Dominance attributions following damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex

Damage to the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VM) can result in dramatic and maladaptive changes in social behavior despite preservation of most other cognitive abilities. One important aspect of social cognition is the ability to detect social dominance, a process of attributing from particular social signals another person's relative standing in the social world. To test the role of the VM in making attributions of social dominance, we designed two experiments: one requiring dominance judgments from static pictures of faces, the second requiring dominance judgments from film clips. We tested three demographically matched groups of subjects: subjects with focal lesions in the VM (n=15), brain-damaged comparison subjects with lesions excluding the VM (n=11), and a reference group of normal individuals with no history of neurological disease (n=32). Contrary to our expectation, we found that subjects with VM lesions gave dominance judgments on both tasks that did not differ significantly from those given by the other groups. Despite their grossly normal performance, however, subjects with VM lesions showed more subtle impairments specifically when judging static faces: They were less discriminative in their dominance judgments, and did not appear to make normal use of gender and age of the faces in forming their judgments. The findings suggest that, in the laboratory tasks we used, damage to the VM does not necessarily impair judgments of social dominance, although it appears to result in alterations in strategy that might translate into behavioral impairments in real life

Amygdala lesions do not compromise the cortical network for false-belief reasoning

The amygdala plays an integral role in human social cognition and behavior, with clear links to emotion recognition, trust judgments, anthropomorphization, and psychiatric disorders ranging from social phobia to autism. A central feature of human social cognition is a theory-of-mind (ToM) that enables the representation other people's mental states as distinct from one's own. Numerous neuroimaging studies of the best studied use of ToM—false-belief reasoning—suggest that it relies on a specific cortical network; moreover, the amygdala is structurally and functionally connected with many components of this cortical network. It remains unknown whether the cortical implementation of any form of ToM depends on amygdala function. Here we investigated this question directly by conducting functional MRI on two patients with rare bilateral amygdala lesions while they performed a neuroimaging protocol standardized for measuring cortical activity associated with false-belief reasoning. We compared patient responses with those of two healthy comparison groups that included 480 adults. Based on both univariate and multivariate comparisons, neither patient showed any evidence of atypical cortical activity or any evidence of atypical behavioral performance; moreover, this pattern of typical cortical and behavioral response was replicated for both patients in a follow-up session. These findings argue that the amygdala is not necessary for the cortical implementation of ToM in adulthood and suggest a reevaluation of the role of the amygdala and its cortical interactions in human social cognition

Uncovering the Social Deficits in the Autistic Brain. A Source-Based Morphometric Study

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that mainly affects social interaction and communication. Evidence from behavioral and functional MRI studies supports the hypothesis that dysfunctional mechanisms involving social brain structures play a major role in autistic symptomatology. However, the investigation of anatomical abnormalities in the brain of people with autism has led to inconsistent results. We investigated whether specific brain regions, known to display functional abnormalities in autism, may exhibit mutual and peculiar patterns of covariance in their gray-matter concentrations. We analyzed structural MRI images of 32 young men affected by autistic disorder (AD) and 50 healthy controls. Controls were matched for sex, age, handedness. IQ scores were also monitored to avoid confounding. A multivariate Source-Based Morphometry (SBM) was applied for the first time on AD and controls to detect maximally independent networks of gray matter. Group comparison revealed a gray-matter source that showed differences in AD compared to controls. This network includes broad temporal regions involved in social cognition and high-level visual processing, but also motor and executive areas of the frontal lobe. Notably, we found that gray matter differences, as reflected by SBM, significantly correlated with social and behavioral deficits displayed by AD individuals and encoded via the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores. These findings provide support for current hypotheses about the neural basis of atypical social and mental states information processing in autism

Economic management function of the state of the socialist Republic of Vietnam

Mankind history has recorded the birth, development, survival struggle, and decline of various forms of states. Along with that process, the role and function of the State in socio-economic development have been strongly highlighted, represented not only social classes but also the characteristics of institutions, structures, and organizations of society in each period, and in accordance with the development of human cognition. The state in a socialist-oriented market economy has similar connotations and differences in comparison with states in general. However, due to the lack of clear definitions to distinguish the two concepts of "economic function" and "economic management function," the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the effectiveness of state management policies are ineffective, as right now there exist many fuzzy and overlapping gaps in theory. Not only that, the gap between the designed policy and the actualization of policy decisions is quite far from reality. Therefore, from the time the policies are established and issued until those policies take effects, there are many issues worth discussing

Multisensory spatial mechanisms of the bodily self and social cognition : a commentary on Vittorio Gallese & Valentina Cuccio

This commentary aims to find the right description of the pre-reflective brain mechanisms underlying our phenomenal experience of being a subject bound to a physical body (bodily self) and basic cognitive, perceptual, and subjective aspects related to interaction with other individuals (social cognition). I will focus on the proposal by Gallese and Cuccio that embodied simulation, in terms of motor resonance, is the primary brain mechanism underlying the pre-reflective aspects of social cognition and the bodily self. I will argue that this proposal is too narrow to serve a unified theory of the neurobiological mechanisms of both target phenomena. I support this criticism with theoretical considerations and empirical evidence suggesting that multisensory spatial processing, which is distinct from but a pre-requisite of motor resonance, substantially contributes to the bodily self and social cognition. My commentary is structured in three sections. The first section addresses social cognition and compares embodied simulation to an alternative account, namely the attention schema theory. According to this theory we pre-reflectively empathize with others by predicting their current state of attention which involves predicting the spatial focus of attention. Thereby we derive a representational model of their state of mind. On this account, spatial coding of attention, rather than motor resonance, is the primary mechanism underlying social cognition. I take this as a theoretical alternative complementing motor resonance mechanisms. The second section focuses on the bodily self. Comparison of the brain networks of the bodily self and social cognition reveals strong overlap, suggesting that both phenomena depend on shared multisensory and sensorimotor mechanisms. I will review recent empirical data about altered states of the bodily self in terms of self-location and the first-person perspective. These spatial aspects of the bodily self are encoded in brain regions distinct from the brain network of embodied simulation. I argue that while motor resonance might contribute to body ownership and agency, it does not account for spatial aspects of the bodily self. Thus, embodied simulation appears to be a necessary but insufficiently “primary” brain mechanism of the bodily self and social cognition. The third section discusses the contributions of the vestibular system, i.e., the sensory system encoding head motion and gravity, to the bodily self and social cognition. Vestibular cortical processing seems relevant to both processes, because it directly encodes the world-centered direction of gravity and allows us to distinguish between motions of the own body and motions of other individuals and the external world. Furthermore, the vestibular cortical network largely overlaps with those neural networks relevant to the bodily self and social cognition. Thus, the vestibular system may play a crucial role in multisensory spatial coding relating the bodily self to other individuals in the external world

Virtual Reality Social Prediction Improvement and Rehabilitation Intensive Training (VR-SPIRIT) for paediatric patients with congenital cerebellar diseases: study protocol of a randomised controlled trial

Background: Patients with cerebellar malformations exhibit not only movement problems, but also important deficits in social cognition. Thus, rehabilitation approaches should not only involve the recovery of motor function but also of higher-order abilities such as processing of social stimuli. In keeping with the general role of the cerebellum in anticipating and predicting events, we used a VR-based rehabilitation system to implement a social cognition intensive training specifically tailored to improve predictive abilities in social scenarios (VR-Spirit). Methods/design: The study is an interventional randomised controlled trial that aims to recruit 42 children, adolescents and young adults with congenital cerebellar malformations, randomly allocated to the experimental group or the active control group. The experimental group is administered the VR-Spirit, requiring the participants to compete with different avatars in the reaching of recreational equipment and implicitly prompting them to form expectations about their playing preference. The active control group participates in a VR-training with standard games currently adopted for motor rehabilitation. Both trainings are composed by eight 45-min sessions and are administered in the GRAIL VR laboratory (Motekforce Link, Netherlands), an integrated platform that allows patients to move in natural and attractive VR environments. An evaluation session in VR with the same paradigm used in the VR-Spirit but implemented in a different scenario is administered at the beginning (T0) of the two trainings (T1) and at the end (T2). Moreover, a battery of neurocognitive tests spanning different domains is administered to all participants at T0, T2 and in a follow-up session after 2 months from the end of the two trainings (T3). Discussion: This study offers a novel approach for rehabilitation based on specific neural mechanisms of the cerebellum. We aim to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of a new, intensive, social cognition training in a sample of Italian patients aged 7-25 years with congenital cerebellar malformations. We expect that VR-Spirit could enhance social prediction ability and indirectly improve cognitive performance in diverse domains. Moreover, through the comparison with a VR-active control training we aim to verify the specificity of VR-Spirit in improving social perception skills. Trial registration: ISRCTN, ID: ISRCTN 22332873. Retrospectively registered on 12 March 2018

Deficits in Domains of Social Cognition in Schizophrenia: A Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Evidence

Objective: Social cognition is strongly associated with functional outcome in schizophrenia, making it an important target for treatment. Our goal was to examine the average magnitude of differences between schizophrenia patients (SCs) and normal comparison (NCs) patients across multiple domains of social cognition recognized by the recent NIMH consensus statement: theory of mind (ToM), social perception, social knowledge, attributional bias, emotion perception, and emotion processing. Method: We conducted a meta-analysis of peer-reviewed studies of social cognition in schizophrenia, published between 1980 and November, 2011. Results: 112 studies reporting results from 3908 SCs and 3570 NCs met our inclusion criteria. SCs performed worse than NCs across all domains, with large effects for social perception (g = 1.04), ToM (g = 0.96), emotion perception (g = 0.89), and emotion processing (g = 0.88). Regression analyses showed that statistically significant heterogeneity in effects within domains was not explained by age, education, or gender. Greater deficits in social and emotion perception were associated with inpatient status, and greater deficits in emotion processing were associated with longer illness duration. Conclusions: Despite the limitations of existing studies, including lack of standardization or psychometric validation of measures, the evidence for deficits across multiple social cognitive domains in schizophrenia is clear. Future research should examine the role of neurobiological and psychosocial factors in models linking various aspects of deficit in schizophrenia, including social cognition, in order to identify targets for intervention

Educational Brain Research as Compared with E.G. White\u27s Counsels to Educators

Purpose. The purpose of this study was threefold: to review current, education-relevant brain research; to review the educational writings of Ellen G. White for major emerging themes/principles; and to compare these findings for similarities and differences. Method and Results. Using an inductive process, the synthesis and comparison revealed 15 themes from brain research and 12 principles from White\u27s writings from the middle 1800s and early 1900s. Comparison of the two lists revealed alignment on eight themes/principles, nonalignment on three themes/principles, and partial-alignment on seven themes/principles. Aligned themes/principles included: body and mind function as one; exercise and movement are vital to cognition; health habits profoundly affect learning; emotions/neurochemistry unite body and mind; social influences structure cognition; plasticity and enrichment contribute to braingrowth/change; stages of development provide optimal times for cognitive patterning; individualism typifies brain function. Themes/principles not aligned included: the Bible is foundational for education; knowledge of God establishes contact with the source of all knowledge; and redemption and restoration of the image of God in humanity are the goals of education. Conclusions. White defines true education as the harmonious relationship between physical, mental, and spiritual powers. Brain educators also draw attention to this three-faceted relationship; however, brain science tends to deal with this concept in a less integrated way than does White, though research on emotion appears to be promoting a more holistic attitude. White suggests education is potentiated when this harmonious triad is empowered by God. Brainscience says little about an outside vital power, though altruism is sometimes discussed in the context of new findings on the role of emotional/social functions. Based on the comparisons/differences observed, this study postulates that this triad relationship is a fractal-like pattern that is replicated and operant in brain structure and function, educational practice, and other life processes

Is Affective Intentionality Necessarily Irrelevant in Social Cognition?

The aim of this work is to understand the meaning and the extent of “affective intentionality”, to discover whether or not it is analogous to other concepts of intentionality and if it can play a role in social cognition. I will compare Searle’s conception of intentionality, in particular affective intentionality, with Scheler’s concept of sympathy. The reason for this is that I believe the comparison shows that it is not always necessary to presuppose something to have affective intentionality

Affective focus increases the concordance between implicit and explicit attitudes

Two attitude dichotomies - implicit versus explicit and affect versus cognition - are presumed to be related. Following a manipulation of attitudinal focus (affective or cognitive), participants completed two implicit measures (Implicit Association Test and the Sorting Paired Features task) and three explicit attitude measures toward cats/dogs (Study 1) and gay/straight people (Study 2). Based on confirmatory factor analysis, both studies showed that explicit attitudes were more related to implicit attitudes in an affective focus than in a cognitive focus. We suggest that, although explicit evaluations can be meaningfully parsed into affective and cognitive components, implicit evaluations are more related to affective than cognitive components of attitudes