Anterior Temporal Lobe Tracks the Formation of Prejudice

Despite advances in understanding the brain structures involved in the expression of stereotypes and prejudice, little is known about the brain structures involved in their acquisition. Here, we combined fMRI, a task involving learning the valence of different social groups, and modeling of the learning process involved in the development of biases in thinking about social groups that support prejudice. Participants read descriptions of valenced behaviors performed by members of novel social groups, with majority groups being more frequently encountered during learning than minority groups. A model-based fMRI analysis revealed that the anterior temporal lobe tracked the trial-by-trial changes in the valence associated with each group encountered in the task. Descriptions of behavior by group members that deviated from the group average (i.e., prediction errors) were associated with activity in the left lateral pFC, dorsomedial pFC, and lateral anterior temporal cortex. Minority social groups were associated with slower acquisition rates and more activity in the ventral striatum and ACC/dorsomedial pFC compared with majority groups. These findings provide new insights into the brain regions that (a) support the acquisition of prejudice and (b) detect situations in which an individual's behavior deviates from the prejudicial attitude held toward their group

Model-based fMRI analysis of memory

Recent advances in Model-based fMRI approaches enable researchers to investigate hypotheses about the time course and latent structure in data that were previously inaccessible. Cognitive models, especially when validated on multiple datasets, allow for additional constraints to be marshalled when interpreting neuroimaging data. Models can be related to BOLD response in a variety of ways, such as constraining the cognitive model by neural data, interpreting the neural data in light of behavioural fit, or simultaneously accounting for both neural and behavioural data. Using cognitive models as a lens on fMRI data is complementary to popular multivariate decoding and representational similarity analysis approaches. Indeed, these approaches can realise greater theoretical significance when situated within a model-based approach

Stereotypes, theory of mind, and the action–prediction hierarchy

Both mindreading and stereotyping are forms of social cognition that play a pervasive role in our everyday lives, yet too little attention has been paid to the question of how these two processes are related. This paper offers a theory of the influence of stereotyping on mental-state attribution that draws on hierarchical predictive coding accounts of action prediction. It is argued that the key to understanding the relation between stereotyping and mindreading lies in the fact that stereotypes centrally involve character-trait attributions, which play a systematic role in the action–prediction hierarchy. On this view, when we apply a stereotype to an individual, we rapidly attribute to her a cluster of generic character traits on the basis of her perceived social group membership. These traits are then used to make inferences about that individual’s likely beliefs and desires, which in turn inform inferences about her behavior

Adolescent Development in Context: Social, Psychological, and Neurological Foundations

This project was funded by KU Libraries’ Parent’s Campaign with support from the David Shulenburger Office of Scholarly Communication & Copyright and the Open Educational Resources Working Group in the University of Kansas Libraries.Increasingly, there is a tendency to characterize the teenage years as a time of general moral degeneration and deviance. This is unfortunate because the teenage years represent a key developmental period of the typical human lifespan, and from an evolutionary point of view, the actual characteristics that define adolescence represent critical learning opportunities. The increased sensitivity to social influences, identity formation, and social-emotional skills are just a few of such opportunities that require appropriate environments and contexts for optimal, healthy outcomes. Research in the field of adolescent development has not been immune to the negative stereotypes surrounding adolescence, and it is common to see researchers, either implicitly or explicitly, refer to adolescence as a high-risk, anomalous developmental stage that must be controlled, managed, or simply endured until adult-level abilities emerge spontaneously as a result of having survived an intrinsically tumultuous developmental time. More enlightened views of adolescence recognize that all biological adaptations have a cause and a purpose, and that the purpose of adolescence can be discerned from understanding the complex evolutionary history of humans as a group-based, family-based, highly social, sometimes competitive, abstract-thinking species. Understanding the biological foundations of adolescence is meaningless if one does not also consider how biology and environment interact. In humans, these interactions are highly complex and involve not only immediate physical realities, but also social, cultural, and historical realities that create complex contexts and webs of interactions. Therefore, this textbook seeks to reconcile the biological and neurological foundations of human development with the psychological and sociological mechanisms that formed and continue to influence human developmental trajectories. To this end, we have divided the textbook into three main sections. The first, Foundations of Adolescent Development, introduces the historical science of studying adolescence and the biological foundations of puberty. The second section, Contexts of Adolescent Development, considers the primary contextual factors that influence developmental outcomes during adolescence. These include work and employment, peers, in-school and out-of-school contexts, leisure time, and the family. The final section, Milestones of Adolescent Development, addresses the primary psychological milestones that represent healthy adjustment to adult roles and responsibilities in society. The domains of these milestones include cognition and decision-making; identity, meaning, and purpose, moral development, and sexuality. From an educational point of view, the objective of this textbook is to provide a resource that is capable of fostering advanced conceptual change and learning in the field of adolescent development in order to go beyond stereotypical portrayals of adolescence as a pathological condition. Organized in a manner designed to scaffold increasingly complex ideas, the textbook redefines adolescence a sensitive period of development characterized by phylogenetically derived experience-expectant states and complex interactions of biological, psychological, and social factors. The textbook draws from the latest advances in neuroscience and psychology to construct a practical framework for use in a wide range of academic and professional contexts, and it presents historical as well as contemporary research to accomplish a radical redefining of an often misunderstood and maligned developmental period

Anatomical Correlates of Working Memory Deficits in Schizophrenia

La mémoire de travail — c’est-à-dire la capacité limitée de retenir et de manipuler temporairement l’information — est un déficit cognitif central en schizophrénie. La perturbation de cette fonction possède un fort impact dans la vie quotidienne des patients. Des travaux récents de notre laboratoire ont pu mettre en évidence que ces troubles de mémoire de travail ne sont pas homogènes et que certains processus sont plus perturbés que d’autres. Par exemple, une méta-analyse du laboratoire a démontré que l’encodage volontaire d’information est une des fonctions spécifiquement affectée en schizophrénie (Grot, Potvin et al. 2014). Plus spécifiquement, l’association volontaire d’informations distinctes en un ensemble cohérent (par exemple, un objet et sa position spatiale) est déficitaire chez les patients. Ce déficit spécifique est notamment sous-tendu par une hypoactivation du cortex préfrontal et pariétal chez les patients (Grot, Légaré et al. 2017). Ces deux régions sont liées à l’attention, à la manipulation d’information, et aux stratégies d’encodage, ce qui confère l’habilité et la flexibilité nécessaire à la mémoire de travail (Kane and Engle2002, Baddeley2003). Il est intéressant de noter que de nombreuses études rapportent aussi une réduction de l’épaisseur corticale de ces régions chez les patients, ainsi qu’une altération des fibres blanches les interconnectant (Goldman, Pezawas et al. 2009). En ce sens, notre étude a montré qu’une modification anatomique du réseau préfrontal-pariétal pourrait expliquer le déficit spécifique de mémoire de travail en schizophrénie. Plus spécifiquement, la latéralisation gauche de ce réseau serait atténuée en schizophrénie, et engendrerait le déficit observé en mémoire de travail.Working memory, which is the limited capacity to temporarily maintain and manipulate information, is a core cognitive deficit in schizophrenia. This impairment has a strong impact on the daily lives of patients. A previous study of our laboratory observed that working memory deficits are not homogeneous and that some processes are more disturbed than others (Grot, Potvin et al., 2014). This was supported by a subsequent study, which showed that the voluntary association of distinct information into a coherent whole (i.e. an object and its spatial position) was specifically impaired in patients with schizophrenia (Grot, Légaré et al., 2017). This specific deficit, which is referred to as active binding, is underpinned by a hypoactivation of the left prefrontal and parietal cortex in patients (Grot, Légaré et al., 2017). These two regions are related to attentional processes, manipulation, and encoding strategies, which confer the skills and flexibility required for working memory (Kane and Engle 2002, Baddeley 2003). Interestingly, numerous studies report a cortical thickness reduction in these regions, as well as an alteration of the white fibres interconnecting them in patients with schizophrenia (Goldman, Pezawas et al., 2009). Accordingly, our study showed that anatomical modifications of this network could underpin the specific active binding deficit observed in schizophrenia patients. More specifically, a reduced leftward lateralization of the prefrontal-parietal network could contribute to this specific working memory deficit in patients

Functional neuroanatomical correlates of contingency judgement

Data availability: Data, stimuli and other materials are available on: https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/functional_neuroanatomical_correlates_of_contingency_judgment/19768618 .Contingency judgement is an ability to detect relationships between events and is crucial in the allocation of attentional resources for reasoning, categorization, and decision making to control behaviour in our environment. Research has suggested that the allocation of attention is sensitive to the frequency of contingency information whether it constitutes a negative, zero or positive relationship. The aim of the present study was to explore the functional neuroanatomical correlates of contingency judgement with different frequencies and whether these are distinct from each other or whether they rely on a common mechanism. Using three contingency tasks within a streaming paradigm (one each for negative, zero, and positive contingency frequencies), we assessed brain activity by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 20 participants. Contingency frequency was manipulated between blocks which allowed us to determine the neural correlates of each of the three contingency tasks as well as the common areas of activation. The conjunction of task activation showed activity in left parietal cortices (BA 23, 40) and superior temporal gyrus (BA42). Further, the interaction analysis revealed distinct areas that mainly involve lateral (BA 45) and medial (BA 9) prefrontal cortices in the judgment of negative contingencies compared with positive and zero contingencies. We interpret the finding as evidence that the shared regions may be involved in coding, integration, and updating of associative relations and distinct regions may be involved in the investment of attentional resources to varied degrees in the computation of contingencies to make a judgment

Neuroeconomics: How Neuroscience Can Inform Economics

Neuroeconomics uses knowledge about brain mechanisms to inform economic analysis, and roots economics in biology. It opens up the "black box" of the brain, much as organizational economics adds detail to the theory of the firm. Neuroscientists use many tools— including brain imaging, behavior of patients with localized brain lesions, animal behavior, and recording single neuron activity. The key insight for economics is that the brain is composed of multiple systems which interact. Controlled systems ("executive function") interrupt automatic ones. Emotions and cognition both guide decisions. Just as prices and allocations emerge from the interaction of two processes—supply and demand— individual decisions can be modeled as the result of two (or more) processes interacting. Indeed, "dual-process" models of this sort are better rooted in neuroscientific fact, and more empirically accurate, than single-process models (such as utility-maximization). We discuss how brain evidence complicates standard assumptions about basic preference, to include homeostasis and other kinds of state-dependence. We also discuss applications to intertemporal choice, risk and decision making, and game theory. Intertemporal choice appears to be domain-specific and heavily influenced by emotion. The simplified ß-d of quasi-hyperbolic discounting is supported by activation in distinct regions of limbic and cortical systems. In risky decision, imaging data tentatively support the idea that gains and losses are coded separately, and that ambiguity is distinct from risk, because it activates fear and discomfort regions. (Ironically, lesion patients who do not receive fear signals in prefrontal cortex are "rationally" neutral toward ambiguity.) Game theory studies show the effect of brain regions implicated in "theory of mind", correlates of strategic skill, and effects of hormones and other biological variables. Finally, economics can contribute to neuroscience because simple rational-choice models are useful for understanding highly-evolved behavior like motor actions that earn rewards, and Bayesian integration of sensorimotor information

Social and Affective Neuroscience of Everyday Human Interaction

This Open Access book presents the current state of the art knowledge on social and affective neuroscience based on empirical findings. This volume is divided into several sections first guiding the reader through important theoretical topics within affective neuroscience, social neuroscience and moral emotions, and clinical neuroscience. Each chapter addresses everyday social interactions and various aspects of social interactions from a different angle taking the reader on a diverse journey. The last section of the book is of methodological nature. Basic information is presented for the reader to learn about common methodologies used in neuroscience alongside advanced input to deepen the understanding and usability of these methods in social and affective neuroscience for more experienced readers

Decoding the Disparity: An Analysis of the Functional Connectivity Profile of Elderly African Americans with and without Alzheimer’s Disease

African Americans are twice as likely as non-Hispanic Whites to develop Alzheimer’s Disease. Current approaches to studying Alzheimer’s disease do not include a sufficient minority population needed to understand the nature of this disparity. Evidence from epidemiological and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker studies suggests that African Americans do indeed represent a unique phenotype of Alzheimer’s disease, partly driven by an elevated presence of risk factors. These risk factors include, but are not limited to an elevated presence of vascular disease which can manifest in the brain in the form of White Matter Hyperintensities (WMH). Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a method of detecting brain activity, and has been used to detect neurological changes within Alzheimer’s Disease in the form of functional connectivity (FC). FC is a measure of the correlation of activity between brain regions. In our first aim, we examined connectivity between a well-studied network, the default mode network and how race modifies the relationship between AD biomarkers and connectivity, and whether WMH in this network accounts for these racial differences. We found that race does modify the relationship between CSF t-Tau, Aβ42, and cognitive performance between the midline core and dorsomedial subsystems, but that WMH did not account for these differences. In our second aim, we analyzed connectivity between regions not typically associated with AD including the anterior putamen, pre and post central gyri, and superior and middle frontal gyri. We found that, independent of race, anterior putamen to pre and post central gyri increased as CSF Aβ42 decreased, but the connectivity decreased as regional WMH volume increased. Within African Americans, connectivity between the middle and superior frontal connectivity decreased as CSF Aβ42 decreased, and as regional WMH volume increased. This work further characterizes the AA dementia profile, and provides novel regions of exploration that may be affected by AD. Furthermore, we provide neurological support for the claim that in studies of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, race should be considered as an important factor of interest in analyses

Social and Affective Neuroscience of Everyday Human Interaction

This Open Access book presents the current state of the art knowledge on social and affective neuroscience based on empirical findings. This volume is divided into several sections first guiding the reader through important theoretical topics within affective neuroscience, social neuroscience and moral emotions, and clinical neuroscience. Each chapter addresses everyday social interactions and various aspects of social interactions from a different angle taking the reader on a diverse journey. The last section of the book is of methodological nature. Basic information is presented for the reader to learn about common methodologies used in neuroscience alongside advanced input to deepen the understanding and usability of these methods in social and affective neuroscience for more experienced readers