The Neural Sociometer: Brain Mechanisms Underlying State Self-esteem

摘要

On the basis of the importance of social connection for survival,nhumans may have evolved a “sociometer”—a mechanismnthat translates perceptions of rejection or acceptance into statenself-esteem. Here, we explored the neural underpinnings of thensociometer by examining whether neural regions responsive tonrejection or acceptance were associated with state self-esteem.nParticipants underwent fMRI while viewing feedback wordsn(“interesting,” “boring“) ostensibly chosen by another individualn(confederate) to describe the participantʼs previously recordedninterview. Participants rated their state self-esteem in responsento each feedback word. Results demonstrated that greater activitynin rejection-related neural regions (dorsal ACC, anteriorninsula) and mentalizing regions was associated with lowerstatenself-esteem. Additionally, participants whose self-esteemndecreased from prescan to postscan versus those whose selfesteemndid not showed greater medial prefrontal cortical activity,npreviously associated with self-referential processing, innresponse to negative feedback. Together, the results inform ournunderstanding of the origin and nature of our feelings aboutnourselves. ■