28
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      The Emergence and Representation of Knowledge about Social and Nonsocial Hierarchies

      research-article
      1 , , 1 , 1 , 2 , 3
      Neuron
      Cell Press

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Summary

          Primates are remarkably adept at ranking each other within social hierarchies, a capacity that is critical to successful group living. Surprisingly little, however, is understood about the neurobiology underlying this quintessential aspect of primate cognition. In our experiment, participants first acquired knowledge about a social and a nonsocial hierarchy and then used this information to guide investment decisions. We found that neural activity in the amygdala tracked the development of knowledge about a social, but not a nonsocial, hierarchy. Further, structural variations in amygdala gray matter volume accounted for interindividual differences in social transitivity performance. Finally, the amygdala expressed a neural signal selectively coding for social rank, whose robustness predicted the influence of rank on participants’ investment decisions. In contrast, we observed that the linear structure of both social and nonsocial hierarchies was represented at a neural level in the hippocampus. Our study implicates the amygdala in the emergence and representation of knowledge about social hierarchies and distinguishes the domain-general contribution of the hippocampus.

          Highlights

          ► Amygdala activity tracks emergence of knowledge about a social hierarchy ► Amygdala gray matter volume predicts social transitivity performance ► Amygdala selectively codes the rank of individual people in the hierarchy ► Hippocampus supports domain-general representations of linear hierarchies

          Abstract

          The study by Kumaran et al. provides insights how the amygdala supports the acquisition and use of knowledge about social hierarchies.

          Related collections

          Most cited references47

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          The amygdala modulates the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing experiences.

          Converging findings of animal and human studies provide compelling evidence that the amygdala is critically involved in enabling us to acquire and retain lasting memories of emotional experiences. This review focuses primarily on the findings of research investigating the role of the amygdala in modulating the consolidation of long-term memories. Considerable evidence from animal studies investigating the effects of posttraining systemic or intra-amygdala infusions of hormones and drugs, as well as selective lesions of specific amygdala nuclei, indicates that (a) the amygdala mediates the memory-modulating effects of adrenal stress hormones and several classes of neurotransmitters; (b) the effects are selectively mediated by the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA); (c) the influences involve interactions of several neuromodulatory systems within the BLA that converge in influencing noradrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic activation; (d) the BLA modulates memory consolidation via efferents to other brain regions, including the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, and cortex; and (e) the BLA modulates the consolidation of memory of many different kinds of information. The findings of human brain imaging studies are consistent with those of animal studies in suggesting that activation of the amygdala influences the consolidation of long-term memory; the degree of activation of the amygdala by emotional arousal during encoding of emotionally arousing material (either pleasant or unpleasant) correlates highly with subsequent recall. The activation of neuromodulatory systems affecting the BLA and its projections to other brain regions involved in processing different kinds of information plays a key role in enabling emotionally significant experiences to be well remembered.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Hippocampus: cognitive processes and neural representations that underlie declarative memory.

            The hippocampus serves a critical role in declarative memory--our capacity to recall everyday facts and events. Recent studies using functional brain imaging in humans and neuropsychological analyses of humans and animals with hippocampal damage have revealed some of the elemental cognitive processes mediated by the hippocampus. In addition, recent characterizations of neuronal firing patterns in behaving animals and humans have suggested how neural representations in the hippocampus underlie those elemental cognitive processes in the service of declarative memory.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Ventromedial prefrontal-subcortical systems and the generation of affective meaning.

              The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) comprises a set of interconnected regions that integrate information from affective sensory and social cues, long-term memory, and representations of the 'self'. Alhough the vmPFC is implicated in a variety of seemingly disparate processes, these processes are organized around a common theme. The vmPFC is not necessary for affective responses per se, but is critical when affective responses are shaped by conceptual information about specific outcomes. The vmPFC thus functions as a hub that links concepts with brainstem systems capable of coordinating organism-wide emotional behavior, a process we describe in terms of the generation of affective meaning, and which could explain the common role played by the vmPFC in a range of experimental paradigms. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Neuron
                Neuron
                Neuron
                Cell Press
                0896-6273
                1097-4199
                08 November 2012
                08 November 2012
                : 76
                : 3
                : 653-666
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR, UK
                [2 ]Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
                [3 ]German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany
                Author notes
                []Corresponding author d.kumaran@ 123456ucl.ac.uk
                Article
                NEURON11328
                10.1016/j.neuron.2012.09.035
                3580285
                23141075
                6fa8b0d9-15ac-4566-a194-30f5aa9cda1f
                © 2012 ELL & Excerpta Medica.

                This document may be redistributed and reused, subject to certain conditions.

                History
                : 12 September 2012
                Categories
                Article

                Neurosciences
                Neurosciences

                Comments

                Comment on this article