Brain Activation during Thoughts of One’s Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study

Hirano, Kanan; Oba, Kentaro; Saito, Toshiki; Yamazaki, Shohei; Kawashima, Ryuta; Sugiura, Motoaki

doi:10.1093/texcom/tgab003

Cited by 3 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Trait mindfulness was correlated with prosocial behavior ( Donald et al, 2019 ) and reduced PCC activation was observed during mindful acceptance of emotions ( Messina et al, 2021 ). However, the relationship between PCC activation and adaptability may be nonlinear; fear of death and PCC activation exhibited a quadratic relationship during the contemplation of one’s own death ( Hirano et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

et al. 2023

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Recent psychological and neuroimaging studies on altruism–egoism dilemmas have promoted our understanding of the processes underlying altruistic motivation; however, little attention has been paid to the egoistic counter-dynamics that prompt hesitancy to help. These counter-dynamics may involve the construction of reasons not to help based on contextual elaboration and explain individual differences in the tendency to help others in daily life. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural correlates of altruism–egoism dilemmas during empathy-driven helping decisions, with particular attention to the counter-dynamics related to individual helping tendency traits. We used two context-rich helping decision scenarios. In the empathy dilemma (Emp) scenario, empathy-driven motivation to help a poor person was associated with a cost, whereas in the economic-dilemma (Eco) scenario, self-beneficial motivation to help a non-poor person was associated with a cost. Our results showed activation of the right anterior prefrontal cortices, supramarginal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) for the altruism–egoism dilemma (i.e., Emp > Eco). A significant negative effect of the helping tendency trait score was observed on PCC activation; interestingly, this effect was observed for both Emp and Eco dilemmas. The identified neural correlates of altruism–egoism dilemmas appear to be related to the construction of decision reasons based on contextual elaboration in naturalistic situations. In contrast to the classical view, our results suggest a two-stage model that includes an altruistic helping decision followed by counter-dynamics to determine the individual helping tendency.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

et al. 2023

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“…Trait mindfulness has been shown to be correlated with prosocial behavior (Donald et al, 2019) and reduced PCC activation was observed during mindful acceptance of emotion (Messina et al, 2021). However, the relationship between PCC activation and adaptability may be nonlinear; fear of death and PCC activation were shown to have a quadratic relationship during the contemplation of one's own death (Hirano et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

Wijaya¹,

Oba²,

Ishibashi³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Recent psychological and neuroimaging studies on altruism–egoism dilemmas have promoted our understanding of the processes underlying altruistic motivation; however, little attention has been paid to the egoistic counter-dynamics that prompt hesitancy to help. These counter-dynamics may involve the construction of reasons not to help based on contextual elaboration and explain individual differences in the tendency to help others in daily life. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we explored the neural correlates of altruism–egoism dilemmas during empathy-driven helping decisions, with particular attention to the counter-dynamics related to individual helping tendency traits. We used two context-rich helping decision scenarios. In the empathy dilemma (Emp) scenario, empathy-driven motivation to help a poor person was associated with a cost, whereas in the economic dilemma (Eco) scenario, self-beneficial motivation to help a non-poor person was associated with a cost. Our results showed activation of the right anterior prefrontal cortices, supramarginal gyrus, and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) for the altruism–egoism dilemma (i.e., Emp > Eco). A significant negative effect of the helping tendency trait score was observed on PCC activation; interestingly, this effect was observed for both Emp and Eco dilemmas. The identified neural correlates of altruism–egoism dilemmas appear to be related to the construction of decision reasons based on contextual elaboration in naturalistic situations. In contrast to the classical view, our results suggest a two-stage model that includes an altruistic helping decision followed by counter-dynamics to determine the individual helping tendency.

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“…This study analyzed a dataset that had originally been obtained for different research purposes ( Hirano et al, 2021 ). In the original experiment, participants were asked to judge the relevance of the presented word to themselves or other individuals.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multiple studies have examined the neural response to mortality threat, typically contrasting it with negative emotional conditions (e.g., dental pain). They demonstrated increased activity in the amygdala ( Quirin et al, 2012 ) and various frontoparietal regions ( Yanagisawa et al, 2016 ; Klackl et al, 2018 ; Qin et al, 2018 ; Hirano et al, 2021 ), decreased activity in the insular cortex ( Han et al, 2010 ; Shi and Han, 2013 ; Klackl et al, 2014 ; Qin et al, 2018 ), and increase ( Quirin et al, 2012 ) and decrease ( Qin et al, 2018 ) in the activity in the anterior cingulate cortex. However, few studies have investigated individual differences in neural activity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three studies have exhibited conflicting effects of self-esteem ( Klackl et al, 2014 ; Yanagisawa et al, 2016 ; Luo et al, 2017 ). Other studies have demonstrated the effects of serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms, interdependence ( Luo et al, 2017 ), sex ( Qin et al, 2018 ), and fear of death ( Hirano et al, 2021 ), whereas no study has examined the associations with resilience-related personality traits.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social-coalitional trait is related to coping capacity with mortality threat: association with leadership and a reduced parietal response to mortality salience

Hirano

Oba

Saito

et al. 2023

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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IntroductionCoping with mortality threat, a psychological threat unique to humans and distinct from general emotional distress, is traditionally characterized by immediate suppression and prolonged worldview defense within the framework of the influential terror management theory (TMT). Views regarding the personality-trait concepts for this coping capacity diverge: some favor a broad definition based on general psychological attitudes (e.g., hardiness), while others prefer a narrow definition linked to interpersonal attitudes related to social coalition (e.g., attachment style and self-transcendence).MethodsUsing functional MRI, we presented healthy older participants with death-related words and explored correlations between the neural responses to mortality threat and the factor scores of the Power to Live questionnaire, which measures eight resilience-related psychobehavioral traits.ResultsWe observed a significant association between the factor score and a neural response only for leadership; individuals with a high leadership score exhibited reduced neural response to mortality salience in the right inferior parietal lobule.DiscussionWithin the TMT framework, our findings align with the concept of the immediate suppression of death-thought accessibility associated with a secure attachment style, a trait conceptually linked to leadership. These findings highlight the unique role for the narrowly defined social-coalitional trait during the immediate stage of the coping process with mortality salience, in contrast to the broadly defined resilience-related personality traits associated with a prolonged worldview defense process. The deterioration of this coping process could constitute a distinct aspect of psychopathology, separate from dysfunction in general emotion regulation.

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Brain Activation during Thoughts of One’s Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study

Cited by 3 publications

References 51 publications

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

Why people hesitate to help: Neural correlates of the counter-dynamics of altruistic helping and individual differences in daily helping tendencies

Social-coalitional trait is related to coping capacity with mortality threat: association with leadership and a reduced parietal response to mortality salience

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