Keita Masui

Does higher general trust serve as a psychosocial buffer against social pain? An NIRS study of social exclusion

Social exclusion evokes social pain in excluded individuals. Neuroimaging studies suggest that this social pain is associated with activation of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), with further regulation of social pain being reflected in activation of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC). The present study focused on factors that influence activation of the rVLPFC during social exclusion. We conducted a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) experiment to investigate whether two psychosocial resources (general trust and trait self-esteem) increase rVLPFC activity during social exclusion, thereby buffering against social pain. Thirty-seven undergraduates participated in an NIRS session in which they were socially rejected during an online ball-tossing game. Levels of general trust and trait self-esteem were negatively correlated with self-reported social pain in the exclusion conditions. Furthermore, general trust was positively correlated with rVLPFC activity, although there was no such relationship with self-esteem. rVLPFC activity mediated the relationship between general trust levels and social pain. The rVLPFC appears to be critical for the regulation of social pain. Taken together, these findings suggest that general trust and trait self-esteem probably have different impacts at different times over the course of a series of adaptive processes, all geared toward the modulation of social pain.

Family socioeconomic status modulates the coping-related neural response of offspring

Substantial research links economic adversity to poor coping in stressful or threatening environments. Neuroimaging studies suggest that activation of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) plays a key role in self-control, and it seems that individual differences in neurocognitive systems underlying self-control are determined in part by subjective childhood socioeconomic status (SES). The present study used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to investigate whether subjective childhood SES moderates rVLPFC activity during one form of threatening environment: social exclusion. Twenty-five undergraduates participated in a NIRS session in which they were socially included and then excluded during an online ball-tossing game. Lower subjective childhood SES was associated with higher levels of social distress and lower levels of rVLPFC activity during social exclusion. The present findings suggest that early family environments are reliably associated with deficits in offspring coping resources and processes, as well as with difficulties in regulating interpersonal circumstances.

Temporal distance insulates against immediate social pain: An NIRS study of social exclusion

Social exclusion often evokes social pain in excluded individuals. Although this pain can trigger various interpersonal difficulties (e.g., aggression, depression), it is still unclear which psychological approach might best help to regulate social pain. However, recent work suggests that temporal distance helps to facilitate adaptive coping and self-control. The present study measured ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activity during social exclusion, using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to examine the functional relationship between “temporal distance approach,” or thinking about the distant future, and the social pain regulation process. Participants that imagined the distant future, next year, and beyond, felt less social pain and showed increased right (r)VLPFC activity during social exclusion, as compared to imagining events in the near future, such as tonight and tomorrow. Furthermore, rVLPFC activity mediated the relationship between temporal distance and social pain. On the basis of these findings, the effect of temporal distance on the process of adaptation after social exclusion is discussed. It is suggested that temporal distance moderates the process of regulating the impact of social exclusion.

Time course and localization of brain activity in humor comprehension: An ERP/sLORETA study

Although a number of studies have investigated the incongruity-detection and resolution process in humor comprehension, it is difficult to functionally and anatomically dissociate these processes. We used event-related potentials (ERP) and standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analysis (sLORETA) to examine the time course and localization of brain activity during incongruity detection and resolution. We used the same materials as in our previous fMRI study. Eighteen participants read funny and unfunny scenarios and judged whether the target sentence was funny or not. Results indicated that ERPs elicited by a funny punch line showed a P2 component followed by a P600 component over the centro-parietal electrode sites. Our sLORETA analysis of the P2 ERPs revealed a stronger activation for the funny vs. unfunny condition in the superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). For the P600 ERPs, the funny punch line elicited greater activation in the temporal-parietal regions. These results indicate that incongruity-detection processes activate the SFG and mPFC in the P2 time window, while incongruity-resolution processes generate activation at the temporal-parietal regions in the P600 time window. These results provide the evidence that verbal humor comprehension is processed in steps which start with the incongruity detection in the early P2 time window and followed by a P600 component reflecting incongruity resolution.

Tolerating dissimilar other when primed with death: neural evidence of self-control engaged by interdependent people in Japan

Abstract Mortality salience (MS) has been shown to lead to derogation of others with dissimilar worldviews, yet recent research has shown that Asian-Americans who presumably adopt an interdependent self-construal (SC) tend to reveal greater tolerance after MS induction. In the present study, we demonstrated that Japanese individuals who are high on interdependent SC indeed show greater tolerance toward worldview-threatening other in the MS (vs control) condition, thus replicating the prior research. Extending this research, we also found that interdependent people’s tolerance toward worldview-threatening other was mediated by increased activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in the MS condition. These data suggested that when exposed to death-related stimuli, highly interdependent individuals may spontaneously activate their neural self-control system which may serve to increase tolerance toward others.