Context effects, skin conductance responses and personality traits - Influencing variables on risk-taking within a modified version of the balloon analog risk task.

When individuals take risks, they must weigh potential costs and benefits associated with a decision. Differences in risk-taking appear to be influenced by contextual, and inter-individual factors. However, it is still ambiguous to what extent these characteristics jointly influence risk-taking. We investigated how risk-taking varies as function of context effects, incentives, skin conductance responses (SCR), and personality traits such as impulsivity and sensitivity to reward and punishment. Sixty-eight healthy participants conducted a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) composed of a gain-framed (G-BART) and loss-framed (L-BART) context with each a low and a high outcome magnitude condition. While the goal in G-BART was to maximize gains, the goal in L-BART was to minimize losses. In both versions, participants can potentially accumulate the same amounts. We conducted trial-by-trial mixed model analyses to account for within- and between-participant effects. Participants showed greater risk-taking when playing L-BART than G-BART; more risk-taking was observed in the high compared to the low outcome magnitude condition. Furthermore, higher SCR were associated with less risk-taking. Lower impulsivity was related to a greater difference in risk-taking in both contexts, with greater risk-taking in L-BART. Likewise, sensitivity to reward was associated with a greater difference in risk-taking in both contexts, with greater risk-taking in G-BART. Finally, greater sensitivity to punishment was related to risk-taking among participants describing themselves as sensitive to rewards. Results support a multidimensional state-trait model of risk-taking suggesting that risk-taking is favored by loss-aversion along with incentives, psychophysiological arousal, and personality traits.

Proactive vs. Reactive Aggression Within Two Modified Versions of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm.

The Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP) has been widely used to measure reactive aggression following provocation during competitive interactions. Besides being reactive, aggression can be goal-directed (proactive aggression). Our study presents a novel paradigm to investigate proactive aggression during competitive interactions. Sixty-seven healthy participants competed in two modified versions of the TAP against an ostensible opponent while skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded. During the proactive TAP (pTAP), only the participant could interfere with the ostensible opponent's performance by blurring the screen. In the reactive TAP (rTAP), the opponent repeatedly provoked the participant by blurring the screen of the participant, impeding their chance to win. In both versions, the blurriness levels chosen by the participant served as a measure of aggression (unprovoked in the pTAP and provoked in the rTAP). In the pTAP, trial-by-trial mixed model analyses revealed higher aggression with higher self-reported selfishness. SCRs decreased with increasing proactive aggression. An interaction effect between gender and proactive aggression for the SCRs revealed increased SCRs at higher aggression levels in females, but lower SCRs at higher aggression levels in males. In the rTAP, SCRs were not associated with reactive aggression but aggression increased with increasing provocation and especially after losing against the opponent when provoked. While males showed higher aggression levels than females when unprovoked, reactive aggression increased more strongly in females with higher provocation. Mean levels of aggression in both tasks showed a high positive correlation. Our results highlight that, despite being intercorrelated and both motivated by selfishness, proactive and reactive aggression are differentially influenced by gender and physiological arousal. Proactive aggression is related to lower physiological arousal, especially in males, with females showing the opposite association. Reactive aggressive behavior is a result of individual responses to provocation, to which females seem to be more sensitive.

A meta-analysis on shared and distinct neural correlates of the decision-making underlying altruistic and retaliatory punishment.

Individuals who violate social norms will most likely face social punishment sanctions. Those sanctions are based on different motivation aspects, depending on the context. Altruistic punishment occurs if punishment aims to re-establish the social norms even at cost for the punisher. Retaliatory punishment is driven by anger or spite and aims to harm the other. While neuroimaging research highlighted the neural networks supporting decision-making in both types of punishment in isolation, it remains unclear whether they rely on the same or distinct neural systems. We ran an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis on functional magnetic resonance imaging data on 24 altruistic and 19 retaliatory punishment studies to investigate the neural correlates of decision-making underlying social punishment and whether altruistic and retaliatory punishments share similar brain networks. Social punishment reliably activated the bilateral insula, inferior frontal gyrus, midcingulate cortex (MCC), and superior and medial frontal gyri. This network largely overlapped with activation clusters found for altruistic punishment. However, retaliatory punishment revealed only one cluster in a posterior part of the MCC, which was not recruited in altruistic punishment. Our results support previous models on social punishment and highlight differential involvement of the MCC in altruistic and retaliatory punishments, reflecting the underlying different motivations.

Defining the neural correlates of spontaneous theory of mind (ToM): An fMRI multi-study investigation.

There is a major debate in the theory of mind (ToM) field, concerning whether spontaneous and explicit ToM are based on the same or two distinct cognitive systems. While extensive research on the neural correlates of explicit ToM has demonstrated involvement of the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), few studies investigated spontaneous ToM, leaving some open questions. Here, we implemented a multi-study approach by pooling data from three fMRI studies to obtain a larger sample to increase power and sensitivity to better define the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying spontaneous ToM. Participants watched videos in which an agent acquires a true or false belief about the location of a ball. Thus, the belief of the agent and that of the participant could either match or differ. Importantly, participants were never asked to consider the belief of the agent and were only instructed to press a button when they detected the presence of the ball after an occluder fell at the end of each video. By analysing the blood-oxygen level dependent signal during the belief formation phase for false versus true beliefs, we found a cluster of activation in the right, and to a lesser extent, left posterior parietal cortex spanning the TPJ, but no mPFC activation. Region of interest (ROI) analysis on bilateral TPJ and mPFC confirmed these results and added evidence to the asymmetry in laterality of the TPJ in spontaneous ToM. Interestingly, the whole brain analysis, supported by an overlap with brain maps, revealed maximum activation in areas involved in visuospatial working memory and attention switching functions, such as the supramarginal gyrus, the middle temporal gyrus, and the inferior frontal gyrus. By contrast, evidence for the presence of brain-behaviour correlations was mixed and there was no evidence for functional connectivity between the TPJ and mPFC. Taken together, these findings help clarifying the brain system supporting spontaneous ToM.

Women with early maltreatment experience show increased resting-state functional connectivity in the theory of mind (ToM) network.

Background: Experience of childhood maltreatment significantly increases the risk for the development of psychopathology and is associated with impairments in socio-cognitive skills including theory-of-mind (ToM). In turn, neural alterations in ToM processing might then influence future interpersonal interaction and social-emotional understanding. Objective: To assess resting-state activity in the theory-of-mind network in traumatized and non-traumatized persons. Methods: Thirty-five women with a history of childhood maltreatment and 31 unaffected women completed a resting-state scan and a ToM localizer task. The peak coordinates from the localizer were used as the seed regions for the resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) analyses (temporo-parietal junction, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus and precuneus). Results: Child abuse was associated with increased RSFC between various ToM regions including the precuneus and the brainstem suggesting altered hierarchical processing in ToM regions. Number of types of abuse was driving the effect for the temporo-parietal junction and the brainstem, while the severity of abuse was linked to increased RSFC between the middle temporal gyrus and the frontal cortex. Post-hoc analyses of brainstem regions indicated the involvement of the serotonergic system (dorsal raphe). Conclusions: The data indicate a lasting impact of childhood maltreatment on the neural networks involved in social information processing that are integral to understanding others' emotional states. Indeed, such altered neural networks may account for some of the interpersonal difficulties victims of childhood maltreatment experience.

Antecedentes: La experiencia de maltrato infantil aumenta significativamente el riesgo del desarrollo de psicopatología y se encuentra asociado con deficiencia en las habilidades sociocognitivas, incluyendo la teoría-de-la-mente (ToM en su sigla en inglés). A su vez, las alteraciones neuronales en el procesamiento de la ToM podrían así influenciar las interacciones interpersonales futuras y el entendimiento socioemocional.Objetivo: Evaluar la actividad del estado de reposo en la red de la teoría-de-la-mente en personas traumatizadas y no traumatizadas.Métodos: Treinta y cinco mujeres con una historia de maltrato infantil y 31 mujeres no afectadas completaron un escáner en estado de reposo y una tarea localizadora de la ToM. Las coordenadas más altas del localizador fueron usadas como las regiones de origen para los análisis de la conectividad funcional del estado de descanso (RSFC en su sigla en inglés; incluyendo la unión temporoparietal, corteza prefrontal dorsomedial, giros cerebrales temporales medios, y precúneo).Resultados: El abuso infantil fue asociado con un incremento en la RSFC entre varias regiones de la ToM, incluyendo el precúneo y el tronco encefálico, sugiriendo una alteración en el procesamiento jerárquico en las regiones de la ToM. El número de los tipos de abuso estuvo dirigiendo el efecto de la unión temporoparietal y el tronco encefálico, mientras que la severidad del abuso se relacionó a una aumentada RSFC entre los giros cerebrales temporales medios y la corteza frontal. Los análisis post hoc de las regiones del tronco encefálico indicaron el rol del sistema serotoninérgico (rafe dorsal).Conclusiones: Los datos indican un impacto de largo plazo del maltrato infantil en las redes neuronales involucradas en el procesamiento de la información social que son fundamentales para el entendimiento de los estados emocionales de otros. De hecho, tales redes neuronales alteradas podrían ser responsables de algunas de las dificultades interpersonales que las víctimas de maltrato infantil experimentan.

Neural correlates of ostracism in transgender persons living according to their gender identity: a potential risk marker for psychopathology?

BACKGROUND: Stigmatization in society carries a high risk for development of psychopathology. Transgender persons are at particularly high risk for such stigmatization and social rejection by others. However, the neural correlates of ostracism in this group have not been captured. METHOD: Twenty transgender men (TM, female-to-male) and 19 transgender women (TW, male-to-female) already living in their gender identity and 20 cisgender men (CM) and 20 cisgender women (CW) completed a cyberball task assessing both exclusion and re-inclusion during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). RESULTS: During psychosocial stress between-group differences were found in the dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Patterns were consistent with sex assigned at birth, i.e. CW showed greater activation in dorsal ACC and IFG relative to CM and TW. During re-inclusion, transgender persons showed greater ventral ACC activity relative to CW, possibly indicating persistent feelings of exclusion. Functional connectivity analyses supported these findings but showed a particularly altered functional connectivity between ACC and lateral prefrontal cortex in TM, which may suggest reduced emotional regulation to the ostracism experience in this group. Depressive symptoms or hormonal levels were not associated with these findings. CONCLUSION: The results bear implications for the role of social exclusion in development of mental health problems in socially marginalized groups.