Personality theories have long tried to use self-report scales, designed to index hypothesized individual differences in neural reactivity, in order to predict cognition, behavior, and affect. With the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) it is now possible to quantify these differences much more directly than we have been previously able with personality scales. We provide evidence from psychiatric disorders, neurophysiology, and computational neuroscience that together suggest the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may play an important role in neuroticism and the social cognitive outcomes conceptually associated with neuroticism. Using a social cognitive neuroscience approach (Lieberman, 2000; Ochsner & Lieberman, 2001), we propose to look at the ways in which individual differences in ACC reactivity shape social cognition and how social factors, in turn, can shape ACC reactivity. We hypothesize that individuals with highly reactive ACC's will engage in more self-focused processing, social comparison, and self-doubt which together should lead to lower self-perceived status. Additionally, we hypothesize that social threat increases ACC reactivity while positive social contact decreases ACC reactivity. Finally, we predict that the effect of these social factors on ACC reactivity will be greater for individuals with highly reactive ACC's, compared to those with less reactive ACC's. We propose to test these hypotheses across four experiments combining fMRI and social psychological methodologies to assess: (1) the relation of dispositional ACC reactivity to self-awareness of arousal, (2) the relation of dispositional ACC reactivity to frequency of self-awareness, social comparison, and self-doubt in a daily diary study, (3) the effect of social threat on ACC reactivity, and (4) the effect of positive social contact on ACC reactivity to painful stimulation.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Exploratory/Developmental Grants (R21)
Project #
5R21MH066709-02
Application #
6665417
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZMH1-BRB-S (01))
Program Officer
Kozak, Michael J
Project Start
2002-09-24
Project End
2005-07-31
Budget Start
2003-08-01
Budget End
2005-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$186,501
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California Los Angeles
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
092530369
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90095
Eisenberger, Naomi I (2012) The neural bases of social pain: evidence for shared representations with physical pain. Psychosom Med 74:126-35
Eisenberger, Naomi I; Taylor, Shelley E; Gable, Shelly L et al. (2007) Neural pathways link social support to attenuated neuroendocrine stress responses. Neuroimage 35:1601-12
Eisenberger, Naomi I; Way, Baldwin M; Taylor, Shelley E et al. (2007) Understanding genetic risk for aggression: clues from the brain's response to social exclusion. Biol Psychiatry 61:1100-8
Eisenberger, Naomi I; Gable, Shelly L; Lieberman, Matthew D (2007) Functional magnetic resonance imaging responses relate to differences in real-world social experience. Emotion 7:745-54
Creswell, J David; Way, Baldwin M; Eisenberger, Naomi I et al. (2007) Neural correlates of dispositional mindfulness during affect labeling. Psychosom Med 69:560-5
Taylor, Shelley E; Eisenberger, Naomi I; Saxbe, Darby et al. (2006) Neural responses to emotional stimuli are associated with childhood family stress. Biol Psychiatry 60:296-301
Eisenberger, Naomi I; Lieberman, Matthew D; Satpute, Ajay B (2005) Personality from a controlled processing perspective: an fMRI study of neuroticism, extraversion, and self-consciousness. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 5:169-81
Lieberman, Matthew D (2005) Principles, processes, and puzzles of social cognition: an introduction for the special issue on social cognitive neuroscience. Neuroimage 28:745-56
Lieberman, Matthew D; Hariri, Ahmad; Jarcho, Johanna M et al. (2005) An fMRI investigation of race-related amygdala activity in African-American and Caucasian-American individuals. Nat Neurosci 8:720-2
Eisenberger, Naomi I; Lieberman, Matthew D (2004) Why rejection hurts: a common neural alarm system for physical and social pain. Trends Cogn Sci 8:294-300

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