Morelli Sylvia A, Torre Jared B, Eisenberger Naomi I
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA and Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA and Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Dec;9(12):1890-6. doi: 10.1093/scan/nst191. Epub 2014 Jan 5.
Past research suggests that feeling understood enhances both personal and social well-being. However, little research has examined the neurobiological bases of feeling understood and not understood. We addressed these gaps by experimentally inducing felt understanding and not understanding as participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results demonstrated that feeling understood activated neural regions previously associated with reward and social connection (i.e. ventral striatum and middle insula), while not feeling understood activated neural regions previously associated with negative affect (i.e. anterior insula). Both feeling understood and not feeling understood activated different components of the mentalizing system (feeling understood: precuneus and temporoparietal junction; not feeling understood: dorsomedial prefrontal cortex). Neural responses were associated with subsequent feelings of social connection and disconnection and were modulated by individual differences in rejection sensitivity. Thus, this study provides insight into the psychological processes underlying feeling understood (or not) and may suggest new avenues for targeted interventions that amplify the benefits of feeling understood or buffer individuals from the harmful consequences of not feeling understood.
以往的研究表明，被理解的感觉能提升个人幸福感和社会幸福感。然而，很少有研究探讨被理解和未被理解的神经生物学基础。我们通过在参与者进行功能磁共振成像时实验性地诱导出被理解和未被理解的感觉，填补了这些空白。结果表明，被理解的感觉激活了先前与奖励和社会联系相关的神经区域（即腹侧纹状体和脑岛中部），而未被理解的感觉激活了先前与消极情绪相关的神经区域（即脑岛前部）。被理解和未被理解的感觉都激活了心理化系统的不同组成部分（被理解：楔前叶和颞顶联合区；未被理解：背内侧前额叶皮层）。神经反应与随后的社会联系和脱节感相关，并受到拒绝敏感性个体差异的调节。因此，本研究深入了解了被理解（或未被理解）背后的心理过程，并可能为有针对性的干预措施提供新途径，这些干预措施可以放大被理解的益处，或保护个体免受未被理解的有害后果。
