Social Reward

No neurobehavioral evidence for reduced motivational potential of social rewards in alcohol use disorder during early abstinence

2026, Clinical, Social Reward / Sören Krach

The second paper of Yana Schwarze‘s PhD has been accepted and published at Cortex! AbstractThe mesolimbic dopamine system plays a central role in motivating behavior. In alcohol use disorder (AUD), this system is thought to be dysfunctional, leading to hyperreactivity to alcohol-related cues. In contrast, evidence on how individuals with AUD respond to alcohol-unrelated reward […]

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The Human Affectome

2023, Social Cognition, Social Emotions, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract Over the last decades, the interdisciplinary field of the affective sciences has seen proliferation rather than integration of theoretical perspectives. This is due to differences in metaphysical and mechanistic assumptions about human affective phenomena (what they are and how they work) which, shaped by academic motivations and values, have determined the affective constructs and

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Assessment of reward-related brain function after a single-dose of oxytocin in autism: a randomized controlled trial

2021, Clinical, Hormones/Neuromodulators, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties in social communication and interaction, which have been related to atypical neural processing of rewards, especially in the social domain. Since intranasal oxytocin has been shown to modulate activation of the brain’s reward circuit, oxytocin might ameliorate the processing of social rewards in ASD and thus

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Self-beneficial belief updating as a coping mechanism for stress-induced negative affect

2021, Hormones/Neuromodulators, Social Learning, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract Being confronted with social-evaluative stress elicits a physiological and a psychological stress response. This calls for regulatory processes to manage negative affect and maintain self-related optimistic beliefs. The aim of the current study was to investigate the affect-regulating potential of self-related updating of ability beliefs after exposure to social-evaluative stress, in comparison to non-social

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Mapping social reward and punishment processing in the human brain: A voxel-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging findings using the Social Incentive Delay task

2021, Meta-Science (Methods), Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract Social incentives (rewards or punishments) motivate human learning and behaviour, and alterations in the brain circuits involved in the processing social incentives have been linked with several neuropsychiatric disorders. However, questions still remain about the exact neural substrates implicated in social incentive processing. Here, we conducted four Anisotropic Effect Size Signed Differential Mapping voxel-based

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Cognitive, affective, and feedback-based flexibility – Disentangling shared and different aspects of three facets of psychological flexibility

2020, Social Cognition, Social Reward / webmaster

Abstract Cognitive flexibility – the ability to adjust one’s behavior to changing environmental demands – is crucial for controlled behavior. However, the term ‘cognitive flexibility’ is used heterogeneously, and associations between cognitive flexibility and other facets of flexible behavior have only rarely been studied systematically. To resolve some of these conceptual uncertainties, we directly compared

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Internal control beliefs shape positive affect and associated neural dynamics during outcome valuation

2020, Social Learning, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract Experiencing events as controllable is essential for human well-being. Based on classic psychological theory, we test how internal control beliefs impact the affective valuation of task outcomes, neural dynamics and ensuing behavioral preferences. In three consecutive studies we show that dynamics in positive affect increase, with a qualitative shift towards self-evaluative pride, when agents

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The neural substrate of reward anticipation in health: A meta-analysis of fMRI findings in the monetary incentive delay task

2018, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract The monetary incentive delay task breaks down reward processing into discrete stages for fMRI analysis. Here we look at anticipation of monetary gain and loss contrasted with neutral anticipation. We meta-analysed data from 15 original whole-brain group maps (n = 346) and report extensive areas of relative activation and deactivation throughout the whole brain.

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The causal role of the somatosensory cortex in prosocial behaviour

2018, Social Cognition, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract Witnessing another person’s suffering elicits vicarious brain activity in areas that are active when we ourselves are in pain. Whether this activity influences prosocial behavior remains the subject of debate. Here participants witnessed a confederate express pain through a reaction of the swatted hand or through a facial expression, and could decide to reduce

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Laugh or cringe? Common and distinct processes of reward-based schadenfreude and empathy-based fremdscham

2017, Social Emotions, Social Reward / Sören Krach

Abstract Witnessing others’ plights can be funny for observers, but may also trigger one to empathically cringe with the victim of the predicament. In the present study, we examined the common and distinct neural networks involved in schadenfreude (i.e. pleasure derived from another’s misfortune) and fremdscham (i.e. empathically sharing the embarrassment about another’s misfortune). Using

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Social Reward

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