Social Neuroscience Flashcards
default mode network
involved in ‘thinking about the self,’ and also in thinking that occurs when at rest. helps us process info.
prefrontal cortex, lateral temporal cortex, PCC, MPFC
dec when doing task, but dec less when task involves self reflection
autistic kids less DMN activation –> less social knowledge
MPFC
important for self evaluation and referencing
activated in study when asked about personality characteristics and self relevancy for certain words
Ventral anterior cingulate
related to valence of trait during word/personality study
more active for positive traits
*emotional aspects of self reflection
VMPFC
related to moral decision making by allowing us to predict future mental states
greater VMPFC activation –> greater ability to delay gradification
patients w lesions here do not have consistent preferences
mental state attribution
the ability to infer mental states of others
this is automatic
temporal parietal jcn activated when thinking about thoughts of others, disrupting this changes ppls’ intentions
theory of mind
knowledge that we have thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge that is diff from others
MPFC
evidence suggests this can start developing very young (false-belief tests in children)
autism
less activity of temporal parietal jcn (TPJ)
don’t recognize imp of eye gaze
less DMN
less mirror neuron activation
less activity during TOM tasks
social categorization
diff in EEG readings for men/women and black/white around 200 ms
doesn’t matter whether you attend to these features or not
*info about racial group is extracted rapidly & automatically from faces
implicit bias
amygdala activation inc. w inc. bias, measured by implicit association task & startle eye-blink task
can be attenuated when faces are familiar
*suggests basic emotional responses to stereotypes may be automatic
frontal regions tries to modulate amygdala activity–> associated w dec in amygdala
*those with greater bias require more prefrontal activity to control or suppress automatic responses
