A Pain by any other Name (Rejection, Exclusion, Ostracism) still Hurts the Same

1. The Role of Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Social and Physical Pain A Pain by any other Name (Rejection, Exclusion, Ostracism) still Hurts the Same Mathew D. Leiberman and Naomi I. Eisenberger By: Shauna Halaharvi

2. The low-down! • Argumentation for specific neural processes devoted to social cognition and not shared by more general cognitive processes and others argue otherwise. • Does social pain qualify under this analysis….? • Perhaps…if social pain was related to physical pain…..oooo we’re getting somewhere now! • Research suggests that dorsal region of the anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) might be involved with both forms of pain.

3. dACC…hmm what’s that? • Function might be to be a neural alarm system, combining both detection of a problem and sounding of an alarm. • Cognitive processes • Processes nonsymbolic conflict where conflict is not explicitly represented but is tension level

4. RACC • Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex (rACC) • Affective processes • Symbolic conflict where conflict is explicitly represented with symbolic or propositional thought

5. Link of Social and Physical • Social pain described as physical. • How do YOU describe physical pain? • How do YOU describe Social Pain? • Countries across world use physical descriptions for social pain

6. The Evolutionary link • Panksepp et al (1978)-1st to say the link is more than metaphorical • In mammals, social needs are important to communicate to mothers the biological needs and they simply can’t care for themselves • Social attachment system- monitors actual or psychological distance form others and when distant….contact can be established

7. Cont… • Mammals are 1st to have a cingulate gyrus could be for social attachment process • Reason for dACC in social and physical is… • High density of opiate receptors in brain • Literature shows dACC to active in social pain • ACC and dACC – separation distress to regain social content

8. ACC and Physical Pain in Humans • Pain Matrix- involved in sensory, distress, regulatory components of pain – identify where and also the intensity • Periaquaductal gray, rACC, right ventral prefrontal cortex – regulation of pain by opioid release and cognitive process • Sensory intensity and subjective distress are related ex: music turning up! • Change in reports of pain distress correlated with changes in dACC activity but not somatosensory

9. ACC and Social Pain in Animals • Rostral – ACC, some just may not have it • dACC- critical to experience social pain leading to distress vocalizations

10. ACC and Social Pain in Humans • dACC, right insula, right ventral prefrontal cortex brain – exclusion • dACC and right ventral prefrontal cortex – social pain • dACC – greater activity during exclusion – high social pain • Right ventral prefrontal cortex – high activity during exclusion – low social pain • Right ventral prefrontal cortex – decresed experience of pain

11. Function of ACC • dACC activity is experienced in social and physical … • But why? What is the function? • Clinical – dACC produces attn. getting affective motivational states such as pain, anxiety, and distress • Cognitive researchers – monitor for conflict and to deter errors

12. Cont… • Activated when a discrepancy exists between ones goals and ones prepotent responses • dACC is activated and “notifies” lateral prefrontal cortex that top-down control process is needed • Most say dACC is mainly for detecting conflict and altering lateral prefrontal cortex

13. ACC the Neural Alarm System • An alarm system • Detects the environment • Notifies people that alarm is off • dACC • Sensitive to goal conflicts • Can create attn.-getting affective states • Do phenomenological And conflict – detection processes co-vary with one another

14. Dorsal vs. Rostral ACC • Cognitive tasks activate dACC and deactivate rACC, affective tasks tended to activate rACC and deactivate dACC • Hypothesize that dACC and rACC both involved in conflict processing but are different in regard to the extent the conflict is represented • When tension is incr. in dACC, triggers a signal to lateral prefrontal cortex, exerts top-down • Symbolic thoughts are processes serially, many conflicts maybe non-symbolically processed only a single symbolic conflict can be processed at one time,

15. Cont.. • Most non-symbolic forms of cognitive conflict activate dACC • Neg. emotions are the result of a conflict between desired or expected outcomes and what actually occurs • Anxiety is like fear but doesn’t have an intentional object • Sadness, anger, fear activate rACC but anxiety activate dACC-percception of discrete

16. Cont.. • Pain can be symbolic of non-symbolic • When iss is non-symbolic- communication is bottom-up activates dACC • More symbolic forms of cognition, emotion and pain are processed in rACC and less in dACC • Non-symbolic conflict simply produces tension and anxiety until resolved or becomes symbolic

17. Conclusion • Social attachment • dACC both in physical and Social • dACCn as neural alarm system