Social Neuroscience Of Disease Prevention

Disease prevention is often approached from the perspective of the social sciences and epidemiology, without explicit consideration of the brain as a biological entity. Yet the brain can be an outcome of interest in disease prevention, as well as a predictor of disease prevention outcomes, and a mediator or moderator of the link between traditional risk factors and a disease outcome of interest. For these reasons, the science of the brain and its normative function is highly relevant to the objective of disease prevention. Social Neuroscience of Disease Prevention presents, in a compelling way, how what we know about the brain can intersect with what we know about the environment and population level dynamics to inform not only our understanding of disease risk, but also how we should go about preventing chronic diseases that form the primary limiting factors for the human lifespan throughout much of the world today.

The field of public health is primarily concerned with understanding and improving physical health from a large group perspective (i.e., communities and whole populations). The field of social neuroscience, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with examining brain-behavior relationships that unfold in a social context. Both of these are rapidly developing fields of inquiry, and their boundaries have only recently begun to overlap. This book discusses collaborative research findings at the intersection of social neuroscience and public health that promise to fundamentally change the way scientists, public health practitioners, and the general public view physical health within the larger social context. Eighteen chapters are organized under the following major sections: cognition and health outcomes; neuroscientific aspects of health communication; health behavior and the neurobiology of self-regulation; neurobiological processes in health decision making; ecological and social context; neuroscience methods; and future directions.

Until recently, a handbook on neurosociology would have been viewed with skepticism by sociologists, who have long been protective of their disciplinary domain against perceived encroachment by biology. But a number of developments in the last decade or so have made sociologists more receptive to biological factors in sociology and social psychology. Much of this has been encouraged by the coeditors of this volume, David Franks and Jonathan Turner. This new interest has been increased by the explosion of research in neuroscience on brain functioning and brain-environment interaction (via new MRI technologies), with implications for social and psychological functioning. This handbook emphasizes the integration of perspectives within sociology as well as between fields in social neuroscience. For example, Franks represents a social constructionist position following from G.H. Mead’s voluntaristic theory of the act while Turner is more social structural and positivistic. Furthermore, this handbook not only contains contributions from sociologists, but leading figures from the psychological perspective of social neuroscience.

The social environment has an enormous influence in altering behavior, neuroendocrine function, immune system activity, and cardiovascular and metabolic function. Improving the social environment has an enormous and unrealized potential for altering brain function and systemic physiology to improve physical and mental health and to prevent or slow the course of disease. This volume presents articles stemming from the 90th Annual Conference of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease, which focused on the advances in our understanding of gene–environment interactions and their impact on the functioning of the body and mind. The volume aims to advance knowledge of the neural bases underlying positive and adverse social interactions and the impact of these social experiences on the brain and body. A broad range of topics is covered, from fear conditioning to the implementation of treatment strategies in the workplace. The volume also highlights the implications of social experiences and stress on basic neuroscience and physiology, and the potential translational nature of such findings to the clinic and general public. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.1111/(ISSN)1749-6632. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

Human beings evolved in the company of others. Mutually reinforcing connections between brains, minds, and societies have profound implications for physical and emotional health. Social Neuroscience offers a comprehensive new framework for studying human brain development and human behavior in their social context.

There is overwhelming evidence linking increased physical activity with positive changes in cognitive functioning and brain health. Much of what we know about these interrelationships comes from aerobic exercise training studies with older adults and children. This literature has paved the way for the neuroscientific investigation of mechanisms responsible for exercise-induced cognitive and brain health enhancement, a list that ranges from molecular changes to systemic changes in executive control and neural connectivity. A new perspective has also emerged that aims to understand executive control processes that may underlie the regulation of health behavior. In accordance with this view, physical activity falls under the umbrella of health behaviors that require a substantial amount of executive control. Executive control is a limited resource, and the aging process depletes this resource. People who regularly exercise are said to have higher “self-regulatory control”—planning, goal-shielding and impulse control—than irregular exercisers. The successful maintenance of physical activity participation in lieu of daily cognitive stressors likely reflects an adaptive resistance to control failures. Indeed, a handful of studies have shown the relationship between greater executive control and subsequently higher levels of physical activity. However, little is known about the neural correlates of physical activity adherence or sedentary behavior, with the view that neurocognitive factors have an antecedent and reciprocal influence on these behaviors. No research has focused on the brain networks responsible for the self-regulation of physical activity, which likely overlaps with structures and functions playing critical roles in the regulation of other health behaviors. Interdisciplinary investigations are needed to explain the extent to which physical activity self-regulation and self-regulatory failure is dependent upon, or under the influence of executive control processes and brain networks. Understanding the degree to which self-regulatory resources may be enhanced, restored, and trained will have enormous implications for basic science and applied fields. It is also of great import to understand whether or not physical activity self-regulation is a domain-specific behavior associated with specific brain networks, or to determine the extent to which regulatory network-sharing occurs. The aim of this Frontiers Research Topic is to curate contributions from researchers in social and cognitive neurosciences and related fields, whose work involves the study of physical activity behavior, self-regulation and executive control. For this Research Topic, we, therefore, solicit reviews, original research articles, and opinion papers, which draw theoretical or empirical connections related to sustained physical activity behavior, self-regulatory strategies, cognitive performance, and brain structure and function. While focusing on work in the neurosciences, this Research Topic also welcomes contributions in the form of behavioral studies, psychophysiological investigations, and methodological innovations. This Frontiers Research Topic will carve out new directions for the fields of exercise, cognitive, and social neurosciences. We hope you will consider submitting your work.

This book seeks to build bridges between neuroscience and social science empirical researchers and theorists working around the world, integrating perspectives from both fields, separating real from spurious divides between them and delineating new challenges for future investigation. Since its inception in the early 2000s, multilevel social neuroscience has dramatically reshaped our understanding of the affective and cultural dimensions of neurocognition. Thanks to its explanatory pluralism, this field has moved beyond long standing dichotomies and reductionisms, offering a neurobiological perspective on topics classically monopolized by non-scientific traditions, such as consciousness, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity. Moreover, it has forged new paths for dialogue with disciplines which directly address societal dynamics, such as economics, law, education, public policy making and sociology. At the same time, beyond internal changes in the field of neuroscience, new problems emerge in the dialogue with other disciplines. Neuroscience and Social Science – The Missing Link puts together contributions by experts interested in the convergences, divergences, and controversies across these fields. The volume presents empirical studies on the interplay between relevant levels of inquiry (neural, psychological, social), chapters rooted in specific scholarly traditions (neuroscience, sociology, philosophy of science, public policy making), as well as proposals of new theoretical foundations to enhance the rapprochement in question. By putting neuroscientists and social scientists face to face, the book promotes new reflections on this much needed marriage while opening opportunities for social neuroscience to plunge from the laboratory into the core of social life. This transdisciplinary approach makes Neuroscience and Social Science – The Missing Link an important resource for students, teachers, and researchers interested in the social dimension of human mind working in different fields, such as social neuroscience, social sciences, cognitive science, psychology, behavioral science, linguistics, and philosophy.