Presented During:
Wednesday, June 28, 2017: 10:43 AM - 10:55 AM
Vancouver Convention Centre
Room:
Room 220-222
Submission No:
4239
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
On Display:
Wednesday, June 28 & Thursday, June 29
Authors:
Edda Bilek1, Gabriela Stößel1, Heike Tost1, Peter Kirsch1, Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg1
Institutions:
1Central Insitute of Mental Health, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
First Author:
Introduction:
Individuals with a history of migration and their offspring must cope with a variety of post-migration challenges, including an increased health risk for psychiatric disorders. Current research assumes interpersonal difficulties to cause social stress and thus lead to susceptibility to mental illness – possibly mediated through difficulties in communication or prejudice from the host side. However, neuroimaging studies have only recently begun to investigate interpersonal mechanisms in multiple communicating subjects and to develop novel readouts for functional brain responses in social neuroscience and psychiatry towards biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment (Meyer-Lindenberg and Tost 2012, Schilbach 2016).
We have previously provided methods for the investigation of neural mechanisms underlying interpersonal relationships (fMRI-hyperscanning; Bilek, Ruf et al. 2015, Bilek et al., submitted). In this study, these biomarkers of human social interaction are applied within a cross-cultural setting.
Methods:
76 female subjects engaged in live interactive tasks while being simultaneously scanned using fMRI-hyperscanning. Subject pairs were formed by assigning a native German subject with no history of migration (for 2+ generations; NoMIG; N = 38 subjects, 19 pairs) either interacting with another NoMIG, or a subject with a family history of migration from Turkey to Germany (second-generation migrant, MIG; N = 38 subjects, 19 pairs; matched samples). Subjects completed two interactive paradigms: a multiround economic-exchange paradigm, where trial-wise monetary investment by one player (investor) indicated the development of interpersonal trust towards the second player (trustee), which the trustee may have rewarded through repayment of earning-shares, thereby building an own reputation (Sanfey, 2007). Secondly, a joint attention paradigm, representing a simple and early-learned form of cooperation, in which pairs were required to repeatedly interact via eye‐gaze and hereby transfer information in order to successfully complete the task. We investigated cross-brain neural coupling between brain systems that is unique to interacting subject pairs; an ICA-based correlative readout of within-pair inter-brain temporal association. To associate brain measures with real-life cultural embedding in a linear regression analysis, subjects completed self-reports of acculturation and experiences of discrimination (Bongard, et al., 2002).
Results:
We found evidence for synchronization of brain systems during trust development. Specifically, and in line with our hypothesis, temporoparietal (rTPJ) and prefrontal (mPFC) brain networks were synchronized in truly interacting subject pairs, core social brain regions known to host relevant theory of mind abilities (Van Overwalle, 2009). There were no group differences in coupling indices between MIG and NoMIG; however, coupling in MIG was highly significantly associated with measures of acculturation (high value = integration to host culture) in both brain networks (rmPFC = 0.46, pmPFC = 0.049; rrTPJ = 0.76, prTPJ = 0.0002).
The regression model explained the neural coupling variability in rTPJ to a large share with R2adjusted = 0.49 (Facculturation = 18.2, p = 0.0005). In contrast, no group coupling difference was found for basic cooperation (joint attention task).
Conclusions:
We show that information flow between brain systems implicated in theory of mind, outgroup processing and stereotyping are modulated by intercultural distance when migrants and nonmigrants communicate. This observation was specific to trust-related interactions. Our findings may indicate a neural mechanisms underlying migration-associated risk for mental illness, support data from social psychology that stress the critical role of cultural distance in migrant interactions, and show the utility of social neuroscience in identifying contributing factors to a pressing societal and political topic.
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Higher Cognitive Functions Other
Imaging Methods:
BOLD fMRI 2
Social Neuroscience:
Social Interaction 1
Keywords:
Other - social interaction; hyperscanning; trust; migration; neural coupling; two-person neuroscience
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Would you accept an oral presentation if your abstract is selected for an oral session?
Yes
I would be willing to discuss my abstract with members of the press should my abstract be marked newsworthy:
Yes
Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
Task-activation
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Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
Healthy subjects
Internal Review Board (IRB) or Animal Use and Care Committee (AUCC) Approval. Please indicate approval below. Please note: Failure to have IRB or AUCC approval, if applicable will lead to automatic rejection of abstract.
Yes, I have IRB or AUCC approval
Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
Functional MRI
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
3.0T
Which processing packages did you use for your study?
SPM
Other, Please list
-
GIFT; MATLAB (own tools)
Provide references in author date format
Bilek, E., M. Ruf, A. Schafer, C. Akdeniz, V. D. Calhoun, C. Schmahl, C. Demanuele, H. Tost, P. Kirsch and A. Meyer-Lindenberg (2015). "Information flow between interacting human brains: Identification, validation, and relationship to social expertise." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 112(16): 5207-5212.
Bongard, S., S. F. Pogge, H. Arslaner, S. Rohrmann and V. Hodapp (2002). "Acculturation and cardiovascular reactivity of second-generation Turkish migrants in Germany." J Psychosom Res 53(3): 795-803.
Meyer-Lindenberg, A. and H. Tost (2012). "Neural mechanisms of social risk for psychiatric disorders." Nat Neurosci 15(5): 663-668.
Sanfey, A. G. (2007). "Social decision-making: insights from game theory and neuroscience." Science 318(5850): 598-602.
Schilbach, L. (2016). "Towards a second-person neuropsychiatry." Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 371(1686): 20150081.
Van Overwalle, F. (2009). "Social cognition and the brain: a meta-analysis." Hum Brain Mapp 30(3): 829-858.