Social Cognition Flashcards
Social Brain Hypothesis
Our brains evolved to be large in order to support the social cognition needed for successful group living
As group size increases, so does the number of relationships, which increases cognitive demand
Requires expanded social skills, like cooperation
Social group size and (neo)cortex size
They correlate
As group size increases, so does the number of relationships, which increases cognitive demand
Cooperation requires:
Communication
Memory of past encounters
Conflict resolution
Social influence
Includes:
- How our individual are shaped by other’s opinions
- How we understand and abide by unwritten rule of etiquette that govern social behaviour
Conformity
Tendency to shift opinions/ beliefs/ actions so they are in agreement with others
Why?
1. Informational conformity: in uncertain situations, we rely on the opinions of others as a source of information
2. Normative conformity: people may conform to be liked by others
Conformity in fMRI results
Rostral cingulate zone activity increases when participants received feedback that their rating differed from group ratings (a “conflict”)
Nucleus Accumbens activity increases when the opposite feedback is recieved (a “reward”)
Social norms vs. socially inappropriate behaviour
Social norms: written and unwritten rules that govern social behaviour
Socially inappropriate behaviour violates this
Socially inappropriate behaviour is associated with:
> Traumatic brain injury
some forms of dementia (like frontotemporal dementia)
People with autism who can have difficulty understanding these social norms
Ultimatum game
The brain and social norm compliance
– Anterior insula
– anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
– Orbitofrontal cortex
_____
The frontal lobes, including OFC, DLPFC, and ACC, are critically involved.
These regions are essential for cognitive control and decision making (executive functions) which are necessary for social norm compliance.
Consistent with the social brain hypothesis: the frontal cortex expanded over evolutionary time to support social cognition.
Anterior insula and social norm compliance
Activity increases when the receiver receives something unfair (ultimatum game)
anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and social norms
Activity is higher in receivers when they receive an unfair offer (ultimatum game)
OFC and Social Norm Compliance
Damage is most strongly associated with alterations in social behaviour and judgment
»> Lateral OFC is important in integrating emotional cues with decision making.
Simulation theory (understanding thoughts and feelings)
We understand other’s mental states through simulation, mimicry, or acting through them
Imitation: can contribute to social cohesion, people are more likely to mimic friends, and likeable people
Neural mechanisms likely depend on mirror neurons
Direct eye contact increaes tendency to mimic
Neuroimaging demonstrated that superior temporal gyrus (important coding gaze direction), dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus showed greater activity when direct gaze was paired with congruent hand movements.
Theory of mind
The capacity to cognitively represent another’s mental states and understand they may differ from one’s own
Assessed with false belief task: temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex
Mentalizing (theory of mind)
The ability to understand the mental state – of oneself or others – that underlies overt behaviour
Related regions:
— Inferior frontal cortex
— Temporopatietal Junction
— Medial frontal cortex
Empathy
3 major components:
1. Emotional contagion: feel what others feel
2. Cognitive-perspective taking (mentalizing)
3. Pro-social action: targeted to help another in need
Empathy, Mentalizing, Mirroring
Those with higher empathic accuracy show greater brain activity in area associated w/ mirroring and mentalizing
Self vs. other/ self-empathy
We also make mental-state attributions about ourselves
E.g., reflecting upon our own goals, intentions, feelings, beliefs, etc.
Mentalizing about oneself activates similar regions as when we mentalize about others, suggesting a common basis for mental-state attribution
Greater social closeness is associated with greater self–other overlap in neural activity
Autism and Social cognition
Mentalizing affected
Less brain activity when trying to understand other’s mental states, do not activate the common neurotypical brain areas (mPFC and TPJ)
_______
Broken mirror theory: mirror neuron system may not be operating normally in autism
(Mirror neuron deficits seem to be limited to the imitation of facial expressions or other emotional gestures, less evidence that nonemotional actions (such as imitative hand movements) are affected)
___
Social deficits may originate from difficulty perceiving and recognizing expressions in others
— less activation of FFA and related regions
Less fixation of gaze on eye region
— overlooks social cue of gaze direction, which helps in understanding what ppl are attending to/ thinking about
Autism and Empathy
Both neural mirroring and mentalizing contribute to empathy
Struggle with cognitive empathy
Cognitive inferences required to represent the feeling states of others or to choose appropriate behavioral responses (cognitive perspective-taking)
Still experience emotional empathy
Feeling what others feel (emotional contagion)
When viewing pictures of people in pain, brain regions involved in vicarious experience of pain are activated
Display affective sharing: When viewing videos of people telling emotional stories, self-reported feelings matched what they believed the storyteller was feeling
Perception and Judgement of Social groups
The brain rapidly distinguishes btwn in-group + out-group
ERP methodology is well-suited to determine the speed of categorizing stimuli
—ERP response larger in response to faces of in-group members than out-group members
—Brain imaging shows increased activity in amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, and fusiform gyrus in response to in-group members than out-group members
Stereotyping
Tendency to assume that certain characteristics are universally true of group members
mPFC and temporoparietal junction involved (mentalizing)
Activation of a stereotype can lead to underperformance played by the member of a stereotyped group (“stereotype threat”)
Beliefs about a group difference can affect actual cognitive performance
Prejudice
Negative attitude about a particular social group
mPFC and temporoparietal junction involved (mentalizing)
Discrimination
Behaviour that is biased against a particular social group
mPFC and temporoparietal junction involved (mentalizing)
Racial Bias and the brain
Unconscious racial bias is correlated with amygdala activity
— faster fear conditioning towards other-race
anterior cingulate and DLPFC are implicated in cognitive control
— May be activated when participants attempt to control racial biases
— Better executive function performance associated with less implicit racial bias
