Neuroscience Lecture 1
Chapter 1 + 2
Everyone is prejudiced, it’s inherent to belonging to a group. We all do that, is an
automatic mechanism.
Social neuroscience is a combination of sociology, social psychology, and neuroscience.
Its an attempt to link these different levels of explanation. From cell level (neuroscience)
tot group level and complex decision making (sociology). It exists for maybe 20 years,
so it’s not all set and stone yet.
Sociology: To understand a prejudice, we need to understand social, economic,
and historical context.
Social psychology: To understand prejudice we need to understand the
underlying (automatic) motivations and emotions
Neuroscience: To understand prejudice we need to understand the neural
mechanisms of the associated or underlying thoughts and feelings
Social brain? No answer yet
Book talks about modularity and domain specificity (both mean quite the same thing):
specialized routines and brain structures that perform very specific functions.
There’s also a non-modular view: specific functions are the result of many routines and
brain structures. Social and non-social cognition evolve hand-in-hand, although one may
tend to drive the other.
bigger brains lead to changes in both social and non-social intelligence
pressure to outwit peers may lead to increased intelligence in non-social domain
Triune brain model (MacLean, 1990)
According to this model the human brain is an accumulation of brain regions that can be
roughly divided into 3 phylogenetic stages:
the reptilian brain (sub cortex, brain
stem, small nuclei, midbrain, mainly
serves automatic processes). No
complex functions. Modularity-like.
Reptilian evolves in mammalian:
the mammalian brain (limbic system,
makes emotions possible). There’s
some relation between amygdala and
fear, so it’s modularity-ish.
the primate brain (neo-cortex, more
complex, cognitive behaviors). Non-
modular, but there are mirror
neurons (neurons that respond to a
certain action but also respond when
we see someone else executing that action). It’s not a modular thing but it might
look like a modular-ish process.
Each layer supports a more complex function and exerts some sort of control over the
‘older’ layers. This means that a large part of our behavior is still driven by similar brain
mechanisms as our phylogenetic predecessors.
, A mixed mode: some parts of the social brain might be modular, module-like, or non-
modular, depending on the specific function.
Methods of social neuroscience (chapter 2)
psychological methods
subjective measures: emotional experiences, interviews, questionnaires. How to
use in social neuroscience? Useful as control variable, or useful for correlation
with other measures, compare different studies (validated questionnaires)
observational measures: frequency of behaviors, used in animal studies and
infant studies, but also eye-tracking
performance measures: reaction time, speed and accuracy trade-off (see book),
restricted but ‘real’ behaviour, IQ-tests, emotion recognition test, selective
attention (like (emotional or face) Stroop test). Mistake in the book page 308:
participants with high traits angriness are SLOWER (book says faster) at naming
color after..
these measures are not extremely fancy but essential! Biological measures without
additional information make no sense in social neuroscience.
physiological methods
goal: measure bodily responses that underlie/precede (social) behavior, Bodily
responses are controlled by the brain through the spinal cord; mostly (para)sympathetic
nervous system.
skin conductance (SCR): related to sympathetic arousal. Can occur in absence or
conscious perception of a stimulus
Heart rate variability: less variability = concentration, enhanced attention =
sympathetic nervous system.
EMG: measures potential between pairs of close electrodes, muscle activity,
mimicking facial expressions (affective empathy). Also Startle Potential; eye blink
for detecting fear (eye blinks is a protective measure, so when you’re fearful, the
startle is strong)
brain imaging
Electrophysiology
o Single cell recordings: very small electrode implanted into axon
(intracellular) or outside axon membrane (extracellular), records
neural activity number of action potentials per second (but doesn’t
stimulate it)
o Electroencephalography (EEG): resting state (delta waves >
motivational system) (beta waves > cortically generated top-down
modulation).
o ERP: averaged EEG signal over many trials. Synchronized with some
event. N170 is specialized for faces, manipulate emotion, visibility,
familiarity etc.
Advantage ERP: directly related to neural activity, excellent
temporal resolution
Disadvantage: poor spatial resolution, derived from different
sources in the brain
structural imaging
Chapter 1 + 2
Everyone is prejudiced, it’s inherent to belonging to a group. We all do that, is an
automatic mechanism.
Social neuroscience is a combination of sociology, social psychology, and neuroscience.
Its an attempt to link these different levels of explanation. From cell level (neuroscience)
tot group level and complex decision making (sociology). It exists for maybe 20 years,
so it’s not all set and stone yet.
Sociology: To understand a prejudice, we need to understand social, economic,
and historical context.
Social psychology: To understand prejudice we need to understand the
underlying (automatic) motivations and emotions
Neuroscience: To understand prejudice we need to understand the neural
mechanisms of the associated or underlying thoughts and feelings
Social brain? No answer yet
Book talks about modularity and domain specificity (both mean quite the same thing):
specialized routines and brain structures that perform very specific functions.
There’s also a non-modular view: specific functions are the result of many routines and
brain structures. Social and non-social cognition evolve hand-in-hand, although one may
tend to drive the other.
bigger brains lead to changes in both social and non-social intelligence
pressure to outwit peers may lead to increased intelligence in non-social domain
Triune brain model (MacLean, 1990)
According to this model the human brain is an accumulation of brain regions that can be
roughly divided into 3 phylogenetic stages:
the reptilian brain (sub cortex, brain
stem, small nuclei, midbrain, mainly
serves automatic processes). No
complex functions. Modularity-like.
Reptilian evolves in mammalian:
the mammalian brain (limbic system,
makes emotions possible). There’s
some relation between amygdala and
fear, so it’s modularity-ish.
the primate brain (neo-cortex, more
complex, cognitive behaviors). Non-
modular, but there are mirror
neurons (neurons that respond to a
certain action but also respond when
we see someone else executing that action). It’s not a modular thing but it might
look like a modular-ish process.
Each layer supports a more complex function and exerts some sort of control over the
‘older’ layers. This means that a large part of our behavior is still driven by similar brain
mechanisms as our phylogenetic predecessors.
, A mixed mode: some parts of the social brain might be modular, module-like, or non-
modular, depending on the specific function.
Methods of social neuroscience (chapter 2)
psychological methods
subjective measures: emotional experiences, interviews, questionnaires. How to
use in social neuroscience? Useful as control variable, or useful for correlation
with other measures, compare different studies (validated questionnaires)
observational measures: frequency of behaviors, used in animal studies and
infant studies, but also eye-tracking
performance measures: reaction time, speed and accuracy trade-off (see book),
restricted but ‘real’ behaviour, IQ-tests, emotion recognition test, selective
attention (like (emotional or face) Stroop test). Mistake in the book page 308:
participants with high traits angriness are SLOWER (book says faster) at naming
color after..
these measures are not extremely fancy but essential! Biological measures without
additional information make no sense in social neuroscience.
physiological methods
goal: measure bodily responses that underlie/precede (social) behavior, Bodily
responses are controlled by the brain through the spinal cord; mostly (para)sympathetic
nervous system.
skin conductance (SCR): related to sympathetic arousal. Can occur in absence or
conscious perception of a stimulus
Heart rate variability: less variability = concentration, enhanced attention =
sympathetic nervous system.
EMG: measures potential between pairs of close electrodes, muscle activity,
mimicking facial expressions (affective empathy). Also Startle Potential; eye blink
for detecting fear (eye blinks is a protective measure, so when you’re fearful, the
startle is strong)
brain imaging
Electrophysiology
o Single cell recordings: very small electrode implanted into axon
(intracellular) or outside axon membrane (extracellular), records
neural activity number of action potentials per second (but doesn’t
stimulate it)
o Electroencephalography (EEG): resting state (delta waves >
motivational system) (beta waves > cortically generated top-down
modulation).
o ERP: averaged EEG signal over many trials. Synchronized with some
event. N170 is specialized for faces, manipulate emotion, visibility,
familiarity etc.
Advantage ERP: directly related to neural activity, excellent
temporal resolution
Disadvantage: poor spatial resolution, derived from different
sources in the brain
structural imaging
