Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:31:08.258Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Psychological constructionism and cultural neuroscience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2012

Lisa A. Hechtman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. [email protected]@u.northwestern.eduhttp://culturalneuro.psych.northwestern.edu/Lab_Website/Welcome.html
Narun Pornpattananangkul
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. [email protected]@u.northwestern.eduhttp://culturalneuro.psych.northwestern.edu/Lab_Website/Welcome.html
Joan Y. Chiao
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208. [email protected]@u.northwestern.eduhttp://culturalneuro.psych.northwestern.edu/Lab_Website/Welcome.html Northwestern Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Evanston, IL 60208. [email protected]

Abstract

Lindquist et al. argue that emotional categories do not map onto distinct regions within the brain, but rather, arise from basic psychological processes, including conceptualization, executive attention, and core affect. Here, we use examples from cultural neuroscience to argue that psychological constructionism, not locationism, captures the essential role of emotion in the social and cultural brain.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adolphs, R. (2010) What does the amygdala contribute to social cognition? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: The year in Cognitive Neuroscience 1191(1):4261. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2871162/.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Avenanti, A., Sirigu, A. & Aglioti, S. M. (2010) Racial bias reduces empathic sensorimotor resonance with other-race pain. Current Biology 20(11):1018–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyd, R. & Richerson, P. J. (2009) Culture and the evolution of human cooperation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 364:3281–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruneau, E. G. & Saxe, R. (2010) Attitudes towards the outgroup are predicted by activity in the precuneus in Arabs and Israelis. Neuroimage 52(4):1704–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chiao, J. Y. & Blizinsky, K. D. (2010) Culture-gene coevolution of individualism-collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 277:529–37.Google Scholar
Chiao, J. Y., Hariri, A. R., Harada, T., Mano, Y., Hechtman, L. A., Komeda, H., Sadato, N., Parrish, T. B. & Iidaka, T. (2011) Cultural values modulate amygdala response to emotional scenes. Paper presented at the Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April 2011. Abstract retrieved from http://cogneurosociety.org/annual-meeting/previous-meetings/CNS2011_Program.pdf Google Scholar
Chiao, J. Y. & Lee, S. (2011) Cultural values modulate emotional vigilance. Unpublished senior thesis, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.Google Scholar
Chiao, J. Y., Mathur, V. A., Harada, T. & Lipke, T. (2009) Neural basis of preference for human social hierarchy versus egalitarianism. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1167:174–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, M. & Whalen, P. J. (2001) The amygdala: Vigilance and emotion. Molecular Psychiatry 6(1):13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fincher, C. L., Thornhill, R., Murray, D. R. & Schaller, M. (2008) Pathogen prevalence predicts human cross-cultural variability in individualism/ collectivism. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 275:1279–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Frith, C. D. & Frith, U. (2006) The neural basis of mentalizing. Neuron 50(4):531–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gutsell, J. N. & Inzlicht, M. (in press) Intergroup differences in the sharing of emotive states: neural evidence of an empathy gap. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.Google Scholar
Hariri, A. R., Mattay, V. S., Tessitore, A., Kolachana, B., Fera, F. & Goldman, D. (2002) Serotonin transporter genetic variation and the response of the human amygdala. Science 297(5580):400403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hechtman, L. A., Hariri, A. R., Harada, T., Mano, Y., Sadato, N., Parrish, T., Iidaka, T. & Chiao, J. Y. (2011) Dynamic cultural influences on effective connectivity of neural substrates underlying emotional response. Paper presented at the Annual Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April 2011. Abstract retrieved from http://cogneurosociety.org/annual-meeting/previous-meetings/CNS2011_Program.pdf Google Scholar
Lamm, C., Decety, J. & Singer, T. (2011) Meta-analytic evidence for common and distinct neural networks associated with directly experienced pain and empathy for pain. Neuroimage 54(3):2492–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathur, V. A., Harada, T. & Chiao, J. Y. (in press) Racial identification modulates default network activity for same- and other-races. Human Brain Mapping.Google Scholar
Mathur, V. A., Harada, T., Lipke, T. & Chiao, J. Y. (2010) Neural basis of extraordinary empathy and altruistic motivation. Neuroimage 51(4):1468–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munafò, M. R., Brown, S. M. & Hariri, A. R. (2008) Serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) genotype and amygdala activation: a meta-analysis. Biological Psychiatry 63(9):852–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed