Class 21 Flashcards
Social brain hypothesis
large brains were evolutionarily advantageous because they help navigate large groups of conspecifics
• A larger neocortex was selected by the evolutionary pressure of group living
Patients with prefrontal damage may show behaviours that are
not compliant with norms
OFC damage: integration of emotional information and decision-making
Social norms can take the place of
common rules of etiquette or formalized into laws
- Can vary according to culture
- Important for not just group relations, but also for survival
ex. fiarness
The ultimatum game
game shows fairness/ demonstrates reactions
Increased activity seen in ____ when people face an unfair offer in an ultimatum game
Increase activity in DLPFC
(DLPFC: Planning, abstract reasoning)
Question of Increased activity of DLPFC/ why
Suppressing the urge to just reject an unfair offer?
OR
Suppressing selfishness to maintain a sense of fairness? - seen in both the indivdual rejecting unfair offer and person giving unfair offer
Impair activty of DLPFC - increase in selfshness shows pro second hypothsis
Unfair offers tended to be rejected more if they were perceived to have come from a
human rather than a computer
person affects inclnation to assert fairness
Tendency to give more fair offers when there was threat of
punishment for unfair offers
tDCS on lateral PFC had ___ effects on punished and unpunished unfair offers
opposite
lateral PFC = cathodal ?
Do nothing, dont think shows
default mode network (DMN)
actully start thinking of self
default mode network (DMN) lowered when
inc when
doing active taks
inc wen day dreaming
Also seen in self-referential activity, or in the projection of past/future possibilities
Theory of Mind (ToM)
The ability to represent someone else’s mental states and recognize them as potentially different from one’s own
• Often assessed with false belief task
false belief task
From sall’ys persepctive no knowlage that ann moved them
reconizing that sally has info about situation different from ourselves.
Social animation task
Show video of shaps and see if people give human like discriptors
ex. say triangles confrontational, circle hidding
attributing ‘human’ traits to shapes
Reading the mind in the eyes
inferring emotional state based on eyes
ex. mask
___ implicated in ToM across 3 different tasks
Temporoparietal junction (TPJ)
However, Slightly different networks for each specific task (False belief task also involves medial PFC, precuneus)
Three main components of empathy
Autistic individuals tend to show deficits in social perception and theory of mind.
How would they perform on the false belief task compared to neurotypical individuals? What about their brain activity?
not be able to distingsh that they know sally dont have but sally doesnt know
Types of empathy
Affective empathy
Cognitive empathy
Affective empathy
similar to emotional contagion, feeling what others also feel in a situation
Cognitive empathy
like ToM, but for affective states
• The ability to infer an emotional state of someone else based on observed cues
People with autism spectrum disorder can show empathic reactions when
told what emotion is being portrayed by an individual
Dissociation
cognitive empathy deficit
Pain pathways
- Reminder:
- Coded by free nerve endings • Ascends via anterolateral tracts
- Descending pathways can modulate the ascending input
- Cognitive contributions to pain modulation • Opioids (e.g. morphine) act on this descending pathway
Empathy for pain experement
Pain seen in partner
ACC and anterior insula activated in common network for when pain was not only experienced by the self but also seen in the partner (other)
Amount of activation in other condition correlated with scores on empathy questionnaires
These are separate from S1, S2, which were associated with self pain only
Neither ACC or anterior insula are part of the mirror neuron network
Does social pain activate the same regions as experiencing physical pain?
Yes?, areas dACC amgdala, PAG
activity coralated
Social Pain examples
- Grief at losing a loved one
- Betrayal by a romantic partner
- Getting into an argument with a friend
Momentary social exclusion task
Cyberball
People more sensitive to simulated social rejection __
may also experience more social rejection daily
Activation in areas involved in memory consolidation and self and social cognition predicted
feelings of social distress and disconnection over the next 10 days
Areas Include : Hippocampus & MPFC
