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Poster C149 in Poster Session C - Friday, August 9, 2024, 11:15 am – 1:15 pm, Johnson Ice Rink
The internal-external dichotomy of social working memory: Evidences from distinct neural correlates and functional roles
Hanxi Pan1 (), Zefeng Chen1,2, Qihang Zhou1, Xiangzhen Kong1, Zaifeng Gao1; 1Zhejiang University, 2University of Washington Seattle
Social working memory (SWM)—the ability to maintain and manipulate social information—plays a crucial role in social interactions. Despite its importance, research on SWM is still in its infancy, and previous researchers perceive SWM as a homogeneous construct. Based on the internal-external dichotomy of social cognition, SWM can be conceptualized as two relatively autonomous components: externally oriented SWM (e-SWM) and internally oriented SWM (i-SWM). The present study examined this view by investigating the neural correlates of the two SWM components and further explored their functional roles in social abilities focusing on empathy. Univariate fMRI analyses revealed greater activation in the left postcentral and right precentral gyri during e-SWM task, whereas the i-SWM task showed greater activation in the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex and superior frontal gyrus. Moreover, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex exhibits distinct activation patterns for the two SWM tasks. Finally, partial least squares analyses suggested that e-SWM brain activity mainly correlates with affective empathy, while i-SWM brain activity mainly correlates with cognitive empathy. These findings provide novel data on distinguishable neural and behavioral correlates of e-SWM and i-SWM, supporting the external-internal dichotomy of SWM.
Keywords: social working memory neural substrates empathy