Neural representations of social status hierarchy in human inferior parietal cortex

• Published in: Neuropsychologia Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 354 - 363
• Main Authors: Chiao, Joan Y., Harada, Tokiko, Oby, Emily R., Li, Zhang, Parrish, Todd, Bridge, Donna J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Automobiles; Biological and medical sciences; Face; Female; fMRI; Hierarchy, Social; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Inferior parietal cortex; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Number; Parietal Lobe - physiology; Photic Stimulation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Semantic distance effect; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Social Class; Social comparison; Social neuroscience; Social Perception; Social status hierarchy; Young Adult; Inferior parietal cortex; Social comparison; fMRI; Semantic distance effect; Number; Social neuroscience; Social status hierarchy; Human; Social perception; Central nervous system; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Social cognition; Encephalon; Social status; Language; Semantics; Parietal cortex; Social hierarchy; Functional imaging
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.09.023

Mental representations of social status hierarchy share properties with that of numbers. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the neural representation of numerical magnitude lies within a network of regions within inferior parietal cortex. However the neural basis of social status hierarchy remains unknown. Using fMRI, we studied subjects while they compared social status magnitude of people, objects and symbols, as well as numerical magnitude. Both social status and number comparisons recruited bilateral intraparietal sulci. We also observed a semantic distance effect whereby neural activity within bilateral intraparietal sulci increased for semantically close relative to far numerical and social status comparisons. These results demonstrate that social status and number comparisons recruit distinct and overlapping neuronal representations within human inferior parietal cortex.