School of Psychological Sciences, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Ruhr University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany; Research Center One Health Ruhr of the University Alliance Ruhr, Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany.
J Affect Disord. 2024 Sep 15;361:399-408. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.06.049. Epub 2024 Jun 17.
While it is well-established that humans possess an innate need for social belonging, the neural mechanisms underlying motivation for connection are still largely unknown. We propose that inclusion motivation - measured through the effort that individuals are willing to invest to be included in social interactions - may serve as one of the basic building blocks of social behavior and may change in lonely individuals.
Following the screening of 303 participants, we scanned 30 low- and 28 high-loneliness individuals with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed the Active Inclusion Task (AIT). The AIT assesses the participants' levels of effort invested in influencing their inclusion during classic Cyberball conditions of fair play and exclusion.
High- compared to low-loneliness individuals showed higher urgency for inclusion, specifically during fair play, which correlated with higher activity in the right thalamus. Furthermore, in high-loneliness individuals, we found increased functional connectivity between the thalamus and the temporoparietal junction, putamen, and insula.
Participants interacted with computerized avatars, reducing ecological validity. Additionally, although increasing inclusion in the task required action, the physical demand was not high. Additional limitations are discussed.
Inclusion motivation in loneliness is heightened during fair but not exclusionary interactions, and is linked to activity in brain regions implicated in appetitive behavior and social cognition. The findings indicate that lonely individuals may view threat in inclusionary interactions, prompting them to take action to regain connection. This suggests that inclusion motivation may help explain social difficulties in loneliness.
虽然人类具有内在的社交归属需求已得到充分证实，但驱动社交联系的神经机制仍知之甚少。我们提出，包容动机——通过个体愿意投入的努力来衡量，以被纳入社交互动——可能是社交行为的基本组成部分之一，并可能在孤独个体中发生变化。
在对 303 名参与者进行筛选后，我们对 30 名低孤独感个体和 28 名高孤独感个体进行了功能性磁共振成像扫描，同时他们完成了主动包容任务（AIT）。AIT 评估了参与者在经典 Cyberball 条件（公平和排斥）下影响自己被包容的努力程度。
与低孤独感个体相比，高孤独感个体在公平比赛期间表现出更高的包容紧迫性，这与右丘脑活动增加有关。此外，在高孤独感个体中，我们发现丘脑与颞顶联合区、壳核和脑岛之间的功能连接增加。
参与者与计算机化的化身进行互动，降低了生态有效性。此外，尽管在任务中增加包容需要行动，但身体需求不高。讨论了其他限制。
孤独感中的包容动机在公平但非排斥性互动中增强，与参与奖赏行为和社会认知的大脑区域的活动有关。研究结果表明，孤独个体可能将包容性互动视为威胁，促使他们采取行动重新建立联系。这表明包容动机可能有助于解释孤独感中的社交困难。
