The social brain Flashcards by Jade Kiersten

2 reasons for humans not living in social groups

in transition

psychopathology

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

adapting brain for social behaviour

brain size increases

neocortex

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Dunbar’s number

number of relationships you can maintain

150 for humans - related to brain size

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Who deduced the Machiavellian intelligence theory?

Whiten and Byrne 1988

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Machiavellian intelligence theory

primates live in hierarchies
position relies on deception and co-operation
innovate and learn from others
reproductive success - genes for higher social intelligence

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

social intelligence

Intelligence specific to interpersonal relationships
ability to know ones self and others
social judgement, emotional understanding, read others intentions and meaning, self-awareness

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

domain specific learning vs domain general learning

Domain-specific learning theories - humans learn different types of information differently, and have distinctions within the brain for many of these domains

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

theory of mind domain specific or general?

specific

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

TOM

theory that others have thoughts

attribution of thought processes to others to understand and predict their behaviour

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

acid test of TOM

false belief

eg chocolate in cupboard

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Part of brain - TOM

medial PFC

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

5 main processes in medial PFC

action monitoring
self-knowledge
person perception 
mentalising
outcome monitoring

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

false belief vs false acid test

false belief - LTPJ

false photo - RTPJ

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Why is TOM more than just inference?

put aside immediate perceptual experience and replace with something more cognitively derived
aware of own thought
inner voice
mental time travel

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

modelling action-emotion relationships: the social brain areas

STS - action observation, visual network
insula - feelings
OFC and amygdala
posterior cingulate - episodic memory
PFC

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

STS - where are they and what do they fire in response to?

temporal cortex
fire in response to face view and gaze direction
facial gestures

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Early action representation in visual/temporal cortex

STS activated by movements of eyes, mouth, hand etc
also by static images of face and body
sensitive to implied motion
stimuli that signals actions of another individual
STS, OFC and amygdala

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Who discovered mirror neurons?

Rizzolatti et al 1996

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Rizzolatti - mirror neurons, explain

F5 (premotor cortex) and PFG neuron
fire while watching something happen and doing
link up perception and doing

How well did you know this?

Not at all

Perfectly

Main mirrors in brain

Inferior frontal gyrus
premotor and motor cortex
TPJ
inferior parietal sulcus

Mirror neurons basic info

code form of action in relationship to goal
multi-modal = fire in response to seeing and doing/feeling
shared experiences eg emotional values

what may mirror neurons allow for?

imitation - copying an action in context of its goal

what may mirror neurons underpin?

imitation
stimulation TOM
joint attention

what problem do echopraxia and echolalia indicate?

execute control not imitation

what is proposed at the origin of abnormal cascade of development?

dysfunction of control of mirror neuron

what does anterior cingulate gyrus respond to?

value of other's actions

anterior cingulate gyrus receives inputs from where?

action observation network reward systems eg striatum internal state evaluation eg amygdala, insula

transmission of pain signals to the brain

up brainstem - thalamus | on to insula, PFC, anterior cingulate

experiencing pain of others

insula | Anterior cingulate

Von Economo (spindle) neurons - where?

in hominids confined to anterior insula, anterior cingulate and PFC

Von Economo (spindle) neurons - what?

adaption for large brain convergent evolution rapid information transmission for social behaviour

oxytocin

social hormone from AP | uterine contraction, lactation

oxytocin and autism

deficient? needed for bonding receptors in hypothalamus, amygdala and anterior cingulate small influence on social anxiety and emotional attribution test

3 main group clusters of autism behaviours

reciprocal social interaction social and emotional communication restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour

reciprocal social interaction problems

fail to respond to others emotions lack facial expression and social smiling no seeking to share

impairments in communications

poor use of social language inflexibility of language eg echolalia lack of make believe play

restricted, repetitive stereotyped behaviours

unusual preoccupations verbal rituals adherence to routines and rigid habits motor stereotypies

preverbal symptoms of autism

poor eye contact, lack of directed facial expression, poor joint attention, lack of pretend play

verbal symptoms

poor conversation lack of empathic gesture circumscribed interests

main predictor of outcome

causes of autism

genetic: 64-91% | epigenetics

1st degree relatives broader phenotype

OCD, anxiety, depression, language impairment, careers in computing/mathematics

autism questionnaire

social responsiveness scale

autism epidemic

increased recognition broader phenotype spectrum assortive mating

list some theories of autism

``` TOM executive function male brain - testosterone amygdala theory mirror neurons 5HT, immune, GABA/glutamate ```

TOM theory in autism

less successful in TOM compared to downsyndrome or younger children delay in TOM development

Executive function theory

social behaviour variable and places demand on behavioural flexibility poor performance in reversal learning task

what memory is improved in autism?

semantic

increased and decreased learning - behaviours

increased - simple, subcortical, reward systems | decreased - flexible, goal-directed, cortical mechanisms