Giving others the option of choice: An fMRI study on low-cost cooperation.

Successful social relationships require a consideration of a partner's thoughts and intentions. This aspect of social life is captured in the social mindfulness paradigm (SoMi task), in which participants make decisions that either limit or preserve options for their interaction partner's subsequent choice. Here we investigated the neural correlates of spontaneous socially mindful and unmindful behaviours. Functional magnetic resonance data were acquired from 47 healthy adolescents and young adults (age 16-27) as they completed the SoMi task. Being faced with socially relevant choices was associated with activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, caudate, and insula, which is consistent with prior neuroeconomical research. Importantly, socially mindful choices were associated with activity in the right parietal cortex and the caudate, whereas unmindful choices were associated with activity in the left prefrontal cortex. These neural findings were consistent with the behavioural preference for mindful choices, suggesting that socially mindful decisions are the basic inclination, whereas socially unmindful responses may require greater effort and control. Together, these results begin to uncover the neural correlates of socially mindful and unmindful choices, and illuminate the psychological processes involved in cooperative social behaviour.

Structural changes in socio-affective networks: Multi-modal MRI findings in long-term meditation practitioners.

Our goal was to assess the effects of long-term mental training in socio-affective skills on structural brain networks. We studied a group of long-term meditation practitioners (LTMs) who have focused on cultivating socio-affective skills using loving-kindness and compassion meditation for an average of 40k h, comparing these to meditation-naïve controls. To maximize homogeneity of prior practice, LTMs were included only if they had undergone extensive full-time meditation retreats in the same center. MRI-based cortical thickness analysis revealed increased thickness in the LTM cohort relative to meditation-native controls in fronto-insular cortices. To identify functional networks relevant for the generation of socio-affective states, structural imaging analysis were complemented by fMRI analysis in LTMs, showing amplitude increases during a loving-kindness meditation session relative to non-meditative rest in multiple prefrontal and insular regions bilaterally. Importantly, functional findings partially overlapped with regions of cortical thickness increases in the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior insula, suggesting that these regions may play a central role in the generation of emotional states relevant for the meditative practice. Our multi-modal MRI approach revealed structural changes in LTMs who have cultivated loving-kindness and compassion for a significant period of their life in functional networks activated by these practices. These preliminary cross-sectional findings motivate future longitudinal work studying brain plasticity following the regular practice of skills aiming at enhancing human altruism and prosocial motivation.

Face Processing Systems: From Neurons to Real-World Social Perception.

Primate face processing depends on a distributed network of interlinked face-selective areas composed of face-selective neurons. In both humans and macaques, the network is divided into a ventral stream and a dorsal stream, and the functional similarities of the areas in humans and macaques indicate they are homologous. Neural correlates for face detection, holistic processing, face space, and other key properties of human face processing have been identified at the single neuron level, and studies providing causal evidence have established firmly that face-selective brain areas are central to face processing. These mechanisms give rise to our highly accurate familiar face recognition but also to our error-prone performance with unfamiliar faces. This limitation of the face system has important implications for consequential situations such as eyewitness identification and policing.

Bridging the schism of schizophrenia through yoga-Review of putative mechanisms.

Schizophrenia patients experience a 'disconnect' at multiple levels-neuronal networks, mental processes, and interpersonal relationships. The resultant poor quality-of-life and functional disability are related to the persistent cognitive deficits and negative symptoms, which are rather resistant to conventional antipsychotic medications. Yoga has emerged as an important therapeutic intervention to improve quality-of-life in schizophrenia. Recent preliminary evidence suggests that effects of yoga on cognitive and negative symptoms may drive this benefit. This study attempts to integrate evidence from neuroscience-based research, which focuses on the neuroplasticity-harnessing effects of yoga to bridge the schizophrenia connectopathy. In an overarching model to study putative neurobiological mechanisms that drive therapeutic effects of yoga, it is proposed that (a) various styles of meditation may help in strengthening the lateral and medial prefrontal brain networks, thus improving neurocognition and mentalizing abilities, and (b) learning and performing co-ordinated physical postures with a teacher facilitates imitation and the process of being imitated, which can improve social cognition and empathy through reinforcement of the premotor and parietal mirror neuron system. Oxytocin may play a role in mediating these processes, leading to better social connectedness and social outcomes. Clinical and heuristic implications of this model are further discussed.

Maintaining older brain functionality: A targeted review.

The unprecedented growth in the number of older adults in our society is accompanied by the exponential increase in the number of elderly people who will suffer cognitive decline and dementia in the next decades. This will create an enormous cost for governments, families and individuals. Brain plasticity and its role in brain adaptation to the process of aging is influenced by other changes as a result of co-morbidities, environmental factors, personality traits (psychosocial variables) and genetic and epigenetic factors. This review summarizes recent findings obtained mostly from interventional studies that aim to prevent and/or delay age-related cognitive decline in healthy adults. There are a multitude of such studies. In this paper, we focused our review on physical activity, computerized cognitive training and social enhancement interventions on improving cognition, physical health, independent living and wellbeing of older adults. The methodological limitations of some of these studies, and the need for new multi-domain synergistic interventions, based on current advances in neuroscience and social-brain theories, are discussed.