PMID- 24984693
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20151113
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1531-135X (Electronic)
IS  - 1530-7026 (Linking)
VI  - 15
IP  - 1
DP  - 2015 Mar
TI  - The neural correlates of social connection.
PG  - 1-14
LID - 10.3758/s13415-014-0304-9 [doi]
AB  - Cultivating social connection has long been a goal of psychology, philosophy, 
      religion, and public policy. Yet the psychological and neural responses that 
      accompany a feeling of connection to others remain unclear. In the present study, 
      we used functional neuroimaging to shed light on the neural correlates of self- 
      and other-focused processes during the successful self-generation of feelings of 
      social connection. To do this, we used a trait judgment task to localize 
      functional activation related to self-focused thought. We then examined brain 
      responses during guided exercises designed both to encourage feeling love and 
      connection from others (i.e., self-focused) and to generate feelings of love and 
      connection toward others (i.e., other-focused). Our results indicated that 
      generating feelings of social connection recruited a portion of the medial 
      prefrontal cortex (MPFC) implicated in thinking about both the self and others. 
      Within this larger area, we observed distinct profiles of activation within 
      different subregions. Although rostral anterior cingulate cortex was more 
      strongly activated by other-focused components of the task, a more dorsal portion 
      of MPFC was comparatively more active during primarily self-focused components of 
      the task. Somewhat surprisingly, stronger feelings of social connection were not 
      associated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate, but rather with 
      less activation in the dorsal region of the MPFC related to self-focused thought. 
      These results are consistent with the possibility that reducing certain kinds of 
      self-focused thought might yield a greater sense of social connection to and care 
      for others.
FAU - Hutcherson, Cendri A
AU  - Hutcherson CA
AD  - Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of 
      Technology, MC 228-77, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA, chutcher@hss.caltech.edu.
FAU - Seppala, Emma M
AU  - Seppala EM
FAU - Gross, James J
AU  - Gross JJ
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - United States
TA  - Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci
JT  - Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience
JID - 101083946
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Brain Mapping/*methods
MH  - Emotions/physiology
MH  - Female
MH  - Gyrus Cinguli/*physiology
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Interpersonal Relations
MH  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MH  - Male
MH  - Prefrontal Cortex/*physiology
MH  - *Social Perception
MH  - Young Adult
EDAT- 2014/07/06 06:00
MHDA- 2015/11/14 06:00
CRDT- 2014/07/03 06:00
PHST- 2014/07/03 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2014/07/06 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2015/11/14 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.3758/s13415-014-0304-9 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2015 Mar;15(1):1-14. doi: 10.3758/s13415-014-0304-9.