-Ping Wang, Julia M Stephen, Vince D Calhoun, Gaelle E Doucet, Brittany K Taylor, Tony W Wilson
{"title":"Social pain is associated with altered developmental trajectories of connectivity among the triple network model of psychopathology.","authors":"Jake J Son, Danielle L Rice, Mikki Schantell, Giorgia Picci, Hannah J Okelberry, Anna T Coutant, Grace C Ende, Yu-Ping Wang, Julia M Stephen, Vince D Calhoun, Gaelle E Doucet, Brittany K Taylor, Tony W Wilson","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaf037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Childhood and adolescence are sensitive periods for the refinement of increasingly complex executive and social functions. A particularly important skill is the ability to navigate and interpret interpersonal relationships, which is reflected in part by the maturation of distributed resting networks. However, the relationships between negative social perceptions in youth and long-term alterations in between-network connectivity is limited. To partially address this gap, we utilized longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (N=93) with social pain measures from the NIH Toolbox Emotion Battery to determine the links between negative social perceptions on the trajectory of connectivity between the salience, frontoparietal, and default mode networks in the triple network model of psychopathology. Higher scores of perceived hostility, but not perceived rejection, tended to increase functional connectivity between the salience and both frontoparietal and default mode networks over time. These results suggest that more direct forms of threat (hostility) may be more impactful than rejection (limited desired social interactions), highlighting the importance of a dimensional approach to understanding developmental trajectories. While these connectivity changes align with several aberrant connectivity signatures observed across mental health disorders, these phenotypes are not pathognomonic of psychopathology and may reflect adaptive mechanisms in the context of social adversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144083060","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Altruistic or fair? The influence of empathy on third-party punishment: an event-related potential study.","authors":"Guanfei Zhang, Min Tan, Jin Li, Yiping Zhong","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf042","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsaf042","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although most individuals strongly prefer social fairness and punish behaviours that violate fairness norms, recent psychological studies have shown that empathy towards 'perpetrators' who violate fairness norms can affect people's fairness decision-making, resulting in tolerance for unfair behaviour, even as direct 'victims' of unfair behaviour. However, in real life, people more often view unfair events from a third-party perspective, and little is known about how empathy affects fairness decisions by third parties whose self-interests are not threatened and their neurocognitive mechanisms. The present study examined effects of empathy directed towards a 'perpetrator' on third-party punishment using event-related potentials. The results suggest that, in the nonempathy condition, unfair offers induced stronger unfairness aversion in third-party decision makers and increased motivation and cognitive resource investment to alleviate this negative emotion compared to fair offers, reflecting the greater amplitude differences of fairness effects on the anterior N1 component, medial frontal negative, and smaller late positive components in the nonempathy condition. However, in the empathy condition, the differential impact of the fairness effect disappeared. These findings reveal the neural basis for trade-offs between altruistic and fairness motives in third-party fairness decision-making processes involving empathy.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12079038/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144004120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}