Brain Mechanisms of Social Threat Effects on Working Memory

Social threat can have adverse effects on cognitive performance, but the brain mechanisms underlying its effects are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of social evaluative threat on working memory (WM), a core component of many important cognitive capabilities. Social threat impaired WM...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991) Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 544 - 556
Main Authors:	van Ast, V A, Spicer, J, Smith, E E, Schmer-Galunder, S, Liberzon, I, Abelson, J L, Wager, T D
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Oxford University Press 01-02-2016
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Analysis of Variance Attention Brain Mapping Cerebral Cortex - blood supply Cerebral Cortex - physiology Emotions - physiology Female Functional Laterality Humans Hydrocortisone - metabolism Image Processing, Computer-Assisted Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Memory, Short-Term - physiology Neural Pathways Neuropsychological Tests Oxygen - blood Saliva - metabolism Social Behavior Verbal Learning Young Adult intraparietal sulcus fMRI stress mediation executive function
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Summary:	Social threat can have adverse effects on cognitive performance, but the brain mechanisms underlying its effects are poorly understood. We investigated the effects of social evaluative threat on working memory (WM), a core component of many important cognitive capabilities. Social threat impaired WM performance during an N-back task and produced widespread reductions in activation in lateral prefrontal cortex and intraparietal sulcus (IPS), among other regions. In addition, activity in frontal and parietal regions predicted WM performance, and mediation analyses identified regions in the bilateral IPS that mediated the performance-impairing effects of social threat. Social threat also decreased connectivity between the IPS and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while increasing connectivity between the IPS and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a region strongly implicated in the generation of autonomic and emotional responses. Finally, cortisol response to the stressor did not mediate WM impairment but was rather associated with protective effects. These results provide a basis for understanding interactions between social and cognitive processes at a neural systems level.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-News-2 ObjectType-Feature-3 content type line 23 Deceased. V. A. van Ast and J. Spicer contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:	1047-3211 1460-2199
DOI:	10.1093/cercor/bhu206