Dissociating affective evaluation and social cognitive processes in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex |
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Authors: | Wouter van den Bos Samuel M McClure Lasana T Harris Susan T Fiske Jonathan D Cohen |
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Institution: | (1) School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, GR41, 800 W. Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080, USA;(2) Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA;(3) Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;(4) Curriculum in Neurobiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA |
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Abstract: | In recent studies, various regions of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) have been implicated in at least two potentially
different mental functions: reasoning about the minds of other people (social cognition) and processing reward related information
(affective evaluation). In this study, we test whether the activation in a specific area of the vmPFC, the para-anterior cingulate
cortex (PACC), correlates with the reward value of stimuli in general or is specifically associated with social cognition.
Participants performed a time estimation task with trial-to-trial feedback in which reward and social context were manipulated
separately. Reward was manipulated by giving either positive or negative feedback in the form of small squirts of fluid delivered
orally. Social context was manipulated by instructing participants that positive and negative feedback was determined by another
person or a computer. The data demonstrate a main effect of feedback, but not social context, in the PACC, suggesting that
this area of the vmPFC serves a general function in evaluating and/or representing reward value. In addition, activity in
a more anterior subregion of the vmPFC demonstrated reward-related sensitivity only in the social context. Another area that
showed a similar interaction was the subgenual cingulate, but this region was only sensitive to negative feedback in the social
condition. These findings suggest that, within the vmPFC, the PACC subserves primarily an affective function, whereas in other
regions social context can modulate affective responses. |
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