Shelley E. Taylor, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology, is co-author on the paper.Eisenberger argues that this overlap in the neurobiology of pain, physical and social.
Then, a subset of this group, 31 participants, was studied using magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at the UCLA Ahmanson Lovelace Center for Brain Mapping to a ball game in which participants run virtual ultimately socially excluded. Subjects were told it would be connected to the Internet with two other players who were also in the MRI scanner, and they would all play the ball by running interactive game. In reality, however, the participants were playing with a preset program, not others.
‘We found that individuals with a rare form of the gene OPRM1, they have shown in previous work to be more sensitive to physical pain, high levels of rejection sensitivity and showed greater activity in areas of social pain-related brain cingulate cortex anterior dorsal and anterior insula in response to exclusion, ‘said Eisenberger.
Initially, participants were included in the activities, but were then excluded when the other two ‘players’ stopped throwing the ball to them.
The results give weight to the common notion that the refusal ‘evil’, showing that a gene that regulates the body’s most powerful mu-opiate analgesics is committed socially painful experiences too, said co-author Naomi Eisenberger, UCLA professor of psychology assistant director and social and emotional neuroscience laboratory at UCLA.
In the study, researchers collected saliva samples from 122 participants to assess which form of the OPRM1 gene have also measured the sensitivity to rejection in two ways. First, participants completed a questionnaire measuring self-reported sensitivity to rejection. It was asked, for example, how they agreed or disagreed with statements such as ‘I am very sensitive to any sign that the person may not want to talk to me.’
‘Although it has long been hypothesized that mu-opioids play a role in social pain and there are convincing animal models that demonstrate that this is the first study to link the human gene for the mu-opioid receptor with a social conscience in response to rejection, ‘said Eisenberger.
Their study indicates that the variation of mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1), often associated with physical pain, is related to the amount of social pain a person feels in response to social rejection. People with a rare form of the gene are more sensitive to rejection and experience more pain test brain in response to rejection than those with the most common form.
The anterior cingulate cortex and dorsal anterior insula regions of the brain are often associated with the distress of physical pain. Previous research by Eisenberger and his colleagues have shown that these brain regions are also involved in the pain of social rejection.
‘Because the social bond is so important, feeling literally hurt to have no social ties can be a means to adapt to ensure that notes,’ he said.
‘During evolution, the social attachment system, which ensures social connection, actually borrowed some of the mechanisms of the pain system to maintain social bonds.’
The research is published in the August 14 online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and will appear in the printed version in the coming weeks.