Posts tagged social brain
Articles and news from the latest research reports.
New findings illuminate basis in brain for social decisions, reactions
The social brain consists of the structures and circuits that help people understand others’ intentions, beliefs, and desires, and how to behave appropriately. Its smooth functioning is essential to humans’ ability to cooperate. Its dysfunction is implicated in a range of disorders, from autism, to psychopathology, to schizophrenia.
New findings show that:
• Primates employ three different parts of the prefrontal cortex in decisions about whether to give or keep prized treats. These findings illuminate a poorly understood brain circuit, and offer possible insights into human sharing and other social behavior (Steve Chang, PhD, abstract 129.10).
• Different brain regions are engaged in altruistic behavior that is motivated by genuine caring versus altruistic behavior motivated by a concern for reputation or self-image (Cendri Hutcherson, PhD, abstract 129.06).
• The experience of racial discrimination triggers activity in the same brain regions that respond to pain, social rejection, and other stressful experiences (Arpana Gupta, PhD, abstract 402.06).Another recent finding discussed shows that:
• Competition against a human opponent or a computer engages the same parts of the brain, with one exception: the temporal parietal junction is used to predict only a human’s upcoming actions (Ronald Carter, PhD).
Developing brain is source of stability and instabilty in adolescence
Scientists are presenting new research on how the brain develops during the dynamic and vulnerable transition period from childhood to adulthood. The findings underscore the uniqueness of adolescence, revealing factors that may influence depression, decision-making, learning, and social relationships.
The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.
The brain’s “reward system,” those brain circuits and structures that mediate the experience and pursuit of pleasure, figured prominently in several studies. The studies shed light on adolescents’ ability to control impulsivity and think through problems; reveal physical changes in the “social brain;” document connections between early home life and brain function in adolescence; and examine the impact of diet on depressive-like behavior in rodents.
Today’s new findings show that:
- Adolescents can throw impulsivity out the window when big rewards are at stake. The bigger the reward, the more thoughtful they can be, calling on important brain regions to gather and weigh evidence, and make decisions that maximize gains (BJ Casey, PhD).
- Rodents that receive an omega-3 fatty acid in their diets, from gestation through their early development, appear less vulnerable to depressive-like behaviors during adolescence (Christopher Butt, PhD).
- Depression in older adolescent boys may be associated with changes in communication between regions of the brain that process reward. At the same time, the study found possible connections between early emotional attachments — particularly with mothers — and later reward system function (Erika Forbes, PhD).
- Early cognitive stimulation appears to predict the thickness of parts of the human cortex in adolescence, and experiences at age four appear to have a greater impact than those at age eight (Martha Farah, PhD).
- During the span of adolescence, the volume of the “social brain” — those areas that deal with understanding other people — changes substantially, with notable gender differences (Kathryn Mills, BA).
"Advances in neuroscience continue to delve deeper and deeper into the unique and dynamically changing biology of the adolescent brain," said press conference moderator Jay Giedd, MD, of the National Institute of Mental Health, an expert on childhood and adolescent brain development. "The insights are beginning to elucidate the mechanisms that make the teen years a time of particular vulnerabilities but also a time of great opportunity."
(Source: sciencedaily.com)
Why do teenagers seem so much more impulsive, so much less self-aware than grown-ups? Cognitive neuroscientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore compares the prefrontal cortex in adolescents to that of adults, to show us how typically “teenage” behavior is caused by the growing and developing brain.
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore studies the social brain — the network of brain regions involved in understanding other people — and how it develops in adolescents.