rats
Experiments with adult and juvenile rats, pictured here, confirmed the insular cortex, an information-processing region of the brain in humans as well, is central to reactions like approach or avoidance of others, a team of Boston College neuroscience researchers has found. NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to John P. Christianson, Boston College.

Insular Cortex Mediates Approach and Avoidance Responses to Others in Distress

Summary: Social affective behaviors are linked to changes in insular cortex excitability caused by oxytocin, researchers report.

Source: Boston College.

The brain’s insular cortex, which processes senses and emotions, controls reactions like approach to or avoidance of others through the action of the hormone oxytocin, a team of Boston College researchers reports in the latest edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Searching for clues to complex human social behaviors, the team developed a procedure in which laboratory rats – much like humans – prefer to approach distressed juveniles but avoid distressed adults – responses known as social affective behaviors, according to the article titled “Insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to others in distress.”

The experiments demonstrate how the brain’s insular cortex region is required for proper reactions to others in distress. Further, the release of oxytocin results in changes in insular cortex excitability and likely accounts for the social affective behaviors, according to the team, led by Boston College Gianinno Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor of Psychology John P. Christianson.

The team’s experiments provide a new model to investigate brain function during emotion recognition and empathy tasks. The model expands the research toolkit for investigations of social behaviors and psychiatric diseases like autism and schizophrenia. The findings point specifically to the insular cortex and oxytocin reception as key to social responses.

The overarching goal of the research initiative is to uncover the neural circuitry that allows animals to recognize the emotional states of other animals and generate appropriate reactions, Christianson said.

“We were surprised that insular cortex activity was correlated with both social approach and social avoidance behaviors,” said Christianson. “This suggests that the insular cortex works together with a distributed network to integrate features like the age and stress of other individuals.”

Understanding the wiring of the social brain is relevant to many social settings, Christianson said. As an example, he said, when an individual encounters someone else in distress, there are a number of possible reactions – to help the other, to flee, to seek help or warn others of potential danger.

“What an individual chooses to do in such a situation depends on a number of factors including the relationship between interactants, their ages, safety in the environment, and intrinsic empathic capacities,” said Christianson. “The social cognition underlying these decisions is critical for cooperation, trust, helping and intimacy.”

Christianson said his team uses neuroscience techniques “to investigate the biological basis for social cognition with the hope that we can better understand and treat people with conditions marked by aberrant social cognition such as autism or schizophrenia.”

rats
Experiments with adult and juvenile rats, pictured here, confirmed the insular cortex, an information-processing region of the brain in humans as well, is central to reactions like approach or avoidance of others, a team of Boston College neuroscience researchers has found. NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to John P. Christianson, Boston College.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Brain and Behavior Foundation. In addition to Christianson, the article was co-authored by BC Assistant Professor of Psychology Maureen Ritchey, doctoral student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow Morgan M. Rogers-Carter, Research Associate Juan A. Varela, and undergraduate students Katherine B. Gribbons, Anne F. Pierce, and Morgan T. McGoey.

Christianson said the findings set the stage for a large-scale investigation of the brain circuits that work together to orchestrate responses to social emotional information with the hope that such research will lead to better treatment for people with conditions marked by aberrant social cognition, such as autism or schizophrenia.

Specifically, the Christianson lab will investigate brain regions that receive input from the insular cortex to determine whether these pathways are necessary for interactions with stressed individuals.

About this neuroscience research article

Funding: Funding provided by National Science Foundation, NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

Source: Ed Hayward – Boston College
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to John P. Christianson, Boston College.
Original Research: Abstract in Nature Neuroscience.
doi:10.1038/s41593-018-0071-y

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Boston College “Insular Cortex Mediates Approach and Avoidance Responses to Others in Distress.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 1 February 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/insular-cortex-approach-avoidance-8410/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Boston College (2018, February 1). Insular Cortex Mediates Approach and Avoidance Responses to Others in Distress. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved February 1, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/insular-cortex-approach-avoidance-8410/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Boston College “Insular Cortex Mediates Approach and Avoidance Responses to Others in Distress.” https://neurosciencenews.com/insular-cortex-approach-avoidance-8410/ (accessed February 1, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Insular cortex mediates approach and avoidance responses to social affective stimuli

Social animals detect the affective states of conspecifics and utilize this information to orchestrate social interactions. In a social affective preference text in which experimental adult male rats could interact with either naive or stressed conspecifics, the experimental rats either approached or avoided the stressed conspecific, depending upon the age of the conspecific. Specifically, experimental rats approached stressed juveniles but avoided stressed adults. Inhibition of insular cortex, which is implicated in social cognition, and blockade of insular oxytocin receptors disrupted the social affective behaviors. Oxytocin application increased intrinsic excitability and synaptic efficacy in acute insular cortex slices, and insular oxytocin administration recapitulated the behaviors observed toward stressed conspecifics. Network analysis of c-Fos immunoreactivity in 29 regions identified functional connectivity between insular cortex, prefrontal cortex, amygdala and the social decision-making network. These results implicate insular cortex as a key component in the circuit underlying age-dependent social responses to stressed conspecifics.

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