Clan Mentality: Evidence That the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Responds to Close Others

“Stimuli were generated on an Apple MacBook Pro (Apple Computer) using MATLAB software (The MathWorks) and the Psychophysics Toolbox extension (Brainard, 1997) and projected onto a screen at the head of the magnet bore.”

“There is considerable evidence that social species develop mechanisms to aid in identifying and evaluating kin, in-group members, and individuals otherwise relevant to one’s survival (Trivers, 1971; Rendall et al., 1996).”

“Bush et al. (2000), in a comprehensive review, noted that regions of the ACC near to our region respond to a range of tasks laden with affective content, many of which do not have explicit social demands.”

“Lesions to human ventromedial PFC result in failure to represent the consequences of choices in nonsocial decision-making tasks (Bechara et al., 1994, 2000).”

“By the age of 5 or 6, children can flexibly process social information, represent mental states of others, and engage with peers and family in a way that maintains cohesive group interactions (Flavell, 1999; Wellman et al., 2001; Hughes and Leekam, 2004; Fehr et al., 2008).”

“Meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies using social content have emphasized the aMPFC (e.g., Amodio and Frith, 2006; Northoff et al., 2006; Mitchell, 2009).”

“Data were spatially normalized to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) standard anatomical atlas space (2 mm isotropic voxels) using a T2-weighted EPI BOLD-contrast atlas in SPM2 (Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, London, UK) (Friston et al., 1995).”

“Lesions to human ventromedial PFC result in failure to represent the consequences of choices in nonsocial decision-making tasks (Bechara et al., 1994, 2000).”

“…interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al. (1996), Stuss (2002), and Adolphs (2003, 2009)].”

“Meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies using social content have emphasized the aMPFC (e.g., Amodio and Frith, 2006; Northoff et al., 2006; Mitchell, 2009).”

“Specifically, human aMPFC and rACC may overlap a “medial network” identified in the monkey that is concerned with visceral and affective systems and is largely distinct from an “orbital network” consisting of mainly ventrolateral-orbital structures (Ongür and Price, 2000).”

“It is thus important to note that explicitly nonsocial tasks also engage the frontal midline, in particular those that require calculating expected reward or value of a choice (e.g., Daw et al., 2006; see also Beckmann et al., 2009 for meta-analysis).”

“After the judgment task participants completed 50 min of resting-state scan conditions as reported elsewhere (Van Dijk et al., 2010).”

“The stimulus set consisted of 160 single-trait adjectives selected from a pool of normalized personality adjectives (Anderson, 1968) and either the word “self” or “Bush” in black text against a white background.”

“In experiment 1 (n 31) participants were scanned as they performed an attribute-judgment task used in previous studies (Kelley et al., 2002) that included themselves and former U.S. President George W. Bush as targets.”

“By the age of 5 or 6, children can flexibly process social information, represent mental states of others, and engage with peers and family in a way that maintains cohesive group interactions (Flavell, 1999; Wellman et al., 2001; Hughes and Leekam, 2004; Fehr et al., 2008).”

“…and behavioral interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al. (1996), Stuss (2002), and…”

“…of social interpretation and behavioral interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al.…”

“…(rACC) may be critical for certain components of social interpretation and behavioral interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006,…”

“Data were projected onto the Caret-inflated cortical surface (Van Essen, 2005).”

“6C), and similar dissimilar, collapsing across the closeness dimension (Fig.”

“…for certain components of social interpretation and behavioral interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see…”

“Participants completed the task in four runs each containing 25 trials that were interleaved with variable-duration fixation events to optimize jitter (Dale, 1999; Miezin et al., 2000).”

“By the age of 5 or 6, children can flexibly process social information, represent mental states of others, and engage with peers and family in a way that maintains cohesive group interactions (Flavell, 1999; Wellman et al., 2001; Hughes and Leekam, 2004; Fehr et al., 2008).”

“We intentionally constrained our ROIs to be relatively small to avoid averaging signal across many brain areas, given the convergence of several different architectonic zones and their corresponding brain networks (Ongür et al., 2003).”

“It is thus important to note that explicitly nonsocial tasks also engage the frontal midline, in particular those that require calculating expected reward or value of a choice (e.g., Daw et al., 2006; see also Beckmann et al., 2009 for meta-analysis).”

“This analysis yielded results similar to those reported above.”

“Other studies have investigated the effects of closeness or familiarity of the target to the participant (Gobbini et al., 2004; Lou et al., 2004; Schmitz et al., 2004; Ochsner et al., 2005; Heatherton et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2007; Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Rather, the loss of signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) owing to susceptibility artifacts (Ojemann et al., 1997) precluded making any observations in the most ventral prefrontal regions (see supplemental Fig.”

“Other studies have investigated the effects of closeness or familiarity of the target to the participant (Gobbini et al., 2004; Lou et al., 2004; Schmitz et al., 2004; Ochsner et al., 2005; Heatherton et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2007; Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Other studies have investigated the effects of closeness or familiarity of the target to the participant (Gobbini et al., 2004; Lou et al., 2004; Schmitz et al., 2004; Ochsner et al., 2005; Heatherton et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2007; Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Responses falling within the rACC are also frequently observed in studies of social cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002; Heatherton et al., 2006; Moran et al., 2006; Ames et al., 2008, Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“By the age of 5 or 6, children can flexibly process social information, represent mental states of others, and engage with peers and family in a way that maintains cohesive group interactions (Flavell, 1999; Wellman et al., 2001; Hughes and Leekam, 2004; Fehr et al., 2008).”

“Under normal circumstances, personally familiar or relevant individuals are also likely to elicit affective responses or trigger relevant past experiences that may contribute to how individuals are evaluated (Bechara et al., 2003).”

“There is considerable evidence that social species develop mechanisms to aid in identifying and evaluating kin, in-group members, and individuals otherwise relevant to one’s survival (Trivers, 1971; Rendall et al., 1996).”

“For instance, thirsty monkeys will forgo juice to view pictures of other monkeys, but only when they are socially relevant (e.g., either of higher status or a possible mate) (Deaner et al., 2005).”

“Responses falling within the rACC are also frequently observed in studies of social cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002; Heatherton et al., 2006; Moran et al., 2006; Ames et al., 2008, Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Responses falling within the rACC are also frequently observed in studies of social cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002; Heatherton et al., 2006; Moran et al., 2006; Ames et al., 2008, Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Whether the representation is selectively social or related to valuation of a stimulus or an outcome more generally is unclear (Adolphs, 2009, 2010; Rushworth et al., 2007; Beckmann et al., 2009).”

“Other studies have investigated the effects of closeness or familiarity of the target to the participant (Gobbini et al., 2004; Lou et al., 2004; Schmitz et al., 2004; Ochsner et al., 2005; Heatherton et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2007; Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Other studies have investigated the effects of closeness or familiarity of the target to the participant (Gobbini et al., 2004; Lou et al., 2004; Schmitz et al., 2004; Ochsner et al., 2005; Heatherton et al., 2006; Zhu et al., 2007; Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“Area 10m projects to the anterior and posterior cingulate, superior temporal sulcus, amygdale, and hippocampal formation (e.g., Petrides and Pandya, 2007; Saleem et al., 2008).”

“work suggesting that the self is perceived to be a more appropriate reference point for reasoning about similar others than for dissimilar others (Cadinu and Rothbart, 1996).”

“Lesions to anterior cingulate gyrus in the monkey do decrease interest in social stimuli (Rudebeck et al., 2006), but while social information is both rewarding and incontrovertibly valuable (Anderson, 1998), this is especially true when such information is useful for behavior.”

“Although similarity was not found to have an effect in our experiments, affective evaluations do interact with mentalizing processes (Hornak et al., 2003; Moran et al., 2006; Olsson and Ochsner, 2008).”

“perceived similarity of others to the self (Mitchell et al., 2006; Rilling et al., 2008; Mobbs et al., 2009; Volz et al., 2009).”

“Tomlin et al. (2006) reported rACC activity in an economic exchange game during observation of partner decisions that were relevant to the participant, but not during a control condition with personally relevant outcomes that were not generated by a social partner, i.e., by a computer.”

“Social context can affect perceptions about in-group constituency (Haslam et al., 1992).”

“Based on architectonic evidence in the human (Ongür et al., 2003; Palomero-Gallagher et al., 2008), these two regions are certain to be comprised of multiple, distinct areas.”

“…interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al. (1996), Stuss (2002), and Adolphs (2003, 2009)].”

“Harris and Fiske (2007) found that pictures of “socially undesirable” people such as the homeless result in more reduced MPFC response than pictures of “socially desirable” people.”

“Neuroscientific data are increasingly being brought to bear on this question (Mitchell, 2009).”

“…interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al. (1996), Stuss (2002), and Adolphs (2003, 2009)].”

“…(aMPFC) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) may be critical for certain components of social interpretation and behavioral interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al.,…”

“…interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al. (1996), Stuss (2002), and Adolphs (2003, 2009)].”

“Responses falling within the rACC are also frequently observed in studies of social cognition (Mitchell et al., 2002; Heatherton et al., 2006; Moran et al., 2006; Ames et al., 2008, Vanderwal et al., 2008).”

“…and evolutionary arguments for the idea that both of these dimensions, similarity and closeness, should be processed by brain systems in the service of social decisions, for instance in aid of identifying social status and processing kin or in-group relationships (Platek and Kemp, 2009).”

“This analysis yielded results similar to those reported above.”

“perceived similarity of others to the self (Mitchell et al., 2006; Rilling et al., 2008; Mobbs et al., 2009; Volz et al., 2009).”

“perceived similarity of others to the self (Mitchell et al., 2006; Rilling et al., 2008; Mobbs et al., 2009; Volz et al., 2009).”

“…interactions (Glees et al., 1950; Eslinger and Damasio, 1985; Damasio et al., 1990; Rolls et al., 1994; Stone et al., 1998; Anderson et al., 1999; Hadland et al., 2003; Mah et al., 2005; Rudebeck et al., 2006, 2007) [for review, see Damasio et al. (1996), Stuss (2002), and Adolphs (2003, 2009)].”

“, 2006), but while social information is both rewarding and incontrovertibly valuable (Anderson, 1998), this is especially true when such information is useful for behavior.”