TY - JOUR

T1 - Resting state connectivity mediates the relationship between collectivism and social cognition

AU - Knyazev, Gennady G.

AU - Savostyanov, Alexander N.

AU - Bocharov, Andrey V.

AU - Merkulova, Ekaterina A.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2018/1/1

Y1 - 2018/1/1

N2 - Humans are intrinsically social beings and it is natural that self-processing is associated with social cognition. The degree to which the self is perceived as a part of social environment is modulated by cultural stereotypes, such as collectivism and individualism. Here, we tested the hypothesis that individuals who endorse collectivist values would spontaneously think more about their relationships with other people and this association would be mediated by connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and the rest of the brain. Connectivity was evaluated based on resting state EEG data using the recently developed methods, which combine beamformer spatial filtering with seed based connectivity estimation. The formal mediation analysis revealed that collectivism is associated with an enhanced connectivity of MPFC with a set of cortical regions that are frequently co-activated in moral reasoning, empathy, and theory of mind tasks and with diminished connectivity with the precuneus\posterior cingulate cortex, which is involved in self-centered cognition. The relationship between collectivism and social cognition was mediated by MPFC connectivity with the left middle temporal gyrus implying that in participants with collectivistic attitude, thinking about relationships with other people may be associated with semantic memory retrieval and reasoning on moral issues and others’ intentions.

AB - Humans are intrinsically social beings and it is natural that self-processing is associated with social cognition. The degree to which the self is perceived as a part of social environment is modulated by cultural stereotypes, such as collectivism and individualism. Here, we tested the hypothesis that individuals who endorse collectivist values would spontaneously think more about their relationships with other people and this association would be mediated by connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and the rest of the brain. Connectivity was evaluated based on resting state EEG data using the recently developed methods, which combine beamformer spatial filtering with seed based connectivity estimation. The formal mediation analysis revealed that collectivism is associated with an enhanced connectivity of MPFC with a set of cortical regions that are frequently co-activated in moral reasoning, empathy, and theory of mind tasks and with diminished connectivity with the precuneus\posterior cingulate cortex, which is involved in self-centered cognition. The relationship between collectivism and social cognition was mediated by MPFC connectivity with the left middle temporal gyrus implying that in participants with collectivistic attitude, thinking about relationships with other people may be associated with semantic memory retrieval and reasoning on moral issues and others’ intentions.

KW - Collectivism

KW - Connectivity

KW - Medial prefrontal cortex

KW - Mediation analysis

KW - Social cognition

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Electroencephalography

KW - Altruism

KW - Prefrontal Cortex/diagnostic imaging

KW - Connectome/methods

KW - Young Adult

KW - Social Perception

KW - Adult

KW - Female

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85039989247&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.12.002

DO - 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2017.12.002

M3 - Article

C2 - 29208492

AN - SCOPUS:85039989247

VL - 123

SP - 17

EP - 24

JO - International Journal of Psychophysiology

JF - International Journal of Psychophysiology

SN - 0167-8760

ER -