Notes and Literature:
Neuroscience of Social Behavior and Emotional Disorders
Course code: 201300351
Class 07
Teacher: Ruud Custers
Content:
Lecture 1 – Introduction & Methods
Lecture 2 – Evolution, Emotion & Motivation
Literature week 1
Crash Courses
SG C1 & C2
SG C3 & C4
Clips week 1
Lecture 3 – Hormones & Behavior
Lecture 4 – Personality Disorders
Literature week 2
Article (8)
Article (11)
Lecture 5 – Understanding Others
Lecture 6 – Reading faces and bodies
Literature week 3
SG C6
SG C5
Clips week 3
Lecture 7 – Interacting with others
Lecture 8 – Olfactory Social Neuroscience
SG C7
Article
Clips week 4
Lecture 9 – Developmental Social Neuroscience
Lecture 10 – Relationships
SG C11
SG C8
Clips week 5
Lecture 11 – Developmental Social Neuroscience
Lecture 12 – Relationships
SG C10
SG C9
Clips week 6
, Lecture 1 – Introduction & Methods
Levels of explanation
Social neuroscience
= interdisciplinary field (sociology, social psychology, neuroscience)
Attempts to link different levels of explanation :
1 Biology
2 Individual
3 Group
- Sociology
We are social animals
We identify with our own groups (in-groups)
We are favorable to the in-group
Prejudice might be unavoidable because it is part of group
formation
- Social psychology
Positive behavior of ingroup members is felt as personal (good
person)
Negative behavior of ingroup members is felt as contextual (bad
environment)
This takes away the motivation to empathize with the outgroup
- Neuroscience
Similar species show difference between long-term relationships
and parental care
Oxytocin is a hormone which promotes sex drive, childbirth, skin-
to-skin contact
Difference is explained by difference in oxytocin receptors (not
the level of oxytocin)
Oxytocin = love-hormone increases favoritism towards ingroup
members
Oxytocin increases ethnocentrism
Social brain
Modular social brain = specialized routines perform very specific
functions
Non-modular social brain = specific functions are the result of many
routines
[2 approaches:]
Evolution
“Bigger brains social and non-social intelligence changes”
2
,Social intelligence hypothesis
“Pressure to outwit peers lead to increased intelligence in non-social
domains”
Social and non-social intelligence evolved together suggest non-
modularity
Triune Brain model:
1 Reptilian brain (sub-cortex)
Action-reaction
Modular -> nuclei with distinct (non)social roles (specific part
activates specific mechanism)
2 Mammalian brain (limbic system)
Emotionality
Module-like -> amygdala/insula
3 Primate brain (neo-cortex)
Rationality
Non-modular -> no specific regions
Mirror neurons (module-like)
Mirror neurons = neurons that respond to self-behavior and other-
behavior
(Reacts to you doing something and someone else doing the same)
only found in primates (no specific place in the cortex)
observational learning
comparable systems for emotion and sensation or action
Each newer layer (1-3) supports more complex functions and has
control over the lower layers
Depending on situation we can control these mechanisms
Explain what social neuroscience is
Explain evolutionary theories of the social brain
Explain the triune brain model
Explain the concept of modularity
Methods from the clips
Lecture 2 – Emotion basics and basic emotions
Neurons – convey electrical connections
3
, Neuron has a cell body that receives electrical information
action potential (only for motion, not emotion)
Emotions chemical connections = neurotransmitters via synapse
Neurotransmitters activate or deactivate cells
Glutamate – excitatory (increases action potential) N
GABA – inhibitory (decreases voltage, decreases action
potential) N
Types of neurotransmitters
o Norepinephrine / noradrenalin ST
In the locus coeruleus (reptilian brain)
Fight-flight or arousal activation
o Serotonin ST
Raphe nuclei
Mood and impulsivity mood disorders
o Dopamine (reward) ST
Ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra
Motivation and reward
Difference in class :
>Synaptic transmission (from one neuron to another)
>Neuromodulators (modulate communication between two neurons)
- Neuropetides
4
Neuroscience of Social Behavior and Emotional Disorders
Course code: 201300351
Class 07
Teacher: Ruud Custers
Content:
Lecture 1 – Introduction & Methods
Lecture 2 – Evolution, Emotion & Motivation
Literature week 1
Crash Courses
SG C1 & C2
SG C3 & C4
Clips week 1
Lecture 3 – Hormones & Behavior
Lecture 4 – Personality Disorders
Literature week 2
Article (8)
Article (11)
Lecture 5 – Understanding Others
Lecture 6 – Reading faces and bodies
Literature week 3
SG C6
SG C5
Clips week 3
Lecture 7 – Interacting with others
Lecture 8 – Olfactory Social Neuroscience
SG C7
Article
Clips week 4
Lecture 9 – Developmental Social Neuroscience
Lecture 10 – Relationships
SG C11
SG C8
Clips week 5
Lecture 11 – Developmental Social Neuroscience
Lecture 12 – Relationships
SG C10
SG C9
Clips week 6
, Lecture 1 – Introduction & Methods
Levels of explanation
Social neuroscience
= interdisciplinary field (sociology, social psychology, neuroscience)
Attempts to link different levels of explanation :
1 Biology
2 Individual
3 Group
- Sociology
We are social animals
We identify with our own groups (in-groups)
We are favorable to the in-group
Prejudice might be unavoidable because it is part of group
formation
- Social psychology
Positive behavior of ingroup members is felt as personal (good
person)
Negative behavior of ingroup members is felt as contextual (bad
environment)
This takes away the motivation to empathize with the outgroup
- Neuroscience
Similar species show difference between long-term relationships
and parental care
Oxytocin is a hormone which promotes sex drive, childbirth, skin-
to-skin contact
Difference is explained by difference in oxytocin receptors (not
the level of oxytocin)
Oxytocin = love-hormone increases favoritism towards ingroup
members
Oxytocin increases ethnocentrism
Social brain
Modular social brain = specialized routines perform very specific
functions
Non-modular social brain = specific functions are the result of many
routines
[2 approaches:]
Evolution
“Bigger brains social and non-social intelligence changes”
2
,Social intelligence hypothesis
“Pressure to outwit peers lead to increased intelligence in non-social
domains”
Social and non-social intelligence evolved together suggest non-
modularity
Triune Brain model:
1 Reptilian brain (sub-cortex)
Action-reaction
Modular -> nuclei with distinct (non)social roles (specific part
activates specific mechanism)
2 Mammalian brain (limbic system)
Emotionality
Module-like -> amygdala/insula
3 Primate brain (neo-cortex)
Rationality
Non-modular -> no specific regions
Mirror neurons (module-like)
Mirror neurons = neurons that respond to self-behavior and other-
behavior
(Reacts to you doing something and someone else doing the same)
only found in primates (no specific place in the cortex)
observational learning
comparable systems for emotion and sensation or action
Each newer layer (1-3) supports more complex functions and has
control over the lower layers
Depending on situation we can control these mechanisms
Explain what social neuroscience is
Explain evolutionary theories of the social brain
Explain the triune brain model
Explain the concept of modularity
Methods from the clips
Lecture 2 – Emotion basics and basic emotions
Neurons – convey electrical connections
3
, Neuron has a cell body that receives electrical information
action potential (only for motion, not emotion)
Emotions chemical connections = neurotransmitters via synapse
Neurotransmitters activate or deactivate cells
Glutamate – excitatory (increases action potential) N
GABA – inhibitory (decreases voltage, decreases action
potential) N
Types of neurotransmitters
o Norepinephrine / noradrenalin ST
In the locus coeruleus (reptilian brain)
Fight-flight or arousal activation
o Serotonin ST
Raphe nuclei
Mood and impulsivity mood disorders
o Dopamine (reward) ST
Ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra
Motivation and reward
Difference in class :
>Synaptic transmission (from one neuron to another)
>Neuromodulators (modulate communication between two neurons)
- Neuropetides
4
