Mentalizing and Social Cognition Quiz

Mentalizing and Introspection

• Mentalizing involves inferring the mental states of others.
• Introspection refers to knowledge about oneself.

Social Cognition Networks

• Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC): Plays a role in motivation, decision-making, cost-benefit analysis, conflict monitoring, and error detection.
• Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC): Involved in self-referential processing, monitoring subjective feelings, and anticipating the future mental states of oneself and others. Damage impairs this ability to predict likes and dislikes.
• Posterior Cingulate Cortex: Important for planning and prediction.
• Medial Parietal Cortex: Plays a role in socio-emotional processing and perception.
• Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC): Damage can result in inappropriate social behavior.

Effects of Abuse and Isolation

• Abuse and isolation can lead to impaired synaptic plasticity.
• Increased fear, aggression, and anxiety.
• Changes in prefrontal cortex function.
• Decreased dopamine and increased serotonin signaling.
• Perception of isolation is linked to Alzheimer's disease risk, lower IQ, and depression.
• Decreased glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity and increased sensitivity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) are also related.

Self-Reference Effect

• Information processed in relation to the self is better encoded and recalled.
• The Medial Prefrontal Cortex shows increased activity during self-referential processing.

Sense of Self

• Posterior Parietal Cortex is important for the sense of self.
• The Default Mode Network (DMN) is active even at rest, with heightened activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) when considering the self. The DMN encompasses the Ventral and Dorsal Medial Prefrontal Cortex, Inferior Parietal Lobule, Retrosplenial Cingulate Cortex, and Temporal Parietal Junction (TPJ).
• VDIRT (Ventral, Dorsal, Inferior Parietal, Retrosplenial, and Temporal Parietal Junction) networks are associated with self-reflection, future planning, self-evaluation, and processing others' beliefs and behaviors.

Positive Self-Appraisal

• Anterior Cingulate Cortex (specifically the Ventral ACC) is involved in positive self-appraisal by focusing attention on self-assessment.
• Orbitofrontal Cortex (OFC) allows for accurate self-perception.

Other Important Brain Regions & Concepts

• Angular Gyrus and TPJ: Mediate the connection between the self and the body. Stimulation of the angular gyrus disrupts this unity, leading to experiences like out-of-body, falling, or sinking sensations. The TPJ allows perspective-taking and understanding of other's view and of out-of-body experiences.
• Autoscopic Hallucinations: Experiencing a sense that one's body is double, or out-of-body, without necessarily feeling separated from one's body. Usually connected to problems in coordinating information from different senses (visual, proprioceptive, tactile).
• Mirror Neuron Network: Connects to the amygdala via the insula. Includes prefrontal cortex, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus parts.
• Unpleasantness Circuit: The Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Anterior Insula are part of this circuit for processing unpleasantness.
• Dorsal vs. Ventral MPFC: Dorsal MPFC is more active processing self, and Ventral more active processing similar or liked others. Right MPFC is more for the self, and left for others.
• Dorsal Medial Prefrontal Cortex (DMPFC): More active when considering others' behaviors.
• Fair vs. Cheater Pain: Different brain regions (insula, ACC, nucleus accumbens, ventral striatum) are active when considering fair and unfair behavior in others.
• Favorite vs. Rival Team Loss: Different brain regions react differently when a favorite team or a rival team loses.
• Amygdala: Associates intentional harm with more intense reaction than accidental harm; TPJ stimulation reduces the amygdala response to unintentional transgressions.
• DLPFC and PFC (rule-based)/TPJ and Parietal (personal): Distinction in neural processing for rule-based and personal behaviors.
• Social Support: Inhibits amygdala activity, reducing pain and threat detection, releasing opioids, and modulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses. Increases vmPFC activity and diminishes insula and ACC response.

Differences in Neurodevelopment and Neurotrauma

• In Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Default Mode Network (DMN) function is often impaired. Hippocampal neurons in ASD have immature spines.
• Damage to Broca's area, supplementary motor area, basal ganglia, thalamus, ACC, OFC, or posterior parietal cortex can disrupt social cognition.

Non-Human Primates (NHP)

• Grooming in NHP improves social bonding, and serves as a reminder of social status.
• It releases opioids and provides protection from predators due to stronger relationships.

Eusociality

• Eusociality involves cohabitation across generations.

Human Social Cognition Superiority

• Humans excel in social cognition compared to NHPs, though not in all physical domains.