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Cited by 116Functional Brain Connectivity StudiesHealth disparities and outcomesMental Health Research Topics

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Loneliness and meaning in life are reflected in the intrinsic network architecture of the brain

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Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, Laetitia, Ge, Tian, Chong, Minqi, Ferguson, Michael A, Misic, Bratislav, Burrow, Anthony L, Leahy, Richard M, Spreng, R Nathan·2019·Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
DOI 10.1093/scan/nsz021PMC PMC6523421
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Abstract

Social relationships imbue life with meaning, whereas loneliness diminishes one's sense of meaning in life. Yet the extent of interdependence between these psychological constructs remains poorly understood. We took a multivariate network approach to examine resting-state fMRI functional connectivity's association with loneliness and meaning in a large cohort of adults (N = 942). Loneliness and meaning in life were negatively correlated with one another. In their relationship with individually parcelled whole-brain measures of functional connectivity, a significant and reliable pattern was observed. Greater loneliness was associated with dense, and less modular, connections between default, frontoparietal, attention and perceptual networks. A greater sense of life meaning was associated with increased, and more modular, connectivity between default and limbic networks. Low loneliness was associated with more modular brain connectivity, and lower life meaning was associated with higher between-network connectivity. These findings advance our understanding of loneliness and life meaning as distinct, yet interdependent, features of sociality. The results highlight a potential role of the default network as a central hub, providing a putative neural mechanism for shifting between feelings of isolation and purpose.

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  • Previous studies found sex-specific associations of loneliness with brain structure and resting state functional connectivity using the UK biobank population.

    “previous studies found sex‐specific associations of loneliness with brain structure and resting state functional connectivity using the UK biobank population.[ 14 , 52 , 53 ]”

    From Loneliness and the Social Brain: How Perceived Social Isolation Impairs Human Interactions (2021) · cites this paper as [53]

    The Methods (Participants; page unavailable) identify the sample as 942 adults from the Human Connectome Project, not UK Biobank. Although the Results (Intrinsic functional connectivity results; page unavailable) associate loneliness with resting-state connectivity, the Gender control analysis explicitly reports no gender interaction. The Introduction discusses brain-structure findings from other studies, not a sex-specific structural finding in this study. (LLM, conf=0.89)

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Metadata

Authors
Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, L., Ge, T., Chong, M., Ferguson, M. A., Misic, B., Burrow, A. L., Leahy, R. M., & Spreng, R. N.
Affiliations
  • Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (CA)
  • Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Montreal Neurological Institute, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Cornell University (US)
Corresponding author
Spreng, R Nathan
ORCID
Venue
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2019-03-29
Volume
14
Issue
4
Pages
423-433
ISSN
  • 1749-5016 (ISSN-L)
  • 1749-5024
DOI
10.1093/scan/nsz021
PMC
PMC6523421
OpenAlex
W2930644511
Cited by
116
References
16
Citations by year
2026: 17 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 3
FWCI
6.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship@McGill (McGill) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Human Connectome Project, WU-Minn Consortium (1U54MH091657)
  • National Institutes of Health (K99AG054573)
  • NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research
  • McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research
  • Fonds de la recherche en sante du Quebec
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
  • Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Mental Health Research Topics
Keywords
loneliness, meaning in life, resting-state functional connectivity, brain network architecture, default mode network, interpersonal relationships, sociality, limbic network, frontoparietal network, attentional networks
MeSH terms
Adult, Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Loneliness, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nerve Net, Young Adult

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