Social reinforcement can regulate localized brain activity

Social reinforcement can regulate localized brain activity
Krystyna A. Mathiak • Yury Koush • Miriam Dyck •
Tilman J. Gaber • Eliza Alawi • Florian D. Zepf •
Mikhail Zvyagintsev • Klaus Mathiak
Social learning is essential for adaptive behavior in humans. The emergence of brain imaging techniques enabled new insight into mechanisms of social behavior and cognition and new therapeutic interventions to target social impairments. Social reinforcers constitute an important aspect of everyday learning. They guide subtle adaptations of our behavior to let us adjust to social norms and provide motivation for the learning of complex new skills. Here, learning takes place by the principles of operant conditioning: whenever the subject succeeds in increasing his/her brain activity in a selected region, he or she receives a reward. In EEG neurofeedback, such strategies as appointing points or making a game character move on the screen were applied to reward the successful neurofeedback.

 The researchersinvestigated whether real-time social feedback can serve as a reinforcer for regulating localized brain activity. For this purpose, a virtual character (avatar) provided a contingent positive feedback by increasing smile intensity.

The subject underwent two neurofeedback training sessions within 3 days apart, each of them consisting of pre-/posttest and two neurofeedback runs on the 1st and three runs on the 2nd training day. In the neurofeedback run, the subject up-regulated her local brain activity during blocks of 30-s  duration. A virtual dark-haired male face (avatar created with using Poser Pro, Smith Micro Inc.) provided feedback by smiling when the subject successfully up-regulated and becoming gradually neutral when she failed.

The effectiveness of the learning due to social reward was reflected by a significantly increased activity in ACC during neurofeedback blocks when compared to the control blocks. We demonstrated that social reward can directly reinforce localized brain activity. The subject learned to control her brain activity in the ACC through social feedback given by a virtual character.

Mathiak, K. A., Koush, Y., Dyck, M., Gaber, T. J., Alawi, E., Zepf, F. D., & ... Mathiak, K. (2010). Social reinforcement can regulate localized brain activity. European Archives Of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience, 260132-136. doi:10.1007/s00406-010-0135-9