Functional magnetic resonance imaging responses relate to differences in real-world social experience.

TitleFunctional magnetic resonance imaging responses relate to differences in real-world social experience.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsEisenberger NI, Gable SL, Lieberman MD
JournalEmotion
Volume7
Issue4
Pagination745-54
Date Published2007 Nov
ISSN1528-3542
KeywordsAdult, Affect, Brain, Cognition, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Life Change Events, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Social Alienation, Social Perception
Abstract

Although neuroimaging techniques have proven powerful in assessing neural responses, little is known about whether scanner-based neural activity relates to real-world psychological experience. A joint functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)/experience-sampling study investigated whether individual differences in neurocognitive reactivity to scanner-based social rejection related to: (a) moment-to-moment feelings of social rejection during real-world social interactions ("momentary social distress") and (b) the extent to which these momentary feelings corresponded with end-of-day global assessments of social disconnection ("end-of-day social disconnection"). Individuals who showed greater activity in regions associated with affective and pain processing (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, periaqueductal gray) during scanner-based social rejection reported feeling greater momentary social distress during their daily social interactions. In contrast, individuals who showed greater activity in regions associated with memory and self-referential memory encoding (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex) showed a stronger correspondence between momentary social distress and end-of-day social disconnection, such that greater momentary social distress was associated with greater end-of-day social disconnection. These findings complement previous work showing a dissociation between momentary and retrospective reports of affect and suggest that these processes rely on dissociable neural systems.

DOI10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.745
Alternate JournalEmotion
PubMed ID18039043
Grant ListR21MH071521-01 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
R21MH66709-01 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
T32MH019925 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States