Browsing by Author "Kizilates-Evin, Gozde"

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Citation - WoS: 1
Gradual Loss of Social Group Support During Competition Activates Anterior Tpj and Insula but Deactivates Default Mode Network
(MDPI, 2023) Özkul, Burcu; Candemir, Cemre; Oğuz, Kaya; Eroğlu-Koç, Seda; Kizilates-Evin, Gozde; Ugurlu, Onur; Erdoğan, Yiğit
Group forming behaviors are common in many species to overcome environmental challenges. In humans, bonding, trust, group norms, and a shared past increase consolidation of social groups. Being a part of a social group increases resilience to mental stress; conversely, its loss increases vulnerability to depression. However, our knowledge on how social group support affects brain functions is limited. This study observed that default mode network (DMN) activity reduced with the loss of social group support from real-life friends in a challenging social competition. The loss of support induced anterior temporoparietal activity followed by anterior insula and the dorsal attentional network activity. Being a part of a social group and having support provides an environment for high cognitive functioning of the DMN, while the loss of group support acts as a threat signal and activates the anterior temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and insula regions of salience and attentional networks for individual survival.
Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 1
Task-Dependent Functional Connectivity Changes in Response To Varying Levels of Social Support
(Cambridge Univ Press, 2024) Burhanoglu, Birce Begüm; Uslu, Özgül; Özkul, Burcu; Oğuz, Kaya; Eroğlu-Koç, Seda; Kizilates-Evin, Gozde; Candemir, Cemre
Background Having social support improves one's health outcomes and self-esteem, and buffers the negative impact of stressors. Previous studies have explored the association between social support and brain activity, but evidence from task-dependent functional connectivity is still limited.Aims We aimed to explore how gradually decreasing levels of social support influence task-dependent functional connectivity across several major neural networks.Method We designed a social support task and recruited 72 young adults from real-life social groups. Of the four members in each group, one healthy participant (18 participants in total) completed the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. The fMRI task included three phases with varying levels of social support: high-support phase, fair phase and low-support phase. Functional connectivity changes according to three phases were examined by generalised psychophysiological interaction analysis.Results The results of the analysis demonstrated that participants losing expected support showed increased connectivity among salience network, default mood network and frontoparietal network nodes during the fair phase compared with the high-support phase. During the low-support phase, participants showed increased connectivity among only salience network nodes compared with the high-support phase.Conclusions The results indicate that the loss of support was perceived as a threat signal and induced widespread increased functional connectivity within brain networks. The observation of significant functional connectivity changes between fair and high-support phases suggests that even a small loss of social support from close ones leads to major changes in brain function.