{"id":7464,"date":"2012-10-23T10:36:55","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T14:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=7464"},"modified":"2012-10-22T22:33:58","modified_gmt":"2012-10-23T02:33:58","slug":"researchers-look-at-basis-in-brain-for-social-decisions-reactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2012\/10\/researchers-look-at-basis-in-brain-for-social-decisions-reactions\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers look at basis in brain for social decisions, reactions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the Society for Neuroscience press release via ScienceDaily:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/Brain4.jpg\" alt=\"the brain\" \/>New insights into the wiring and firing of the &#8220;social brain&#8221; in humans and primates reveals <strong>the brain areas important in altruistic motives and behavior, and the brain regions that respond to the pain of discrimination<\/strong>. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world&#8217;s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.<\/p>\n<p>The social brain consists of the structures and circuits that help people understand others&#8217; intentions, beliefs, and desires, and how to behave appropriately. Its smooth functioning is essential to humans&#8217; ability to cooperate. Its dysfunction is implicated in a range of disorders, from autism, to psychopathology, to schizophrenia.<\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s new findings show that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Primates employ three different parts of the prefrontal cortex in decisions about whether to give or keep prized treats<\/strong>. These findings illuminate a poorly understood brain circuit, and offer possible insights into human sharing and other social behavior (Steve Chang, PhD, abstract 129.10).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Different brain regions are engaged in altruistic behavior that is motivated by genuine caring versus altruistic behavior motivated by a concern for reputation<\/strong> or self-image (Cendri Hutcherson, PhD, abstract 129.06).<\/li>\n<li>The experience of <strong>racial discrimination triggers activity in the same brain regions that respond to pain, social rejection<\/strong>, and other stressful experiences (Arpana Gupta, PhD, abstract 402.06).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Another recent finding discussed shows that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Competition against a human opponent or a computer engages the same parts of the brain, with one exception: <strong>the temporal parietal junction is used to predict only a human&#8217;s upcoming actions<\/strong> (Ronald Carter, PhD).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Whenever we engage with others &#8212; or even anticipate others&#8217; responses to us &#8212; the social brain is at work, shaping our actions, reactions, and interactions,&#8221; said press conference moderator Anna Rose Childress, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, an expert in neuroimaging and addiction research. &#8220;The more we understand the brain processes that underlie basic social emotions, the better we will be able to address conditions that involve social dysfunctions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This research was supported by national funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, as well as private and philanthropic organizations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the Society for Neuroscience press release via ScienceDaily: New insights into the wiring and firing of the &#8220;social brain&#8221; in humans and primates reveals the brain areas important in&#8230; <a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2012\/10\/researchers-look-at-basis-in-brain-for-social-decisions-reactions\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,319,6],"tags":[42],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7464"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7576,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464\/revisions\/7576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}