Article summary with Ventral anterior cingulate cortex and social decision-making by Lockwood & Wittmann - 2018

What is this article about?

This article focuses on the emerging role of the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) in social decision-making, specifically the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) and the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC). Traditionally, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), including the temporoparietal junction and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, has been associated with social cognition. However, recent studies highlight distinct contributions of the pgACC and sgACC in social decision-making and learning about oneself and others during social interactions. These regions are part of the agranular frontal cortex and have a different connectivity and function. The sgACC is more strongly connected to subcortical regions like the basal forebrain and hypothalamus, while the pgACC has relatively stronger connections to dorsal parts of medial and lateral frontal cortex.

Reinforcement learning models are employed to understand the neural mechanisms underlying self-esteem development. They reveal that the sgACC and ventral striatum track feedback by tracking prediction errors in social interactions, while the pgACC reflects updates in self-esteem and reflects one's estimates of future success. These ventral ACC regions play roles in updating one's thoughts and feelings based on interactions with others, contributing to processes like self-esteem and self-monitoring in real-life social scenarios.

What is the role of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in social decision-making?

Previous studies found that sgACC plays a role in prosocial learning and the modulation of signals by individual differences such as empathy by tracking prediction errors related to others' behavior and outcomes during social interactions. Additionally, they found that sgACC activitation is predominant during the tracking of social prediction errors, but adjacent regions such as the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex also play roles. The ventral striatum, although tracking prediction errors in social feedback, exhibits a more domain-general response to learning about unexpected outcomes. The orbitofrontal cortex, while linked to social cognition, appears to be more domain-general than the sgACC. The distinctiveness of sgACC in certain social processing contexts implies a potentially domain-specific role, which warrants further exploration in future studies.

Compared to other dorsal medial prefrontal areas, sgACC exhibits stronger connections to subcortical regions, suggesting its involvement in emotional responses, bonding, and autonomic arousal. While lesions in sgACC disrupt autonomic arousal associated with positive emotional events, studies on non-social decision-making indicate sgACC responses to hierarchical prediction errors during sensory associative learning. This dual role, both in social and non-social processes, adds complexity to our understanding of sgACC and its contribution to decision-making.

What is the role of the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex in social decision-making?

Previous research has found that the pgACC plays a crucial role in processing information related to self-efficacy, integrating information from social interactions, feedback from others and an individual's past experiences. Self-efficacy is defined as a subjective belief in one's ability to succeed in upcoming endeavors and overcome challenges.

Research has found that the pgACC computes updates in self-esteem based on how positively an individual is evaluated by others. This suggests that the pgACC indexes how approval by others affects an individual's self-perception and, consequently, boosts self-esteem. Additionally, it was found that the pgACC exhibited a BOLD signal that scaled with an individual's past performance during a reaction-time-based task in which they received performance feedback for their own and another person's performance. This suggests that the pgACC carries memory traces of past performance and guides expectations about how likely individuals are to succeed in future tasks.

Furthermore, the pgACC is involved in non-social studies of value-guided decision-making, reflecting subjective value in tasks related to delayed discounting and self-control. However, the pgACC's role in self and social decision-making during social interactions may involve a more general function in cost-benefit decision-making, with considerations for the context and specificity of its activity.

What are implications for atypical decision-making?

Atypical social decision-making in disorders like conduct disorder, psychopathy, autism, and frontotemporal dementia is evident from previous research. Computational models, underutilized in understanding implicated neuroanatomical areas, show promise in these conditions. Disrupted social prediction error signaling is noted in autism spectrum disorder and social anxiety disorder, while contributions of sgACC and pgACC to mood disorders like depression are indicated. The authors propose using computational models alongside self and caregiver reports to gain insights into the neuroanatomy of these disorders, offering potential clinical applications.

In defining and diagnosing psychiatric and neurological conditions, a transdiagnostic characterization is gaining traction. The study by Will et al. (2017) adopts this approach, combining computational models of self-esteem with self-report questionnaires covering symptoms like depression and anxiety. This transdiagnostic framework, integrating well-characterized reinforcement and associative learning models, holds promise for uncovering new insights into clinically relevant psychological and neural mechanisms.

What should future research focus on?

Future research should focus on the use of computational frameworks, neuroanatomy, and learning models to gain a comprehensive understanding of social decision-making disorders and everyday social decisions. Additionally, further research should explore the distinctions in types of social prediction errors in sgACC and its dual role in both social and non-social processes to gain a better understanding of its functions.