Chronic loneliness: neurocognitive mechanisms and interventions

Morr, Mitjan; Liu, Xiqin; Hurlemann, René; Becker, Benjamin; Scheele, Dirk

doi:10.31234/osf.io/r4f9e

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 92 publications

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“…Conversely, the neural responsiveness to social rewards seems to be reduced in individuals with SA (Richey et al, 2017;Schultz et al, 2019), potentially resulting in reduced positive affect in response to social interactions (Kashdan and Collins, 2010). Similarly, lonely individuals exhibit attenuated responsiveness to positive social interactions (Lieberz et al, 2021), and preliminary evidence indicates that alterations in amygdala structure and function are associated with loneliness (for a comprehensive review of neurobiological correlates of loneliness, see Lam et al, 2021;Morr et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and Neural Dissociation of Social Anxiety and Loneliness

et al. 2022

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Loneliness is a public health concern with detrimental effects on physical and mental well-being. Given phenotypical overlaps between loneliness and social anxiety (SA), cognitive-behavioral interventions targeting SA might be adopted to reduce loneliness. However, whether SA and loneliness share the same underlying neurocognitive mechanisms is still an elusive question. The current study aimed at investigating to what extent known behavioral and neural correlates of social avoidance in SA are evident in loneliness. We used a prestratified approach involving 42 (21 females) participants with high loneliness (HL) and 40 (20 females) participants with low loneliness (LL) scores. During fMRI, participants completed a social gambling task to measure the subjective value of engaging in social situations and responses to social feedback. Univariate and multivariate analyses of behavioral and neural data replicated known task effects. However, although HL participants showed increased SA, loneliness was associated with a response pattern clearly distinct from SA. Specifically, contrary to expectations based on SA differences, Bayesian analyses revealed moderate evidence for equal subjective values of engaging in social situations and comparable amygdala responses to social decision-making and striatal responses to positive social feedback in both groups. Moreover, while explorative analyses revealed reduced pleasantness ratings, increased striatal activity, and decreased striatal-hippocampal connectivity in response to negative computer feedback in HL participants, these effects were diminished for negative social feedback. Our findings suggest that, unlike SA, loneliness is not associated with withdrawal from social interactions. Thus, established interventions for SA should be adjusted when targeting loneliness.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral and Neural Dissociation of Social Anxiety and Loneliness

et al. 2022

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“…For instance, loneliness was associated with more pronounced within‐network coupling of the default network in men than in women, and brain volume effects in the limbic system were linked to the frequency and intensity of social contact in a sex‐dependent manner. [ 32 , 33 , 34 ] Surprisingly, however, the impact of loneliness on fear conditioning/extinction and fear habituation as well as the possible moderation by sex remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to examine loneliness‐associated neurobiological risk factors for intrusive thoughts in an experimental prospective study design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lonely in the Dark: Trauma Memory and Sex‐Specific Dysregulation of Amygdala Reactivity to Fear Signals

et al. 2022

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Loneliness exacerbates psychological distress and increases the risk of psychopathology after trauma exposure. However, it is still unclear whether a lack of social connectedness affects trauma-related intrusions and the neural processing of fear signals. Moreover, it is uncertain, whether loneliness plays a different role in women and men. A prestratification strategy is used and n = 47 (n = 20 women) healthy lonely individuals and n = 35 controls (n = 18 women) are recruited. Participants are exposed to an experimental trauma and evoked intrusive thoughts in daily life are monitored for three consecutive days. Functional magnetic resonance imaging is used to assess neural habituation to fearful faces and fear learning (conditioning and extinction) prior to trauma exposure. The results reveal a significant interaction between loneliness and sex such that loneliness is associated with more intrusions in men, but not in women. A similar pattern emerges at the neural level, with both reduced amygdala habituation to repeated fearful faces and amygdala hyperreactivity during the conditioning of fear signals in lonely men. The findings indicate that loneliness may confer vulnerability to intrusive memories after trauma exposure in healthy men and that this phenotype relates to altered limbic processing of fear signals.

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Chronic loneliness: neurocognitive mechanisms and interventions

Cited by 2 publications

References 92 publications

Behavioral and Neural Dissociation of Social Anxiety and Loneliness

Behavioral and Neural Dissociation of Social Anxiety and Loneliness

Lonely in the Dark: Trauma Memory and Sex‐Specific Dysregulation of Amygdala Reactivity to Fear Signals

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