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Social cognitive and affective neuroscience: Developmental and clinical perspectives
Brain and Cognition 65 (2007) 1–2 www.elsevier.com/locate/b&c
Editorial
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience: Developmental and clinical perspectives
1. Introduction to Special Issue The origins of this Special Issue can be traced to a symposium presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Experimental Neuropsychology (TENNET) in Montreal, Quebec, June 2003. The theme of the 2003 TENNET symposium, as is the case with this Special Issue, was Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, with an emphasis on developmental and clinical perspectives. Although the symposium contained only four original papers, this Special Issue includes 13 (8 empirical and 5 review) papers: the four symposium papers along with nine other original papers. This issue is nominally organized around four main sections, with each section containing 3 to 4 papers and emphasizing developmental and clinical issues. Section 1 contains three empirical papers that examine social cognitive and affective processes in typical human development and issues related to temperament, cognition, and emotion using non-invasive measures of brain electrical activity. The three papers examine cognitive and affective interplays in early normal human development using continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) measures in typically developing human infants (Wolfe & Bell; Santesso, Schmidt, & Trainor) and event related brain responses (ERP’s) in children (Perez-Edgar & Fox), and discuss how the relations among cognitive/affective processes and brain electrical activity may provide a window into normal socio-emotional development. Section 2 comprises three papers (2 empirical and 1 review) that examine social cognitive and affective processes in atypical human development in diverse clinical populations with anxiety, mood, and personality disorders using non-invasive neuropsychological and autonomic measures. These populations include children with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and the use of executive functioning and neuropsychological measures to study frontal lobe functioning in OCD (Pietrefesa & Evans), children and adolescents with depression and the use of multiple non-invasive psychophysiological 0278-2626/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2006.12.003
measures to study depression (Miller), and adults with personality disorders (PD) and the use of autonomic measures to understand affective processing in PD patients (Austin, Riniolo, & Porges). Section 3 includes four papers (2 review and 2 empirical) that examine social cognitive and affective processes in atypical human development in individuals with pervasive developmental disorders. These papers include discussions of theoretical and conceptual issues in understanding the neuropsychological and biological bases of socio-cognitive (Russo, Flanagan, Iarocci, Berringer, Zelazo, & Burack) and socio-emotional (Schulkin) deficits in individuals with autism, and the different methods and measures (Hall, West, Szatmari; Kemner, van der Geest, Verbaten, & van Engeland) used to detect such deficits in individuals with autism. Section 4 provides three papers (1 empirical and 2 review) that focus on social cognitive and affective processes in special populations with genetic disorders, conceptual issues related to gene-environment interplay in understanding complex social and affective processes, and the impact of atypical environmental influences on the developing socio-emotional brain. Conceptual meanings of gene-environment interplays and endophenotypes as a framework to understand complex social processes are examined first (Iarocci, Yager, & Elfers). Social cognitive processes in individuals with Down and fragile X syndrome are examined next (Flanagan, Enns, Murphy, Russo, Abbeduto, Randolph, & Burack). Aberrant environmental influences such as prenatal exposure to alcohol on the developing human social brain and children with fetal alcohol syndrome conclude the issue (Niccols). Social cognitive and affective neuroscience is an area of scientific inquiry within the larger field of cognitive neuroscience. These newly emerging subfields are concerned with the neural basis of social and affective processes and the cognitive interplay between such processes. The research area is broad, including human and non-human animal work, spanning molecular, neural, and behavioral levels of analysis and measures/methods, and covering from
2
Editorial / Brain and Cognition 65 (2007) 1–2
prenatal development to senescence in normal and clinical populations. The vitality of theoretical and empirical research in these new subfields of neuroscience is evidenced by the recent birth of a number of new scientific journals, edited handbooks, and book series in the area. The scholarly papers included in this Special Issue are not meant to provide exhaustive coverage of the field, but rather to stimulate thinking, generate research questions, and provide some scope of the breadth, multiple meanings and levels of analyses, methods/measures, phenomena, populations that embody work in these subfields. Acknowledgments I thank Sid Segalowitz for his invitation to organize a symposium at the 2003 TENNET meeting around which this Special Issue is based and for his invitation
to serve as Guest Editor for this Special Issue. I acknowledge the many contributors and peer reviewers of the papers in this issue. Special thanks are also extended to Austina Reed who served as my editorial assistant on this project and Sue McKee for her secretarial support. Finally, I acknowledge the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada for their continued funding and support of my work. Louis A. Schmidt Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8S 4K1 Fax: +1 905 529 6225. E-mail address: [email protected] Accepted 15 December 2006 Available online 25 July 2007
Editorial
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience: Developmental and clinical perspectives
1. Introduction to Special Issue The origins of this Special Issue can be traced to a symposium presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Theoretical and Experimental Neuropsychology (TENNET) in Montreal, Quebec, June 2003. The theme of the 2003 TENNET symposium, as is the case with this Special Issue, was Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, with an emphasis on developmental and clinical perspectives. Although the symposium contained only four original papers, this Special Issue includes 13 (8 empirical and 5 review) papers: the four symposium papers along with nine other original papers. This issue is nominally organized around four main sections, with each section containing 3 to 4 papers and emphasizing developmental and clinical issues. Section 1 contains three empirical papers that examine social cognitive and affective processes in typical human development and issues related to temperament, cognition, and emotion using non-invasive measures of brain electrical activity. The three papers examine cognitive and affective interplays in early normal human development using continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) measures in typically developing human infants (Wolfe & Bell; Santesso, Schmidt, & Trainor) and event related brain responses (ERP’s) in children (Perez-Edgar & Fox), and discuss how the relations among cognitive/affective processes and brain electrical activity may provide a window into normal socio-emotional development. Section 2 comprises three papers (2 empirical and 1 review) that examine social cognitive and affective processes in atypical human development in diverse clinical populations with anxiety, mood, and personality disorders using non-invasive neuropsychological and autonomic measures. These populations include children with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and the use of executive functioning and neuropsychological measures to study frontal lobe functioning in OCD (Pietrefesa & Evans), children and adolescents with depression and the use of multiple non-invasive psychophysiological 0278-2626/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2006.12.003
measures to study depression (Miller), and adults with personality disorders (PD) and the use of autonomic measures to understand affective processing in PD patients (Austin, Riniolo, & Porges). Section 3 includes four papers (2 review and 2 empirical) that examine social cognitive and affective processes in atypical human development in individuals with pervasive developmental disorders. These papers include discussions of theoretical and conceptual issues in understanding the neuropsychological and biological bases of socio-cognitive (Russo, Flanagan, Iarocci, Berringer, Zelazo, & Burack) and socio-emotional (Schulkin) deficits in individuals with autism, and the different methods and measures (Hall, West, Szatmari; Kemner, van der Geest, Verbaten, & van Engeland) used to detect such deficits in individuals with autism. Section 4 provides three papers (1 empirical and 2 review) that focus on social cognitive and affective processes in special populations with genetic disorders, conceptual issues related to gene-environment interplay in understanding complex social and affective processes, and the impact of atypical environmental influences on the developing socio-emotional brain. Conceptual meanings of gene-environment interplays and endophenotypes as a framework to understand complex social processes are examined first (Iarocci, Yager, & Elfers). Social cognitive processes in individuals with Down and fragile X syndrome are examined next (Flanagan, Enns, Murphy, Russo, Abbeduto, Randolph, & Burack). Aberrant environmental influences such as prenatal exposure to alcohol on the developing human social brain and children with fetal alcohol syndrome conclude the issue (Niccols). Social cognitive and affective neuroscience is an area of scientific inquiry within the larger field of cognitive neuroscience. These newly emerging subfields are concerned with the neural basis of social and affective processes and the cognitive interplay between such processes. The research area is broad, including human and non-human animal work, spanning molecular, neural, and behavioral levels of analysis and measures/methods, and covering from
2
Editorial / Brain and Cognition 65 (2007) 1–2
prenatal development to senescence in normal and clinical populations. The vitality of theoretical and empirical research in these new subfields of neuroscience is evidenced by the recent birth of a number of new scientific journals, edited handbooks, and book series in the area. The scholarly papers included in this Special Issue are not meant to provide exhaustive coverage of the field, but rather to stimulate thinking, generate research questions, and provide some scope of the breadth, multiple meanings and levels of analyses, methods/measures, phenomena, populations that embody work in these subfields. Acknowledgments I thank Sid Segalowitz for his invitation to organize a symposium at the 2003 TENNET meeting around which this Special Issue is based and for his invitation
to serve as Guest Editor for this Special Issue. I acknowledge the many contributors and peer reviewers of the papers in this issue. Special thanks are also extended to Austina Reed who served as my editorial assistant on this project and Sue McKee for her secretarial support. Finally, I acknowledge the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada for their continued funding and support of my work. Louis A. Schmidt Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont., Canada L8S 4K1 Fax: +1 905 529 6225. E-mail address: [email protected] Accepted 15 December 2006 Available online 25 July 2007