Neural representations of social status hierarchy in human inferior parietal cortex

Joan Y. Chiao; Tokiko Harada; Emily R. Oby; Zhang Li; Todd Parrish; Donna J. Bridge

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023

Neural representations of social status hierarchy in human inferior parietal cortex

Joan Y. Chiao^*, Tokiko Harada, Emily R. Oby, Zhang Li, Todd Parrish, Donna J. Bridge

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

140 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mental representations of social status hierarchy share properties with that of numbers. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural representation of numerical magnitude lies within a network of regions within inferior parietal cortex. However the neural basis of social status hierarchy remains unknown. Using fMRI, we studied subjects while they compared social status magnitude of people, objects and symbols, as well as numerical magnitude. Both social status and number comparisons recruited bilateral intraparietal sulci. We also observed a semantic distance effect whereby neural activity within bilateral intraparietal sulci increased for semantically close relative to far numerical and social status comparisons. These results demonstrate that social status and number comparisons recruit distinct and overlapping neuronal representations within human inferior parietal cortex.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	354-363
Number of pages	10
Journal	Neuropsychologia
Volume	47
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023
State	Published - Jan 2009

Funding

The authors thank Melinda Chan and Xiaoxi Liu for help with stimuli preparation, Donald Redding and Captain James Otis, from the Northwestern Naval ROTC Unit, for invaluable assistance with participant recruitment, and Paul Reber, Mark Jung-Beeman, Jennifer Richeson and Steven Franconeri for helpful discussion. This work is supported by NSF BCS-0720312 and NSF BCS-0722326 to J.Y.C.

Keywords

Inferior parietal cortex
Number
Semantic distance effect
Social comparison
Social neuroscience
Social status hierarchy
fMRI

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Behavioral Neuroscience

Access to Document

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023

Cite this

@article{6707e415333641b48dce7ebd597f58bf,

title = "Neural representations of social status hierarchy in human inferior parietal cortex",

abstract = "Mental representations of social status hierarchy share properties with that of numbers. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural representation of numerical magnitude lies within a network of regions within inferior parietal cortex. However the neural basis of social status hierarchy remains unknown. Using fMRI, we studied subjects while they compared social status magnitude of people, objects and symbols, as well as numerical magnitude. Both social status and number comparisons recruited bilateral intraparietal sulci. We also observed a semantic distance effect whereby neural activity within bilateral intraparietal sulci increased for semantically close relative to far numerical and social status comparisons. These results demonstrate that social status and number comparisons recruit distinct and overlapping neuronal representations within human inferior parietal cortex.",

keywords = "Inferior parietal cortex, Number, Semantic distance effect, Social comparison, Social neuroscience, Social status hierarchy, fMRI",

author = "Chiao, {Joan Y.} and Tokiko Harada and Oby, {Emily R.} and Zhang Li and Todd Parrish and Bridge, {Donna J.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank Melinda Chan and Xiaoxi Liu for help with stimuli preparation, Donald Redding and Captain James Otis, from the Northwestern Naval ROTC Unit, for invaluable assistance with participant recruitment, and Paul Reber, Mark Jung-Beeman, Jennifer Richeson and Steven Franconeri for helpful discussion. This work is supported by NSF BCS-0720312 and NSF BCS-0722326 to J.Y.C. ",

year = "2009",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "47",

pages = "354--363",

journal = "Neuropsychologia",

issn = "0028-3932",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Neural representations of social status hierarchy in human inferior parietal cortex

AU - Chiao, Joan Y.

AU - Harada, Tokiko

AU - Oby, Emily R.

AU - Li, Zhang

AU - Parrish, Todd

AU - Bridge, Donna J.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank Melinda Chan and Xiaoxi Liu for help with stimuli preparation, Donald Redding and Captain James Otis, from the Northwestern Naval ROTC Unit, for invaluable assistance with participant recruitment, and Paul Reber, Mark Jung-Beeman, Jennifer Richeson and Steven Franconeri for helpful discussion. This work is supported by NSF BCS-0720312 and NSF BCS-0722326 to J.Y.C.

PY - 2009/1

Y1 - 2009/1

N2 - Mental representations of social status hierarchy share properties with that of numbers. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural representation of numerical magnitude lies within a network of regions within inferior parietal cortex. However the neural basis of social status hierarchy remains unknown. Using fMRI, we studied subjects while they compared social status magnitude of people, objects and symbols, as well as numerical magnitude. Both social status and number comparisons recruited bilateral intraparietal sulci. We also observed a semantic distance effect whereby neural activity within bilateral intraparietal sulci increased for semantically close relative to far numerical and social status comparisons. These results demonstrate that social status and number comparisons recruit distinct and overlapping neuronal representations within human inferior parietal cortex.

AB - Mental representations of social status hierarchy share properties with that of numbers. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural representation of numerical magnitude lies within a network of regions within inferior parietal cortex. However the neural basis of social status hierarchy remains unknown. Using fMRI, we studied subjects while they compared social status magnitude of people, objects and symbols, as well as numerical magnitude. Both social status and number comparisons recruited bilateral intraparietal sulci. We also observed a semantic distance effect whereby neural activity within bilateral intraparietal sulci increased for semantically close relative to far numerical and social status comparisons. These results demonstrate that social status and number comparisons recruit distinct and overlapping neuronal representations within human inferior parietal cortex.

KW - Inferior parietal cortex

KW - Number

KW - Semantic distance effect

KW - Social comparison

KW - Social neuroscience

KW - Social status hierarchy

KW - fMRI

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=58849124559&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=58849124559&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023

DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023

M3 - Article

C2 - 18992759

AN - SCOPUS:58849124559

SN - 0028-3932

VL - 47

SP - 354

EP - 363

JO - Neuropsychologia

JF - Neuropsychologia

IS - 2

ER -

Neural representations of social status hierarchy in human inferior parietal cortex

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this