Chapter 13: Social cognition Flashcards
(46 cards)
What is the role of the prefrontal cortex?
Social cognition and cognitive control
What does the vmPFC do?
Self-referential processing
What does the orbitofrontal cortex do?
Processing reward and social cognition
What is the consequence of social deprivation in childhood? Name 4 consequences
Impairs social development
- Decreases dopamine, increases serotonin in PFC
- Decreased neuronal density PFC
- Higher stress (cortisal + blood pressure)
- Agression, anxiety, impulsivity, fear
What is the consequence of social stress in adults?
Contributes to neural degeneration
What is the difference between acquired lesions and neurodegenerative disorders?
Acquired: trauma, tumours, strokes, surgery
Neurodegenerative: huntington, parkinson, alzheimer
What is the consequence of damage to OFC?
- less inhibited
- less tolerant for frustation, more tolerant for anger
- increased aggression
- impaired goal-directed behavior
- lack insight to changes
- Unrealistic positive self-views
Name 3 neurodevelopmental disorders and state how these affect social cognition
- Antisocial personality disorder (APD)
- Aware of social norms, but ignore them
- low impulse control, aggressive, bad at planning - Schizophrenia
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- Communication deficits
- Repetitive patterns of behavior/ interest
- Poor facial perception social judgments
What is self-referential processing and what is the role of the medial PFC in this?
People remember information concerning themselves much better
MPFC has increased activity with self-referential processing
Are self-descriptive personality traits related to episodic memory?
No they aren’t linked to recall specific past behavior
Trait based semantic knowledge exists outside general semantic knowledge
What is the consequence of MTL damage for self-knowledge?
Impairs ability to form new episodic memories for oneself, but not other systems of self-knowledge
What is meant with the baseline mode of the brain?
When in resting state, the brain has most activity in the default mode network (DMN).
- self-referential processing such as evaluating
Of what areas does the default mode network consist?
MPFC, precuneus and PCC
What is the sentinel hypothesis?
Default mode network ensures we always have some idea of what’s going on around us
Why do we often consider the past in self-referential processing?
MPFC is connected to MTL
Why is reading a good distraction for sinking in our thoughts?
Reading involves sensory/motor areas, that aren’t linked to the MPFC
What is the difference between the vmPFC and dmPFC?
vmPFC: thinking about yourself
dmPFC: thinking about others
Where is the precuneus located?
Above the PCC in the parietal cortex
What is the function of the vACC?
Distinguishing positive self-relevant information from negative ones
Does goal-directed behavior lead to an increase or decrease in activity in the DMN?
Decrease, but there still is some activity
What is the role of the OFC in self-perception?
Important for spontaneous reflection of own behavior. OFC patients lack insight, but if shown another time, they do get that they were rude
What does embodiment mean? What brainstructures are important for this?
Feeling of body ownership and feeling of spatial unity between the self and the body
- Extrastriate body in lateral occipitotemporal cortex: imagined/executed movements of one’s own body
- Temporal parietal junction (TPJ): self-processing and integrating multisensory body-related info
What are the three types of autoscopic phenomena? Where are they located?
- Out of body experience (OBE): awake, but sees his body from outside of his body
- Angular gyrus/TPJ (temporoparietal) - Autoscopic hallucination: seeing a double, without feeling disembodied
- Temporo-occipital/parieto-occipital - Heautoscopy: seeing a double, unsure if you feel disembodied
- Left tempoparietal
What is xenomelia and what is the neural origin?
Able bodied people think a limb doesn’t belong to their body and want it amputated
- Touch unwanted limb doesn’t elicit cortical response in parietal lobule
- Decreased cortical thickness parietal lobule and decreased response
- Decreased surface area anterior insula
