Kim M Justin, Sul Sunhae
Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 Feb 24;14:1112438. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1112438. eCollection 2023.
The emergence of social neuroscience in the past two decades has offered a useful neurocognitive framework for understanding human social behavior. Of importance, social neuroscience research aimed to provide mechanistic explanations for the established link between wellbeing and social behavioral phenomena-particularly those reflective of social connectedness. Here, we provide an overview of the relevant literature focusing on recent work using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In general, fMRI research demonstrated that aspects of social connectedness that are known to either positively (e.g., social acceptance) or negatively (e.g., social isolation) impact wellbeing also modulated the activity of subcortical reward system accordingly. Similar modulatory influence was found for the activity of other brain regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, which are typically regarded as components of the "social brain" that support a wide range of functions related to social cognition and behavior. Elucidating such individual differences in brain activity may shed light onto the neural underpinnings of the link between social connectedness and wellbeing.
在过去二十年中，社会神经科学的出现为理解人类社会行为提供了一个有用的神经认知框架。重要的是，社会神经科学研究旨在为已确立的幸福感与社会行为现象之间的联系——特别是那些反映社会联系的现象——提供机制性解释。在此，我们概述相关文献，重点关注使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的近期研究。总体而言，fMRI研究表明，已知对幸福感有积极（如社会接纳）或消极（如社会隔离）影响的社会联系方面，也相应地调节了皮层下奖励系统的活动。在其他脑区如内侧前额叶皮层的活动中也发现了类似的调节影响，这些脑区通常被视为“社会脑”的组成部分，支持与社会认知和行为相关的广泛功能。阐明这种大脑活动中的个体差异，可能有助于揭示社会联系与幸福感之间联系的神经基础。
