22 research outputs found
BRAIN BASIS OF HUMAN SOCIAL INTERACTION: NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTIONS AND META-ANALYSIS
No full textSocial interactions, or the reciprocal exchange between socially engaged individuals, plays a central role in shaping human life. Social interactions are fundamental for neurocognitive development, and a key factor contributing to mental and physical health. Despite their importance, research investigating the neurocognitive systems associated with human social interaction is relatively new. Human neuroimaging research has traditionally used approaches that separate the individual from social contexts, thereby limiting the ability to examine brain systems underlying interactive social behavior. More recent work has begun incorporating real-time social contexts, and have implicated an extended network of brain regions associated with social interaction. However, open questions remain about the neurocognitive processes that are critical for social interactions and the brain systems that are commonly engaged. The current dissertation aims to address these gaps in our understanding through a set of studies using computational and data-driven approaches. Study 1 examined the relationship between social interaction and mentalizing, which is the ability to infer the mental states of others that is considered to be critically important for social interactions. Prior work has demonstrated that mentalizing and social interaction elicit brain activity spatially overlapping areas, but spatial overlap is not necessarily indicative of a common underlying process. Thus, Study 1 utilized multivariate approaches to examine the similarity of brain activity patterns associated with mentalizing outside of social contexts and when interacting with a peer (regardless of mentalizing) as a means for inferring a functional relationship between the two. Study 2 investigated brain regions commonly engaged across social interactive contexts using coordinate-based meta-analysis, which is an approach for aggregating findings across neuroimaging literature. This involved an exhaustive search strategy to find fMRI and PET studies that utilize social interactive approaches, and calculated spatial convergence across studies as a means to uncover brain regions that are reliably implicated during social interaction. The results from Studies 1 and 2 offer major advancements for a neuroscientific understanding of social interaction by demonstrating a functional link with mentalizing and through elucidating brain systems that are commonly reported in studies using social interactive approaches
Neural similarity between mentalizing and live social interaction
No full textReciprocal social interactions are a quintessential part of human life, yet little neuroimaging research has examined the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms using social interactive experimental paradigms. Recent work using social interactive tasks has demonstrated brain activity in the mentalizing network, even in the absence of explicit mentalizing demands, suggesting that social interactive contexts automatically engage mentalizing. However, while overlapping brain activations are suggestive of similar underlying neural processes between explicit mentalizing and spontaneous mentalizing during interaction, they are not a direct test of whether or not these processes are represented similarly in the brain. Pattern-based approaches provide the sensitivity to examine the similarity between different neurocognitive processes. The current study used representational similarity analysis on a task wherein participants made mental and non-mental judgments about an abstract character and a live, social interactive partner during fMRI. The within-subject, 2 (Mental/Non-mental) x 2 (Peer/Character) design enabled us to examine the similarity in response patterns between conditions across numerous brain regions associated with social cognition, and estimate fit to three theoretical models of how the two processes relate: 1) social interaction and explicit mentalizing about an abstract character are represented similarly; 2) interactive peer and abstract character are represented differently regardless of the evaluation type; and 3) mental and non-mental states are represented dissimilarly regardless of target. Results demonstrate that the temporal poles and the right posterior superior temporal sulcus represent mentalizing and peer interactions similarly (Model 1), suggesting that response patterns in these regions provide a link between mentalizing and social interaction. Much of the rest of the social brain exhibits different representations for interactive peers and abstract characters (Model 2). Finally, model-free analyses showed that different regions show sensitivity to either the interaction partner or story character. Together, our findings highlight the importance of studying social cognitive processes using interactive approaches, and the utility of pattern-based approaches in understanding how social cognitive processes relate to each other
The Functional Connectome Mediates Associations Between Fitness and Cognition Across the Adult Lifespan
No full textCardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is increasingly recognized as essential for improving neural and cognitive function, especially in older age. Here, we examined a cross-sectional sample of the Human Connectome Project (HCP) Aging dataset (ages 36-100; N = 378) to test the hypothesis that functional connectivity profiles that are related to CRF are also associated with episodic memory and executive function across middle age and older adults. To test these hypotheses, we first used connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to identify functional connections that were separately predictive of CRF (2 Minute Walk Test), episodic memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test), and executive function (Flanker task). Briefly, this involved using nine-fold cross-validation to identify the top 2% of functional connections most correlated with the outcome measure (e.g., CRF), adjusting for age, education, and sex. We then examined the relationship between CRF (as the predictor), cognitive function (as outcome), and functional connections (as mediator or moderator). First, there was a high degree of overlap between the CRF and the cognition measure functional connectivity profiles in both the ventral attentional and limbic networks. Second, although we did not observe moderation effects, we did observe that these functional connectivity profiles fully mediated the relationship between CRF and episodic memory and partially mediated the relationship between CRF and executive function. Together, these findings suggest that the connectivities within the ventral attention network, particularly with the right mid-insula, right inferior frontal gyrus, and the limbic network, are neural mechanisms that underlie the associations between CRF and cognition across the lifespan from middle to older adulthood. These findings provide insight into the potential targets (CRF) and biomarkers (functional connectivity profiles) of brain health for future interventions to improve or maintain neurocognitive health in aging
Neural predictors of eating behavior and dietary change
No full textRecently, there has been an increase in the number of human neuroimaging studies seeking to predict behavior above and beyond traditional measurements such as self-report. This trend has been particularly notable in the area of food consumption, as the percentage of people categorized as overweight or obese continues to rise. In this review, we argue that there is considerable utility in this form of health neuroscience, modeling the neural bases of eating behavior and dietary change in healthy, community populations. Further, we propose a model and accompanying evidence indicating that several basic processes underlying eating behavior, particularly reactivity, regulation, and valuation, can be predictive of behavior change. We also discuss future directions for this work
Partner similarity and social-cognitive traits predict social interaction success among strangers
No full textSocial interactions are a ubiquitous part of engaging in the world around us, and determining what makes an interaction successful is necessary for social well-being. This study examined the separate contributions of individual social cognitive ability and partner similarity toward social interaction success among strangers, measured by a cooperative communication task and self-reported interaction quality. Sixty participants engaged in a one-hour virtual social interaction with an unfamiliar partner (a lab confederate) including a 30-minute cooperative “mind-reading” game, and then completed several individual tasks and surveys. They then underwent a separate fMRI session in which they passively viewed video clips that varied in content. The neural responses to these videos were correlated with those of their confederate interaction partners to yield a measure of pairwise neural similarity. We found that trait empathy (assessed by the interpersonal reactivity index) and neural similarity to partner both predicted communication success in the mind-reading game. In contrast, perceived similarity to partner and (to a much lesser extent) trait mind-reading motivation predicted self-reported interaction quality. These results highlight the importance of sharing perspectives in successful communication, as well as differences between neurobiological similarity and perceived similarity in supporting different types of interaction success
Brain Activity Associated with Regulating Food Cravings Predicts Changes in Self-Reported Food Craving and Consumption Over Time
No full textNeural patterns associated with viewing energy-dense foods can predict changes in eating-related outcomes. However, most research on this topic is limited to one follow-up time point, and single outcome measures. The present study seeks to add to that literature by employing a more refined assessment of food craving and consumption outcomes along with a more detailed neurobiological model of behavior change over several time points. Here, a community sample of 88 individuals (age: M = 39.17, SD = 3.47; baseline BMI: M = 31.5, SD = 3.9, range 24-42) with higher body mass index (BMI) performed a food craving reactivity and regulation task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. At that time—and 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months later—participants reported craving for and consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods via the Food Craving Inventory (FCI) and ASA24 (N at 6 months = 52-55 depending on the measure). A priori hypotheses that brain activity associated with both viewing and regulating personally-desired unhealthy, energy-dense foods would be associated with self-reported craving for and consumption of unhealthy foods at baseline were not supported by the data. Instead, regression models controlling for age, sex, and BMI demonstrated that brain activity across several regions measured while individuals were regulating their desires for unhealthy food was associated with the self-reported craving for and consumption of healthy food. The hypothesis that vmPFC activity would predict patterns of healthier eating was also not supported. Instead, linear mixed models controlling for baseline age and sex, as well as changes in BMI, revealed that more regulation-related activity in the dlPFC, dACC, IFG, and vmPFC at baseline predicted decreases in the craving for and consumption of healthy foods over the course of 6 months
Neural Substrates of Food Valuation and Its Relationship With BMI and Healthy Eating in Higher BMI Individuals
No full textThis study will examine the neural systems underlying food valuation in overweight and obese individual intending to eat more healthfully, and explore how this relates to BMI and healthy eating
Effects of social and emotional context on neural activation and synchrony during movie viewing
No full textSharing emotional experiences impacts how we perceive and interact with the world, but the neural mechanisms that support this sharing are not well characterized. In this study, participants (N = 52) watched videos in an MRI scanner in the presence of an unfamiliar peer. Videos varied in valence and social context (i.e., participants believed their partner was viewing the same (joint condition) or a different (solo condition) video). Reported togetherness increased during positive videos regardless of social condition, indicating that positive contexts may lessen the experience of being alone. Two analysis approaches were used to examine both sustained neural activity averaged over time and dynamic synchrony throughout the videos. Both approaches revealed clusters in the medial prefrontal cortex that were more responsive to the joint condition. We observed a time-averaged social-emotion interaction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, although this region did not demonstrate synchrony effects. Alternatively, social-emotion interactions in the amygdala and superior temporal sulcus showed greater neural synchrony in the joint compared to solo conditions during positive videos, but the opposite pattern for negative videos. These findings suggest that positive stimuli may be more salient when experienced together, suggesting a mechanism for forming social bonds
