Collier, E. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2023

Negative Affect homogenizes and Positive Affect diversifies Social Memory Consolidation across people

We are often surprised when an interaction we remember positively is recalled by a peer negatively. What colors social memories with positive versus negative hues? We show that when resting after a social experience, individuals showing similar default network responding subsequently remember more negative information, while individuals showing idiosyncratic default network responding remember more positive information. Results were specific to rest after the social experience (as opposed to before or during the social experience, or rest after a nonsocial experience). The results provide novel neural evidence in support of the "broaden and build" theory of positive emotion, which posits that while negative affect confines, positive affect broadens idiosyncrasy in cognitive processing. For the first time, we identified post-encoding rest as a key moment and the default network as a key brain system in which negative affect homogenizes, whereas positive affect diversifies social memories.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Theory of Minds: Managing mental state information in working memory is associated with the dorsomedial subsystem of the default network and social integration

We often interact with multiple people at a time and consider their various points-of-view to facilitate smooth social interaction. Yet, how our brains track multiple mental states at once, and whether skill in this domain links to navigating real-world social interactions, remains underspecified. To fill this gap, we developed a novel social working memory paradigm in which participants manage two- or four-peoples mental states in working memory, as well as control trials in which they alphabetize two- or four-peoples names in working memory. In Study 1, we found that the dorsomedial subsystem of the default network shows relative increases in activity with more mental states managed in working memory. In contrast, this subsystem shows relative decreases in activity with more non-mental state information (the number of names alphabetized) managed in working memory. In Study 2, only individual differences in managing mental states in working memory, specifically on trials that posed the greatest mental state load to working memory, correlated with social network integration. Collectively, these findings add further support to the hypothesis that social working memory relies on partially distinct brain systems and may be a key ingredient to success in a social world.

neuroscience↗