Neuroscience of Social Behaviour and Emotional Disorders – Lectures
Lecture 1: Introduction & Methods
Vrijdag 5 september – David Terburg
Social neuroscience is a interdisciplinary field (relatively new):
Sociology: the study of social behavior, group behavior and society.
(Social) Psychology: attempts to understand how the thoughts,
feeling, and behaviors of individuals are influences by the presence of
others.
Neuroscience: attempts to understand behavior by studying the
underlying circuitry in the brain.
We are favorable to our in-group and unfavorable to the out-group.
Thus, it might be quite unavoidable to be prejudiced (not necessarily racist), it’s inherent to
being part of an in-group.
Positive behavior of ingroup members is felt/interpreted as personal.
Negative behavior as contextual.
Oxytocin is a peptide hormone and affects our social behavior:
Promotes childbirth, breast-feeding, skin-to-skin contact, sex, social bonding.
Oxytocin only promotes long term care-giving when it can act on the motivational and reward
systems.
o Oxytocin ‘love-hormone’ bonding (only for the in-group; consequences for the
out-group)
De Dreu et al. (2010) adminstered oxytocin and found on implicit association tests:
Increased ingroup favoritism (Dutch vs. German & Dutch vs. Arab)
Increased outgroup un-favoritism (smaller effect)
Conclusion: oxytocin increases ethnocentrism
Social neuroscience attempts to link these different levels of explanation:
Biology (neuroscience)
Individual (social psychology)
Group (sociology)
Definition social neuroscience:
To understand a prejudice, we need to understand how the social, economic, and historical context
influence the neural mechanisms underlying our social motivations and emotions.
Is there something like: ‘the social brain’?
Is the social brain modular?
Specialized routines and brain structures that perform very specific functions.
Or non-modular?
Specific functions are the result of many routines and structures.
1
,Evolution
General idea:
Bigger brains lead to changes in both social and non-social intelligence.
Opposite idea (social intelligence hypothesis):
Pressure to outwit peers may lead to increased intelligence in non-social domains.
In both: social and non-social cognition rely on each other and evolved hand-in-
hand.
Which suggests a non-modular social brain.
Triune brain model (MacLean)
According to this model the human brain is an accumulation of brain regions
that can be roughly divided in three phylogenetic stages:
The reptilian brain (sub-cortex): action-reaction machinery.
The mammalian brain (limbic system): emotionality; behavioral
flexibility
The primate brain (neo-cortex): rationality; behavioral control
Each ‘newer’ layer supports more complex functions and exerts some sort of control over the ‘older’
layer(s)
So, the mammalian brain controls the reptilian brain.
Depending on the situation we can switch these mechanisms/brains.
Modularity
The reptilian brain can be descriped as quite modular.
Specific parts of the subcortex that activated the fight-flight reactions.
The mammalian is module-like; there are still some areas that have some modularity.
The primate brain is non-modular. There are no discrete regions.
Some parts of the social brain might be modular, module-like, or non-modular, depending on the
specific function.
In general I would suggests to apply a network approach.
For exam you should be able to:
Explain what social neuroscience is.
Explain the evolutionairy theories of the social brain.
Explain the triune brain model.
Explain the concept of modularity in relation to the social brain.
Methods from the clips.
2
, Lecture 2: Evolution, Emotion & Motivation
Vrijdag 5 september – David Terburg
Electrical connections
Our neurons communicate via electrical signals and action-potentials.
o This works for motion, but not for emotion.
Chemical connections: neurotransmitters
Synapse neurotransmitters emotion
Glutamate (excitatory; when released it will increase the chance of the
next neuron to reach the threshold to fire itself)
GABA (inhibitory; when released it will decrease the change of the next
neuron to reach the threshold to fire itself)
Norepinephrine/noradrenalin (fight-flight/arousal)
Serotonin (mood/impulsivity)
Dopamine (motivation/reward)
Glutamate and GABA are specific neurotransmitters that to the synaptic transmission.
Goes from the one neuron to the other and directly affects the other neuron.
Norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine can be considered more neuromodulators.
There are produced somewhere in the brain and spread across the brain and modulate the
communication between two neurons.
Another class of neuromodulators are neuropeptides.
Hypothalamus pituitary peptide emotion
Neuropeptides are hormones produced in the hypothalamus; which is directly connected to
the pituitary gland (hypofyse).
In the pituitary gland the neuropeptides are produced and spread across the brain to
influence our emotional behavior.
Kinds of neuropeptides:
Opioids (endorphins);work directly on the dopamine system.
o Pleasure
o Motivation
Vasopressin
o Social agression
Oxytocin
o Maternal bonding
3
, The final class of neuromodulators are steroid hormones.
Hypothalamus pituitary body hormones emotion
These are produced via the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland.
The pituitary gland send some substances towards the body where the actual steroid
hormones are produced.
Then the hormones travel back to the brain where it can affect our social behavior.
Kinds of steroid hormones:
Testosterone (& estrogens)
o Social agression
o Sex
Cortisol
o Fear
o Arousal
Brain and body are much connected trough the hormones.
All the emotional labels are linked to a bodily response.
When you are fearfull, you feel it in your body (heart rate for example).
So, cognition is in the brain and emotion in the body (and brain).
Autonomous nervous system (ANS)
Consists of a parasympatic and sympatic part.
So, the system provides balance between behavior activation and inhibition.
o Parasympatic = inhibition
o Sympatic = activation
The hypothalamus is a main controller of the autonomous nervous system.
It can direct either the parasympatic or sympatic system get the overhand.
The Triune brain
The autonomous nervous system is part of the reptilian brain (approach/avoidance system).
The behavior is based on reactivity.
The mammalian brain provides control over that autonomous nervous system.
Hypothalamus (control of ANS and hormones)
Striatum (reward)
Amygdala (fear)
Insula (disgust and emotional experience)
Hippocampus (memory formation)
The primate brain
vmPFC (ventro medial prefrontal cortex); a hub to the limbic system.
o Receive a lot of information from the limbic system.
o Integrates emotional information with rational system (cognition).
Moral reasoning
ANS limbic system vmPFC
4
Lecture 1: Introduction & Methods
Vrijdag 5 september – David Terburg
Social neuroscience is a interdisciplinary field (relatively new):
Sociology: the study of social behavior, group behavior and society.
(Social) Psychology: attempts to understand how the thoughts,
feeling, and behaviors of individuals are influences by the presence of
others.
Neuroscience: attempts to understand behavior by studying the
underlying circuitry in the brain.
We are favorable to our in-group and unfavorable to the out-group.
Thus, it might be quite unavoidable to be prejudiced (not necessarily racist), it’s inherent to
being part of an in-group.
Positive behavior of ingroup members is felt/interpreted as personal.
Negative behavior as contextual.
Oxytocin is a peptide hormone and affects our social behavior:
Promotes childbirth, breast-feeding, skin-to-skin contact, sex, social bonding.
Oxytocin only promotes long term care-giving when it can act on the motivational and reward
systems.
o Oxytocin ‘love-hormone’ bonding (only for the in-group; consequences for the
out-group)
De Dreu et al. (2010) adminstered oxytocin and found on implicit association tests:
Increased ingroup favoritism (Dutch vs. German & Dutch vs. Arab)
Increased outgroup un-favoritism (smaller effect)
Conclusion: oxytocin increases ethnocentrism
Social neuroscience attempts to link these different levels of explanation:
Biology (neuroscience)
Individual (social psychology)
Group (sociology)
Definition social neuroscience:
To understand a prejudice, we need to understand how the social, economic, and historical context
influence the neural mechanisms underlying our social motivations and emotions.
Is there something like: ‘the social brain’?
Is the social brain modular?
Specialized routines and brain structures that perform very specific functions.
Or non-modular?
Specific functions are the result of many routines and structures.
1
,Evolution
General idea:
Bigger brains lead to changes in both social and non-social intelligence.
Opposite idea (social intelligence hypothesis):
Pressure to outwit peers may lead to increased intelligence in non-social domains.
In both: social and non-social cognition rely on each other and evolved hand-in-
hand.
Which suggests a non-modular social brain.
Triune brain model (MacLean)
According to this model the human brain is an accumulation of brain regions
that can be roughly divided in three phylogenetic stages:
The reptilian brain (sub-cortex): action-reaction machinery.
The mammalian brain (limbic system): emotionality; behavioral
flexibility
The primate brain (neo-cortex): rationality; behavioral control
Each ‘newer’ layer supports more complex functions and exerts some sort of control over the ‘older’
layer(s)
So, the mammalian brain controls the reptilian brain.
Depending on the situation we can switch these mechanisms/brains.
Modularity
The reptilian brain can be descriped as quite modular.
Specific parts of the subcortex that activated the fight-flight reactions.
The mammalian is module-like; there are still some areas that have some modularity.
The primate brain is non-modular. There are no discrete regions.
Some parts of the social brain might be modular, module-like, or non-modular, depending on the
specific function.
In general I would suggests to apply a network approach.
For exam you should be able to:
Explain what social neuroscience is.
Explain the evolutionairy theories of the social brain.
Explain the triune brain model.
Explain the concept of modularity in relation to the social brain.
Methods from the clips.
2
, Lecture 2: Evolution, Emotion & Motivation
Vrijdag 5 september – David Terburg
Electrical connections
Our neurons communicate via electrical signals and action-potentials.
o This works for motion, but not for emotion.
Chemical connections: neurotransmitters
Synapse neurotransmitters emotion
Glutamate (excitatory; when released it will increase the chance of the
next neuron to reach the threshold to fire itself)
GABA (inhibitory; when released it will decrease the change of the next
neuron to reach the threshold to fire itself)
Norepinephrine/noradrenalin (fight-flight/arousal)
Serotonin (mood/impulsivity)
Dopamine (motivation/reward)
Glutamate and GABA are specific neurotransmitters that to the synaptic transmission.
Goes from the one neuron to the other and directly affects the other neuron.
Norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine can be considered more neuromodulators.
There are produced somewhere in the brain and spread across the brain and modulate the
communication between two neurons.
Another class of neuromodulators are neuropeptides.
Hypothalamus pituitary peptide emotion
Neuropeptides are hormones produced in the hypothalamus; which is directly connected to
the pituitary gland (hypofyse).
In the pituitary gland the neuropeptides are produced and spread across the brain to
influence our emotional behavior.
Kinds of neuropeptides:
Opioids (endorphins);work directly on the dopamine system.
o Pleasure
o Motivation
Vasopressin
o Social agression
Oxytocin
o Maternal bonding
3
, The final class of neuromodulators are steroid hormones.
Hypothalamus pituitary body hormones emotion
These are produced via the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland.
The pituitary gland send some substances towards the body where the actual steroid
hormones are produced.
Then the hormones travel back to the brain where it can affect our social behavior.
Kinds of steroid hormones:
Testosterone (& estrogens)
o Social agression
o Sex
Cortisol
o Fear
o Arousal
Brain and body are much connected trough the hormones.
All the emotional labels are linked to a bodily response.
When you are fearfull, you feel it in your body (heart rate for example).
So, cognition is in the brain and emotion in the body (and brain).
Autonomous nervous system (ANS)
Consists of a parasympatic and sympatic part.
So, the system provides balance between behavior activation and inhibition.
o Parasympatic = inhibition
o Sympatic = activation
The hypothalamus is a main controller of the autonomous nervous system.
It can direct either the parasympatic or sympatic system get the overhand.
The Triune brain
The autonomous nervous system is part of the reptilian brain (approach/avoidance system).
The behavior is based on reactivity.
The mammalian brain provides control over that autonomous nervous system.
Hypothalamus (control of ANS and hormones)
Striatum (reward)
Amygdala (fear)
Insula (disgust and emotional experience)
Hippocampus (memory formation)
The primate brain
vmPFC (ventro medial prefrontal cortex); a hub to the limbic system.
o Receive a lot of information from the limbic system.
o Integrates emotional information with rational system (cognition).
Moral reasoning
ANS limbic system vmPFC
4
