Human Sociality and Cognition Quiz

Human Sociality and the Brain

• Humans are social creatures, relying on communication, learning, and teaching for survival.
• "Cultural transmission" and cooperation are key aspects of human social behavior.
• A sense of fairness and morality are also crucial elements.

Components of Social Cognition

• Self-awareness (introspection): Knowing oneself, as well as feedback on social performance.
• Mentalizing: Understanding the mental states of others, interpreting their behaviors and mindsets.
• Grooming in non-human primates (NHPs): Promotes social bonding, confers social status, often males groom females, and releases endorphins. Understanding reciprocation, competition, and status are essential.

Social Group Size

• Safety in numbers deters predators. Studies suggest the human brain is best suited to managing ~150 relationships.
• Chimpanzee troops average ~100 individuals.
• Eusociality, living across generations, allows for division of labor and altruism.
• Beginning of "camps" for Homo Erectus (~1 million years ago)

Social Cognition and Brain Networks

• Social factors become increasingly salient and valuable during complex cognitive processing.
• Complex social cognition involves judging attractiveness, social status, and understanding social norms, requiring mentalizing, processing emotional expressions. and abstraction.
• Social cognition networks are necessary due to processing complexity.
• Networks monitor the self, infer other's mental states, interpret emotions, make decisions, and judge values.

Brain Regions Involved in Social Cognition

• Anterior cingulate cortex: Motivation, decision-making, cost-benefit analysis, conflict and error monitoring.
• Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC): Self-referential processing, monitoring subjective feelings, and predicting others' mental states.
• Posterior cingulate cortex: Prediction and planning.
• Medial parietal cortex: Socio-emotional processing.

Impairment of Social Behavior

• Orbital frontal cortex (OFC) damage can lead to inappropriate social behaviors (e.g., hugging strangers, discussing personal topics inappropriately).
• Abuse (physical, sexual, and psychological), as well as neglect, can impair social development, especially during critical periods of postnatal development.
• Social isolation leads to changes in prefrontal cortex function, impaired synaptic plasticity, decreased dopamine and increased serotonin signaling, and increased aggression, fear, and anxiety.

Perception of Social Isolation

• Even perceived isolation negatively impacts mental health.
• Self-reported isolation is linked to depression, reduced IQ over time, and increased Alzheimer's risk, even after controlling for social group size, activity, and marital status.
• Loneliness is related to decreased glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity and increased Default Mode Network (DMN) activity (dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex).

Self-Reference Effect

• We better remember information related to ourselves. The self-reference effect may stem from enhanced knowledge of the self.
• Self-referential processing involves the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC).
• Degree of MPFC activation correlates with the ability to recall information related to the self.

Sense of Self & Default Mode Network (DMN)

• The DMN consists of: ventral medial PFC, dorsal medial PFC, posterior cingulate cortex, retrosplenial cortex, temporal parietal junction, and inferior parietal lobule.
• The DMN may help in self-referential processing, thinking about future actions, evaluating current conditions, and self-reflective thought
• DMN shows increased activity when gauging beliefs and intentions of others.

Inflated Self-Perception

• Most people have an inflated view of themselves.
• A large percentage of high school students and professors rate themselves above average in leadership and work ability.
• Inflated self-perception correlates with more likely victory in a lottery and less likelihood of a divorce.

Neural Activity Related to Positive Self-Perceptions

• Anterior cingulate cortex is active during positive self-appraisals.
• Ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) deactivates less when evaluating positive self-traits.

OFC Damage & Self-Perception

• Damage to the orbital frontal cortex impairs accurate self-perception.
• Patients with OFC damage exaggerate their positive qualities, discuss inappropriate topics, are proud of their performance and more embarrassed when seeing themselves in a mirror.
• The OFC is crucial for accurate self-perception and understanding social norms.

Predicting Future Mental States

• The vmPFC plays a crucial role in imagining future mental states in novel situations, predicting other's mental states in similar settings, mentally rehearsing social situations, and simulating others' minds.
• vmPFC damage impairs the ability to predict one's future preferences.
• vmPFC activation increases when someone weighs the enjoyment of something now vs. later (e.g., $20 today vs. $23 next week).