TY - JOUR
T1 - Know Your Place
T2 - Neural Processing of Social Hierarchy in Humans
AU - Zink, Caroline F.
AU - Tong, Yunxia
AU - Chen, Qiang
AU - Bassett, Danielle S.
AU - Stein, Jason L.
AU - Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Lucas B. Kempf for medical coverage, Courtnea A. Rainey and Catherine K. Draper for research assistance, and Shabnam Hakimi and Heike Tost for thoughtful discussion. We also thank Chris Frith for his valuable comments on the manuscript. This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health, NIH.
PY - 2008/4/24
Y1 - 2008/4/24
N2 - Social hierarchies guide behavior in many species, including humans, where status also has an enormous impact on motivation and health. However, little is known about the underlying neural representation of social hierarchies in humans. In the present study, we identify dissociable neural responses to perceived social rank using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an interactive, simulated social context. In both stable and unstable social hierarchies, viewing a superior individual differentially engaged perceptual-attentional, saliency, and cognitive systems, notably dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In the unstable hierarchy setting, additional regions related to emotional processing (amygdala), social cognition (medial prefrontal cortex), and behavioral readiness were recruited. Furthermore, social hierarchical consequences of performance were neurally dissociable and of comparable salience to monetary reward, providing a neural basis for the high motivational value of status. Our results identify neural mechanisms that may mediate the enormous influence of social status on human behavior and health.
AB - Social hierarchies guide behavior in many species, including humans, where status also has an enormous impact on motivation and health. However, little is known about the underlying neural representation of social hierarchies in humans. In the present study, we identify dissociable neural responses to perceived social rank using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in an interactive, simulated social context. In both stable and unstable social hierarchies, viewing a superior individual differentially engaged perceptual-attentional, saliency, and cognitive systems, notably dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In the unstable hierarchy setting, additional regions related to emotional processing (amygdala), social cognition (medial prefrontal cortex), and behavioral readiness were recruited. Furthermore, social hierarchical consequences of performance were neurally dissociable and of comparable salience to monetary reward, providing a neural basis for the high motivational value of status. Our results identify neural mechanisms that may mediate the enormous influence of social status on human behavior and health.
KW - SYSNEURO
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=42149160144&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=42149160144&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.01.025
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.01.025
M3 - Article
C2 - 18439411
AN - SCOPUS:42149160144
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 58
SP - 273
EP - 283
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 2
ER -