W9 - Social Neuroscience

Question 1

Who coined the term ‘Social Neuroscience,’ and when?

Answer 1

Cacioppo and Berntson, 1992

Question 2

What is the definition of social neuroscience?

Answer 2

Links psychology (mind and behavior) with neuroscience (brain and biology)

Question 3

What key shift does social neuroscience focus on compared to classical social psychology?

Answer 3

From relationships to processes like decision-making and emotion

Question 4

Which methods are commonly used in social neuroscience?

Answer 4

fMRI/MRI, MEG, TMS, pharmacology, lesion studies, non-human animal studies

Question 5

What is the primary limitation of reductionism in neuroscience?

Answer 5

Over-simplifies by suggesting one explanation type may replace others

Question 6

What is the domain general theory of social cognition?

Answer 6

Brain areas process diverse inputs, not exclusively social (e.g., reasoning)

Question 7

What is the domain specific theory of social cognition?

Answer 7

Specialized brain areas respond to social inputs (e.g., faces, emotions)

Question 8

What evidence supports domain-specificity in social cognition?

Answer 8

Theory Theory by Frith & Frith (2006), emphasizing folk psychological theories

Question 9

What evidence supports domain generality in social cognition?

Answer 9

Simulation Theory by Gallese (2003), supported by mirror neuron findings

Question 10

What is reverse inference, and why is it problematic?

Answer 10

Assuming brain activation implies specific cognitive functions (Poldrack, 2006)

Question 11

How can reverse inference errors be minimized?

Answer 11

Using multi-modality approaches (e.g., fMRI + TMS) and advanced statistics

Question 12

What does the ‘Dead Salmon Study’ demonstrate?

Answer 12

The need for rigorous statistics to avoid false positives (Bennett et al., 2010)

Question 13

What are voodoo correlations in neuroscience?

Answer 13

Circular ROI definitions inflating false findings

Question 14

What is the Social Brain Hypothesis?

Answer 14

Larger brains in primates evolved due to social navigation demands

Question 15

What study supports the Social Brain Hypothesis?

Answer 15

Behrens et al. (2009), showing increased brain activity for social reasoning

Question 16

Which brain areas are central to empathy?

Answer 16

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula

Question 17

What did Singer et al. (2004) discover about empathy and the brain?

Answer 17

ACC and insula activate for pain empathy, with individual variability

Question 18

What is the role of ACCg in vicarious reward?

Answer 18

Processes others’ rewards, as shown by Lockwood et al. (2015)

Question 19

What does the placebo analgesia effect suggest about empathy?

Answer 19

Shared representations between self and others (Rutgen et al., 2015)

Question 20

How does congenital insensitivity to pain challenge shared representation theories?

Answer 20

Patients show ACC activation without personal pain experience (Danziger et al., 2009)

Question 21

What methods are used to investigate social cognition and behavior?

Answer 21

Computational fMRI, economic games, lesion studies

Question 22

What is the Dictator Game used to measure?

Answer 22

Prosocial behavior

Question 23

What did Engel’s meta-analysis (2011) reveal about prosocial behavior?

Answer 23

Altruistic tendencies persist even with anonymity

Question 24

How does brain damage in sgACC affect prosocial learning?

Answer 24

Impairs learning from prosocial prediction errors (Gueguen et al., in prep)

Question 25

What effect does oxytocin have on prosocial learning?

Answer 25

Modulates sgACC activity, enhancing prosocial outcomes (Martins et al., 2022)

Question 26

What did Lockwood et al. (2016) find about empathy and learning?

Answer 26

Higher empathy correlates with better prosocial learning rates

Question 27

What did Cutler et al. (2021) discover about prosocial behavior in older adults?

Answer 27

Greater willingness to help others despite reduced associative learning

Question 28

What is a key takeaway about the ventral striatum and sgACC?

Answer 28

Ventral striatum tracks general prediction errors; sgACC tracks prosocial errors

Question 29

How do economic games clarify moral decision-making?

Answer 29

Highlight trade-offs between self-interest and moral considerations

Question 30

Why is precision in brain anatomy crucial for social neuroscience?

Answer 30

Differentiates domain-general from domain-specific functions