Week 1 - 3 Oefenvragen

Question 1

What is the Social Information Processing Network (SIPN)?

Answer 1

The SIPN is a model that explains how the brain processes social stimuli through three nodes: detection, affective, and cognitive-regulatory. The detection node categorizes stimuli as social, the affective node evaluates them emotionally, and the cognitive-regulatory node regulates responses.

Question 2

Which brain areas are involved in the detection node of the SIPN?

Answer 2

The inferior occipital cortex, inferior temporal cortex, intraparietal sulcus, fusiform face area, superior temporal sulcus, and anterior temporal cortex.

Question 3

How does the affective node in the SIPN function?

Answer 3

It involves areas like the amygdala, ventral striatum, septum, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, hypothalamus, and orbitofrontal cortex to assess whether to approach or avoid a stimulus, and it modulates autonomic and cognitive processes to organize a response.

Question 4

What changes occur in the prefrontal cortex during adolescence?

Answer 4

The prefrontal cortex undergoes increased myelination and pruning of existing synaptic networks, leading to improved cognitive-regulatory functions and maturity in early adulthood.

Question 5

Brain Regions Related to Increased Sensitivity to Affective and Social Influences: Which brain regions are associated with emotional responses to social stimuli in adolescents?

Answer 5

The amygdala and ventral striatum are highly active in response to emotionally provocative social stimuli during adolescence.

Question 6

How do hormonal changes during puberty affect the affective node?

Answer 6

Hormonal changes, especially involving gonadal steroids like androgens, influence the neurotransmitter systems in the affective node, altering responsiveness to social stimuli and establishing patterns of social behavior.

Question 7

What is the dual-systems model?

Answer 7

The dual-systems model suggests an imbalance between the heightened activity of limbic regions and the underdeveloped prefrontal regions during adolescence, leading to increased risk-taking behavior.

Question 8

What is the ‘social brain’ network?

Answer 8

The ‘social brain’ network includes the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), superior temporal sulcus (STS), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which are involved in mentalizing and understanding others’ thoughts and emotions.

Question 9

How does the brain’s reward circuitry affect adolescent behavior in social contexts?

Answer 9

Adolescents show increased activity in the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex when making risk-taking decisions in social contexts, especially in the presence of peers, enhancing their sensitivity to rewards.

Question 10

What is the role of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) in theory of mind processes?

Answer 10

The dmPFC is crucial for inferring others’ emotions and preferences, particularly in social interactions that require understanding others’ mental states.

Question 11

How can changes in social behavior during adolescence be explained by brain development mechanisms?

Answer 11

Changes in social behavior, including increased peer orientation and decreased parental influence, can be attributed to hormonal influences, maturation of neuronal processes in the SIPN, and learning experiences that reshape social behavior patterns.

Question 12

Why are adolescents more sensitive to peer acceptance and rejection?

Answer 12

Adolescents’ affective nodes, particularly the amygdala, show hypersensitivity to emotional properties of social stimuli, leading to heightened sensitivity to peer acceptance and rejection.

Question 13

How do brain areas like the TPJ and dmPFC contribute to prosocial behavior?

Answer 13

The TPJ and dmPFC show increased activation during tasks involving social emotions and decisions, facilitating perspective-taking and empathy, which are critical for prosocial behavior.

Question 14

How does adolescent development bridge neural and social-emotional development?

Answer 14

Adolescent development integrates changes in brain structure and function with social-emotional experiences, influencing behaviors like risk-taking, prosocial behavior, and sensitivity to social feedback.

Question 15

What role does the fusiform face area play in social detection?

Answer 15

The fusiform face area, part of the fusiform gyrus, is involved in recognizing faces and distinguishing biological from non-biological motion.

Question 16

What is the role of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) in social cognition?

Answer 16

The STS is involved in processing biological movement and is crucial for understanding and interpreting others’ actions and intentions.

Question 17

What areas are part of the cognitive-regulatory node in the SIPN?

Answer 17

The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, ventral prefrontal cortex en anterior cingulate cortex and their interactions create goal-directed behavior by regulating responses to social stimuli.

Question 18

What is the difference between MRI and fMRI?

Answer 18

MRI provides 2D slices of the brain for structural imaging, while fMRI shows brain activity and connections, offering high spatial resolution but low temporal resolution.

Question 19

What are the strengths and weaknesses of EEG?

Answer 19

EEG has high temporal resolution, allowing precise measurement of brain activity over time, but it has low spatial resolution, making it difficult to localize specific brain areas.

Question 20

What is the Ultimatum Game and what does it measure?

Answer 20

The Ultimatum Game is a two-player game where one player proposes a split of rewards, and the second player can accept or reject it. It measures fairness and decision-making

Question 21

How does the Dictator Game differ from the Ultimatum Game?

Answer 21

In the Dictator Game, the second player has no choice to accept or reject the offer, and it measures altruism by how much the first player decides to share.

Question 22

What is the Public Goods Game and what behavior does it assess

Answer 22

The Public Goods Game involves players deciding how many tokens to keep for themselves or contribute to a group pool, assessing prosocial behavior and cooperation.

Question 23

What is the significance of the ventral striatum in adolescent risk-taking? Which brain area also shows activity

Answer 23

The ventral striatum, part of the brain’s reward circuitry, shows increased activation during risky decision-making, particularly in the presence of peers. Orbitofrontale cortex

Question 24

Why do adolescents perform better on cognitive control tasks when motivated by rewards?

Answer 24

Motivation enhances cognitive control in adolescents, as they perform better when they can receive a reward, while adults show less variation in performance based on rewards

Question 25

Cpmpare the dorsal striatum & ventral striatum. What are their function.

Answer 25

Dorsal striatum-> control network; action selection, maintaining goals.
Ventral striatum-> evaluation network; decision making, learning motivated behavior.

Question 26

Adolescents that show more risky behavior start binge drinking earlier than adolescents that do not show a lot of risky behavior. The more active ??, the earlier adolescents start binge drinking.

Answer 26

Striatum

Question 27

In anxiety there is later development of the…

Answer 27

PFC

Question 28

Adults with social anxiety disorder have a smaller ?? and a larger
??, is this also found in adolescents.

Answer 28

Adults with social anxiety disorder have a smaller putamen and a larger pallidum, not found in adolescents.

Question 29

Reward processing is disturbed in depression. People with major depression disorder show a reduced response in ?? reward areas during the ?? of rewards.

Answer 29

Reward processing is disturbed in depression. People with major depression disorder show a reduced response in striatal reward areas during the anticipation of rewards.