The DOI matches its Crossref record; 42 of the 42 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Neural Correlates of Giving Support to a Loved One
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Social support may benefit mental and physical well-being, but most research has focused on the receipt, rather than the provision, of social support. We explored the potentially beneficial effects of support giving by examining the neural substrates of giving support to a loved one. We focused on a priori regions of interest in the ventral striatum and septal area (SA) because of their role in maternal caregiving behavior in animals. METHODS: Twenty romantic couples completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session in which the female partner underwent a scan while her partner stood just outside the scanner and received unpleasant electric shocks. RESULTS: Support giving (holding a partner's arm while they experienced physical pain), compared with other control conditions, led to significantly more activity in the ventral striatum, a reward-related region also involved in maternal behavior (p values < .05). Similar effects were observed for the SA, a region involved in both maternal behavior and fear attenuation. Greater activity in each of these regions during support giving was associated with greater self-reported support giving effectiveness and social connection (r values = 0.55-0.64, p values < .05). In addition, in line with the SA's role in fear attenuation (presumably to facilitate caregiving during stress), increased SA activity during support giving was associated with reduced left (r = -0.44, p < .05) and right (r = -0.42, p < .05) amygdala activity. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that support giving may be beneficial not only for the receiver but also for the giver. Implications for the possible stress-reducing effects of support giving are discussed.
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“Compared with males, females demonstrate increased sensitivity to pain-induced muscle reflexes 165 and show increased pupil dilation 166 as well as amplified cerebral activation in response to pain 167.”
From Evaluating psychosocial contributions to chronic pain outcomes (2018) · cites this paper as [167]
In the citing paper
“Adolescents and adults also show heightened activation in the ventral striatum to eudaimonic rewards, such as prosocial decisions to help family, friends, or charities (22–27).”
From Neural sensitivity to eudaimonic and hedonic rewards differentially predict adolescent depressive symptoms over time (2014) · cites this paper as [23]
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“, caring for a spouse who is disabled) is well established (38), prior studies have not yet disentangled the effects of support giving itself from the effects of other psychological processes involved in this type of caregivingVsuch as seeing a loved one deteriorate or mourning their potential loss.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Inagaki, T. K., & Eisenberger, N. I.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Eisenberger, Naomi I.
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2012-01
- Volume
- 74
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-7
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2162288873
- Cited by
- 141
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 9.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- neural correlates, ventral striatum, septal area, maternal care, romantic partners, amygdala, social connectedness, stress reduction, reward processing
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Basal Ganglia, Behavior, Animal, Brain Mapping, Family Characteristics, Fear, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Love, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Maternal Behavior, Pain, Reward, Social Support, Stress, Psychological, Septum of Brain, Rats
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