Social Neuroscience Flashcards
Social Neuroscience
The scientific study of recirpocal effects between neurobiological processes, cognition, social and contextual experience and behaviour
Main technological tools (Social Neurosci)
- fMRI
- PET
- EEG
Self Awareness
Your ability to reflect upon your Self-Schema and to recognize yourself as being distinct from other people
Self Schema
Long-lasting impressions of who you are
Self awareness types
- Objective awareness (how info about objects in our external world are perceived by our senses)
- Subjective awareness (how representations of objects are retrieved from memory)
- Introspection of consciousness (1 and 2 combo)
Cortical midline
Responsible for representing, monitoring, evaluating and integrating stimuli that refer to the self
Cortical midline structures (4)
- OMPFC
- DMP
- AC
- PC
OMPFC
representation of self awareness
DMPFC
Evaluation
AC
Monitoring
PC
Integration
Theory of mind
The concept that we have a set of ideas about waht constitute our own mental activity as well as the mental activity of other people
Modularity theory
Innate module tha tspecializes in theory of mind exists within the brain (temporal-parietal junction)
Simulation Theories
theory of mind is achieved through our ability to put ourselves in a person’s “mental” shoes and imagine/”simulate” what we would experience in a similar situation.
Executive theories
theory of mind is dependent on our ability to inhibit (inhibitory control) including our own perspective when trying to attribute mental states to others.
Modularity occurs where/what is processed?
Temporal-Parietal Junction (TPJ)
- Reorienting
- empathy
- agency
- theory of mind
Simulation occurs where/what is processed?
Medial prefrontal cortex
Activated while participants focussed on other people’s mental states by taking their perspective:
Simulation (person perceived as similar)
Ventral medial prefrontal cortex
Simulation (person perceived as dissimilar)
Dorsal medial prefrontal cortex
Simulation (mirror neurons)
the same neurons are activated whether we plan to execute an action ourselves and when we observe other people execute the same action.
Belief and intention is attributed to the person being observed.
Mirror neuron activation
Through visual input, mirror neurons are activated by actions performed by another person.
Externally generated activity in motor neurons does not usually produce an action in the observer.
Frontoparietal mirror neuron system
Visual input—>STSTPJ/IPL PMC
Executive Theory of mind
(response suppression)
paying attention to behaviourally relevant stimuli. Comparing predictions based on internal and external stimuli
Executive theory of mind and memory
Working memory
Inhibitory control
(executive function)
Many of the same brain areas should be activated in tasks that require only inhibitory control (without false belief) and false belief tasks.
Inhibitory control parts of brain
Right medial prefrontal cortex, Right TPJ, parts of prefrontal cortex.
Types of empathy
- Emotional contagion (spread of emotion from one to another)
- Cognitive empathy (ability to cognitively engage in adopting another person’s POV in an effort to understand that person’s experience)
Perception-action model (PAM)
model of when perceiving another person’s emotional state the representation related to that state as well as the actions related to it are triggered in your own brain
Emotional systems of empathy
reliant on simulation (for emotional contagion)
systems of cognitive empathy
modular and executive models of TofM are related to it
Social pain vs physical
is similar (in certain ways) to physical pain. Demonstrated by looking at brain areas that are commonly activated during both physical and social pain
Two dimensions of physical pain
- Perceptual dimension
2. Affective dimension
Perceptual dimension of pain
detection of painful stimulus:
- somatosensory cortex
- insula
Affective dimension of pain
The perceived unpleasantness of the pain inducing stimulus:
-(ACC) Anterior Cingulate Cortex
Pain regulation
What is done to manage or cope with pain:
-Right Ventral prefrontal cortex (RVPFC)
Social exclusion
situation in which a person is not permitted to participate in an activity with other people
cyberball exp’t
video game designed to test emotional and neurological reactions to social exclusion
Social pain/physical pain overlap theory (SPOT)
there are overlapping neural mechanisms for physical and social pain
Separation distress
mechanism that may have evolved in mammals to keep the young close to maternal contact and care
SPOT theory b
Physical pain (child) and in people with chronic pain is related to more social pain in response to separation from a caregiver and anxiety about the loss of support from loved ones, respectively
SPOT theory revelations c
Increased social support reduces chronic physical pain
some drugs regulate both pain (physical and social)
Neural alarm
(ACC) detects problem in environment. emits an attention-grabbing stimulus to warn and what to do about it. ACC monitors for conflicts and detects errors.
Altruism
Giving or helping behaviour strictly for the good of others
The joy of giving
showed to have the same neurobiological basis as different types of rewards; money, drugs and food
psychopaths
people who generally show disregard for the well-being of others as well as a lack of guilt, empathy and remorse
Altruism (where)
Amygdala
Reward brain areas___
activated by both walking away with monetary reward and by deciding to give
Cooperation
the actions of individuals or groups in an effort to maximize their mutual benefits–cant ever be certain it is reciprocated (having common good in mind)
Cooperation and trust
it may sometimes be perceived as advantageous to obtain help from others but to not reciprocate when that other person needs help
Game Theory
A branch of mathematics devised to try to explain the behaviour of animals in nature and of people in social+political contexts.
Prisoner’s dilemma
a game based on cooperation that shows that people’s decisions aren’t always based on rational thought:
- cooperating (decision has mutual good in mind)
- defecting (decision based on self interest)
Trust game
a game based on trust in which an investor transfers a sum of money to a trustee with an expectancy of a return
Most rewarding situation in prisoner dilemna (and where in brain)
Mutual cooperation (not the situation that resulted in the biggest payoff)
Activation in the brain areas associated with processing rewards:
- Orbitofrontal cortex
- Striatum
Trust game (outcomes and imaging/areas)
used h-fMRI to investivate brain areas activated in game:
- Benevolent
- Neutral
- Malevolent
Trust game activation
benevolent>malevolent
Trust game investors’ area
(MCC) Middle cingulate cortex
Trust game trustees’ area
(ACC) Anterior cingulate cortex when learning about investors; decisions–indicating the trustees’ intention to trust investor
Caudate nucleus activity increased with the trustees’ decisions to trust the investor
