Encoding Praise and Criticism During Social Evaluation Alters Interactive Responses in the Mentalizing and Affective Learning Networks

Abstract

Verbal communication with evaluative characters of different emotional valence has a considerable impact on the extent to which social relations are facilitated or undermined. Here using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated how the brain acts in response to social praise and criticism, leading to differential affective judgments. We engaged thirty men and women in a task associating sex-balanced, neutral faces with praising or criticizing comments targeting others or objects. A whole-brain analysis revealed that criticism as compared to praise enhanced the activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), particularly its dorsal portion, whereas the right amygdala displayed an opposite pattern of changes. Comments on others relative to objects increased the reactivity in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) such that both praise and criticism of others produced stronger activation in these two regions than their object-targeted counterparts. The interaction of valence and target was identified in the mPFC with greater reactivity in the contrasts of criticism vs. praise in the social context and others- vs. object-targeted criticism. Comments also modulated the functional connectivity of prior activated regions with the left temporoparietal junction, bilateral caudate and left PCC/precuneus showing reduced connectivity in response to social criticism but greatly strengthened connectivity for social praise as compared to non-social counterparts. These neural effects subsequently led to altered likeability ratings for the faces. Neither behavioral nor neural effects observed were influenced by the gender of participants. Taken together, our findings suggest a fundamental interactive role of the mentalizing and affective learning networks in differential encoding of individuals associated with praising or criticizing others, leading to learning of valenced traits and subsequent approach or avoidance responses in social interactions.

Keywords: affective learning; criticism; praise; social inference; the mentalizing network.

FIGURE 1

An example of a trial in the affective evaluation task. The individual whose face image is presented here provided written informed consent for the publication of the image.

FIGURE 2

Likeability ratings for faces of individuals making critical, praising, or mixed comments on either others or objects. ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗∗ P < 0.001. Bars depict M ±SE.

FIGURE 3

BOLD responses to people- and object-targeted criticism and praise. (A) The main effect of valence in the mPFC (yellow; k = 205, thresholded at P < 0.001 uncorrected for viewing) and right amygdala (green; k = 7, P < 0.05 uncorrected for viewing). (B) Parameter estimates extracted based on the peak of the effect in the mPFC (x = –6, y = 54, z = 27) and amygdala (x = 30, y = 3, z = –18). (C) The main effect of target in the left pSTS (green; k = 187, P_FWE < 0.05) and PCC/precuneus (yellow; k = 21, P_FWE < 0.05). (D) Extraction based on the peak of the effect in the pSTS (x = –45, y = –60, z = 18) and PCC/precuneus (x = –3, y = –54, z = 21). (E) The interaction between valence and target in the mPFC (k = 14, P < 0.001 uncorrected for viewing). (F) Extraction based on the peak of the effect in the mPFC (x = 0, y = 63, z = 24). ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗P < 0.01, ^∗∗∗ P < 0.001. Bars depict M ± SE. L, left; R, right; mPFC, medial prefrontal cortex; pSTS, posterior superior temporal sulcus; PCC, posterior cingulate cortex.

FIGURE 4

Functional connectivity of the mPFC, right amygdala, PCC/precuneus and left pSTS modulated by people- and object-targeted criticism and praise. (A) Axial and sagittal views of altered connections. Yellow circles indicate seed regions. Turquoise, regions and altered connections of seed regions in the mentalizing network; fuchsia, regions and altered connections of seed regions in the affective learning network. Dotted lines, within-network interactions; solid lines, between-network interactions. (B) Parameter estimates extracted from the connections. ^∗P < 0.05, ^∗∗P < 0.01, ^∗∗∗P < 0.001. Bars depict M ± SE. L, left; R, right; dmPFC, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex; PCC, posterior cingulate cortex; pSTS, posterior superior temporal sulcus; TPJ, temporoparietal junction.

FIGURE 5

Negative correlations between cross-valence differences in likeability and functional connectivity of the mPFC, right amygdala, PCC and left pSTS with the left TPJ. All cross-valence differences were calculated by subtracting criticism from praise. PC, praise vs. criticism.