James A. Coan | University of Virginia (original) (raw)

Books by James A. Coan

Papers by James A. Coan

Social Neuroscience, 2020

Physical touch in the form of holding a loved one's hand attenuates the neural response to threat... more Physical touch in the form of holding a loved one's hand attenuates the neural response to threat (Coan, Schaefer, & Davidson, 2006). Speculation regarding the neural mediation of this effect points to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which is known to have inhibitory connections with threat responsive brain regions such as the amygdala. Despite the attractiveness of this hypothesis, a link between the vmPFC and diminished threat during handholding has been difficult to demonstrate empirically. Here we report that in a sample of 110 participants no evidence for vmPFC mediation of the handholding effect was obtained. Indeed, results indicated that connectivity patterns between threat responsive salience network structures and the vmPFC were in the opposite direction one would predict if the vmPFC mediated reductions in neural threat-responding caused by partner handholding. Our findings suggest that the vmPFC does not mediate the regulating effect of physical contact on neural threat responses.

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2017

Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether thi... more Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether this is due to trait differences in abilities or effects of the experimental context. This study sought to determine how social context, individual differences in fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and task difficulty interact to influence working memory performance as indicated by effectiveness (accuracy) and efficiency (reaction times). Participants (N = 61) performed the n-back task at 2-back and 3-back difficulty levels under three conditions: alone (“Anonymous”), in presence of a non-evaluative experimenter (“Presence”), and under explicit performance evaluation by the experimenter (“Threat”). Overall, participants showed improved accuracy during Threat, but only on 2-back trials. FNE was positively associated with longer reaction times during Threat on 3-back trials. FNE did not relate to accuracy, suggesting that threat-related impairments tied to social anxiety may alter efficiency ...

Psychosomatic Medicine, 2017

Objective-Social support is associated with better health. This association may be partly mediate... more Objective-Social support is associated with better health. This association may be partly mediated through the social regulation of adrenomedullary activity related to poor cardiovascular health and glucocorticoid activity known to inhibit immune functioning. These physiological cascades originate in the hypothalamic areas that are involved in the neural response to threat. We investigated whether the down regulation, by social support, of hypothalamic responses to threat is associated with better subjective health. Methods-A diverse community sample of seventy-five individuals, ages 23-26, were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants completed the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) a well-validated self report measure used to assess subjective general health. They were scanned, using fMRI, during a threat of shock paradigm involving various levels of social support, which was manipulated using hand-holding from a close relational partner, a stranger, and an alone condition. We focused on a hypothalamic region of interest (ROI) derived from an independent sample to examine the association between hypothalamic activity and subjective general health. Results-Results revealed a significant interaction between handholding condition and selfreported general health, F(2, 72) = 3.53, p = .032, partial η 2 = .05. Down regulation of the hypothalamic ROI during partner handholding corresponded with higher self-ratings of general health, ß □= −.31, p =.007. Conclusion-Higher self-ratings of general health correspond with decreased hypothalamic activity during a task that blends threat with supportive handholding. These results suggest that associations between social support and health are partly mediated through the social regulation of hypothalamic sensitivity to threat.

Choice Reviews Online, 2008

Emotion research has become a mature branch of psychology, with its own standardized measures, in... more Emotion research has become a mature branch of psychology, with its own standardized measures, induction procedures, data-analysis challenges, and sub-disciplines. During the last decade, a number of books addressing major questions in the study of emotion have been published in response to a rapidly increasing demand that has been fueled by an increasing number of psychologists whose research either focus on or involve the study of emotion. Very few of these books, however, have presented an explicit discussion of the ...

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2017

Strong social ties correspond with better health and well being, but the neural mechanisms linkin... more Strong social ties correspond with better health and well being, but the neural mechanisms linking social contact to health remain speculative. This study extends work on the social regulation of brain activity by supportive handholding in 110 participants (51 female) of diverse racial and socioeconomic origins. In addition to main effects of social regulation by handholding, we assessed the moderating effects of both perceived social support and relationship status (married, cohabiting, dating or platonic friends). Results suggest that, under threat of shock, handholding by familiar relational partners attenuates both subjective distress and activity in a network associated with salience, vigilance and regulatory self-control. Moreover, greater perceived social support corresponded with less brain activity in an extended network associated with similar processes, but only during partner handholding. In contrast, we did not observe any regulatory effects of handholding by strangers, and relationship status did not moderate the regulatory effects of partner handholding. These findings suggest that contact with a familiar relational partner is likely to attenuate subjective distress and a variety of neural responses associated with the presence of threat. This effect is likely enhanced by an individual's expectation of the availability of support from their wider social network.

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, Jan 5, 2017

Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activ... more Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activity (PFTA) may reflect a novel neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Elevated PFTA has been associated with approach-related tendencies both at rest and during laboratory tasks designed to enhance approach motivation. PFTA is sensitive to changes in dopamine signaling within the fronto-striatal neural circuit, which is centrally involved in approach motivation, reward processing, and goal-directed behavior. To date, however, no studies have examined PFTA during a laboratory task designed to reduce approach motivation or goal-directed behavior. Considerable animal and human research supports the hypothesis put forth by the learned helplessness theory that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli decreases approach motivation by inducing a state of perceived uncontrollability. Accordingly, the present study examined the effect of perceived uncontrollability (i.e., learned hel...

The Annals of Applied Statistics, 2015

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2013

Figure 2a & b: Interactions of genotype (risk vs non-risk) and Z-scored PSWQ scores (1 SD+ & 1SD-... more Figure 2a & b: Interactions of genotype (risk vs non-risk) and Z-scored PSWQ scores (1 SD+ & 1SD-) predicting frontal asymmetry. Left (A): PSWQ (1SD+) by genotype interaction, non-significant at any channel pair.

Resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry is a promising marker of risk for major d... more Resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry is a promising marker of risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) and propensities to engage in less approach-than withdrawal-motivated behaviors across situations. The capability model of individual differences in EEG asymmetry (Coan, Allen, & McKnight, 2006) suggests, however, that brain activity during emotional challenge will provide a stronger index of the capacity for depressed individuals to engage in approach and withdrawal responses when emotion regulation may be needed. Frontal EEG asymmetry during rest and emotional challenge of approach (anger, happiness) and withdrawal (fear, sadness) was assessed on 4 occasions in 203 individuals age 18-34 (31% male) with (n = 93) and without (n = 110) a diagnosis of lifetime MDD (MDD+ and MDD-). Although results for men were not entirely consistent, findings for women were very clear: MDD+ women exhibited greater relative right frontal activity (lower right frontal alpha power) than MDD-women across conditions. Importantly, EEG asymmetry during the emotional challenge task was a more powerful indicator of lifetime MDD status than resting asymmetry in women, evidence in support of the capability model. Additionally, MDD+ women displayed lower bilateral alpha power during the emotional challenge conditions than MDD-women, indicating that different mechanisms may underlie patterns of state and trait asymmetry as a function of lifetime MDD status in women. Dispositional Model of EEG Asymmetry: Frontal EEG asymmetry at rest is thought to reflect individual differences in dispositional style, or a general tendency to engage in approach or withdrawal motivation or behaviors. For example, less left than right resting frontal EEG activity (e.g., Allen et al., 2004b) may reflect reduced approach motivation and sensitivity to reward that may tap a diathesis toward the development of depression (Davidson et al., 2002). However, this relationship is typically of a small to medium effect size, and with methodological differences across laboratories influencing results (e.g., Allen et al., 2004a; Davidson, 1998; Hagemann, 2004). Capability Model of EEG Asymmetry: Individual differences in depression should be more powerful during approach and withdrawal emotional challenges than at rest, potentially powerful enough to reduce the influence of methodological differences across labs (Coan et al., 2006).

Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders, 2014

Background: Social anxiety has been associated with potentiated negative affect and, more recentl... more Background: Social anxiety has been associated with potentiated negative affect and, more recently, with diminished positive affect. It is unclear how these alterations in negative and positive affect are represented neurally in socially anxious individuals and, further, whether they generalize to non-social stimuli. To explore this, we used a monetary incentive paradigm to explore the association between social anxiety and both the anticipation and consumption of non-social incentives. Eighty-four individuals from a longitudinal community sample underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participating in a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. The MID task consisted of alternating cues indicating the potential to win or prevent losing varying amounts of money based on the speed of the participant's response. We examined whether self-reported levels of social anxiety, averaged across approximately 7 years of data, moderated brain activity when contrasting gain or loss cues with neutral cues during the anticipation and outcome phases of incentive processing. Whole brain analyses and analyses restricted to the ventral striatum for the anticipation phase and the medial prefrontal cortex for the outcome phase were conducted. Results: Social anxiety did not associate with differences in hit rates or reaction times when responding to cues. Further, socially anxious individuals did not exhibit decreased ventral striatum activity during anticipation of gains or decreased MPFC activity during the outcome of gain trials, contrary to expectations based on literature indicating blunted positive affect in social anxiety. Instead, social anxiety showed positive associations with extensive regions implicated in default mode network activity (for example, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and parietal lobe) during anticipation and receipt of monetary gain. Social anxiety was further linked with decreased activity in the ventral striatum during anticipation of monetary loss. Conclusions: Socially anxious individuals may increase default mode network activity during reward processing, suggesting high self-focused attention even in relation to potentially rewarding stimuli lacking explicit social connotations. Additionally, social anxiety may relate to decreased ventral striatum reactivity when anticipating potential losses.

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2012

Neurobiological investigations of empathy often support an embodied simulation account. Using fun... more Neurobiological investigations of empathy often support an embodied simulation account. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we monitored statistical associations between brain activations indicating self-focused threat to those indicating threats to a familiar friend or an unfamiliar stranger. Results in regions such as the anterior insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus indicate that self-focused threat activations are robustly correlated with friend-focused threat activations but not stranger-focused threat activations. These results suggest that one of the defining features of human social bonding may be increasing levels of overlap between neural representations of self and other. This article presents a novel and important methodological approach to fMRI empathy studies, which informs how differences in brain activation can be detected in such studies and how covariate approaches can provide novel and important information regarding the brain and empathy.

Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2011

Social proximity and interaction attenuate cardiovascular arousal, facilitate the development of ... more Social proximity and interaction attenuate cardiovascular arousal, facilitate the development of nonanxious temperament, inhibit the release of stress hormones, reduce threat-related neural activation, and generally promote health and longevity. Conversely, social subordination, rejection and isolation are powerful sources of stress and compromised health. Drawing on the biological principle of economy of action, perception ⁄ action links, and the brain's propensity to act as a Bayesian predictor, Social Baseline Theory (SBT) proposes that the primary ecology to which human beings are adapted is one that is rich with other humans. Moreover, SBT suggests that the presence of other people helps individuals to conserve important and often metabolically costly somatic and neural resources through the social regulation of emotion.

Social Neuroscience, 2020

Physical touch in the form of holding a loved one's hand attenuates the neural response to threat... more Physical touch in the form of holding a loved one's hand attenuates the neural response to threat (Coan, Schaefer, & Davidson, 2006). Speculation regarding the neural mediation of this effect points to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which is known to have inhibitory connections with threat responsive brain regions such as the amygdala. Despite the attractiveness of this hypothesis, a link between the vmPFC and diminished threat during handholding has been difficult to demonstrate empirically. Here we report that in a sample of 110 participants no evidence for vmPFC mediation of the handholding effect was obtained. Indeed, results indicated that connectivity patterns between threat responsive salience network structures and the vmPFC were in the opposite direction one would predict if the vmPFC mediated reductions in neural threat-responding caused by partner handholding. Our findings suggest that the vmPFC does not mediate the regulating effect of physical contact on neural threat responses.

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2017

Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether thi... more Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether this is due to trait differences in abilities or effects of the experimental context. This study sought to determine how social context, individual differences in fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and task difficulty interact to influence working memory performance as indicated by effectiveness (accuracy) and efficiency (reaction times). Participants (N = 61) performed the n-back task at 2-back and 3-back difficulty levels under three conditions: alone (“Anonymous”), in presence of a non-evaluative experimenter (“Presence”), and under explicit performance evaluation by the experimenter (“Threat”). Overall, participants showed improved accuracy during Threat, but only on 2-back trials. FNE was positively associated with longer reaction times during Threat on 3-back trials. FNE did not relate to accuracy, suggesting that threat-related impairments tied to social anxiety may alter efficiency ...

Psychosomatic Medicine, 2017

Objective-Social support is associated with better health. This association may be partly mediate... more Objective-Social support is associated with better health. This association may be partly mediated through the social regulation of adrenomedullary activity related to poor cardiovascular health and glucocorticoid activity known to inhibit immune functioning. These physiological cascades originate in the hypothalamic areas that are involved in the neural response to threat. We investigated whether the down regulation, by social support, of hypothalamic responses to threat is associated with better subjective health. Methods-A diverse community sample of seventy-five individuals, ages 23-26, were recruited from an ongoing longitudinal study. Participants completed the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) a well-validated self report measure used to assess subjective general health. They were scanned, using fMRI, during a threat of shock paradigm involving various levels of social support, which was manipulated using hand-holding from a close relational partner, a stranger, and an alone condition. We focused on a hypothalamic region of interest (ROI) derived from an independent sample to examine the association between hypothalamic activity and subjective general health. Results-Results revealed a significant interaction between handholding condition and selfreported general health, F(2, 72) = 3.53, p = .032, partial η 2 = .05. Down regulation of the hypothalamic ROI during partner handholding corresponded with higher self-ratings of general health, ß □= −.31, p =.007. Conclusion-Higher self-ratings of general health correspond with decreased hypothalamic activity during a task that blends threat with supportive handholding. These results suggest that associations between social support and health are partly mediated through the social regulation of hypothalamic sensitivity to threat.

Choice Reviews Online, 2008

Emotion research has become a mature branch of psychology, with its own standardized measures, in... more Emotion research has become a mature branch of psychology, with its own standardized measures, induction procedures, data-analysis challenges, and sub-disciplines. During the last decade, a number of books addressing major questions in the study of emotion have been published in response to a rapidly increasing demand that has been fueled by an increasing number of psychologists whose research either focus on or involve the study of emotion. Very few of these books, however, have presented an explicit discussion of the ...

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2017

Strong social ties correspond with better health and well being, but the neural mechanisms linkin... more Strong social ties correspond with better health and well being, but the neural mechanisms linking social contact to health remain speculative. This study extends work on the social regulation of brain activity by supportive handholding in 110 participants (51 female) of diverse racial and socioeconomic origins. In addition to main effects of social regulation by handholding, we assessed the moderating effects of both perceived social support and relationship status (married, cohabiting, dating or platonic friends). Results suggest that, under threat of shock, handholding by familiar relational partners attenuates both subjective distress and activity in a network associated with salience, vigilance and regulatory self-control. Moreover, greater perceived social support corresponded with less brain activity in an extended network associated with similar processes, but only during partner handholding. In contrast, we did not observe any regulatory effects of handholding by strangers, and relationship status did not moderate the regulatory effects of partner handholding. These findings suggest that contact with a familiar relational partner is likely to attenuate subjective distress and a variety of neural responses associated with the presence of threat. This effect is likely enhanced by an individual's expectation of the availability of support from their wider social network.

Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience, Jan 5, 2017

Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activ... more Research suggests that midline posterior versus frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) theta activity (PFTA) may reflect a novel neurophysiological index of approach motivation. Elevated PFTA has been associated with approach-related tendencies both at rest and during laboratory tasks designed to enhance approach motivation. PFTA is sensitive to changes in dopamine signaling within the fronto-striatal neural circuit, which is centrally involved in approach motivation, reward processing, and goal-directed behavior. To date, however, no studies have examined PFTA during a laboratory task designed to reduce approach motivation or goal-directed behavior. Considerable animal and human research supports the hypothesis put forth by the learned helplessness theory that exposure to uncontrollable aversive stimuli decreases approach motivation by inducing a state of perceived uncontrollability. Accordingly, the present study examined the effect of perceived uncontrollability (i.e., learned hel...

The Annals of Applied Statistics, 2015

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2013

Figure 2a & b: Interactions of genotype (risk vs non-risk) and Z-scored PSWQ scores (1 SD+ & 1SD-... more Figure 2a & b: Interactions of genotype (risk vs non-risk) and Z-scored PSWQ scores (1 SD+ & 1SD-) predicting frontal asymmetry. Left (A): PSWQ (1SD+) by genotype interaction, non-significant at any channel pair.

Resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry is a promising marker of risk for major d... more Resting frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry is a promising marker of risk for major depressive disorder (MDD) and propensities to engage in less approach-than withdrawal-motivated behaviors across situations. The capability model of individual differences in EEG asymmetry (Coan, Allen, & McKnight, 2006) suggests, however, that brain activity during emotional challenge will provide a stronger index of the capacity for depressed individuals to engage in approach and withdrawal responses when emotion regulation may be needed. Frontal EEG asymmetry during rest and emotional challenge of approach (anger, happiness) and withdrawal (fear, sadness) was assessed on 4 occasions in 203 individuals age 18-34 (31% male) with (n = 93) and without (n = 110) a diagnosis of lifetime MDD (MDD+ and MDD-). Although results for men were not entirely consistent, findings for women were very clear: MDD+ women exhibited greater relative right frontal activity (lower right frontal alpha power) than MDD-women across conditions. Importantly, EEG asymmetry during the emotional challenge task was a more powerful indicator of lifetime MDD status than resting asymmetry in women, evidence in support of the capability model. Additionally, MDD+ women displayed lower bilateral alpha power during the emotional challenge conditions than MDD-women, indicating that different mechanisms may underlie patterns of state and trait asymmetry as a function of lifetime MDD status in women. Dispositional Model of EEG Asymmetry: Frontal EEG asymmetry at rest is thought to reflect individual differences in dispositional style, or a general tendency to engage in approach or withdrawal motivation or behaviors. For example, less left than right resting frontal EEG activity (e.g., Allen et al., 2004b) may reflect reduced approach motivation and sensitivity to reward that may tap a diathesis toward the development of depression (Davidson et al., 2002). However, this relationship is typically of a small to medium effect size, and with methodological differences across laboratories influencing results (e.g., Allen et al., 2004a; Davidson, 1998; Hagemann, 2004). Capability Model of EEG Asymmetry: Individual differences in depression should be more powerful during approach and withdrawal emotional challenges than at rest, potentially powerful enough to reduce the influence of methodological differences across labs (Coan et al., 2006).

Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders, 2014

Background: Social anxiety has been associated with potentiated negative affect and, more recentl... more Background: Social anxiety has been associated with potentiated negative affect and, more recently, with diminished positive affect. It is unclear how these alterations in negative and positive affect are represented neurally in socially anxious individuals and, further, whether they generalize to non-social stimuli. To explore this, we used a monetary incentive paradigm to explore the association between social anxiety and both the anticipation and consumption of non-social incentives. Eighty-four individuals from a longitudinal community sample underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participating in a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. The MID task consisted of alternating cues indicating the potential to win or prevent losing varying amounts of money based on the speed of the participant's response. We examined whether self-reported levels of social anxiety, averaged across approximately 7 years of data, moderated brain activity when contrasting gain or loss cues with neutral cues during the anticipation and outcome phases of incentive processing. Whole brain analyses and analyses restricted to the ventral striatum for the anticipation phase and the medial prefrontal cortex for the outcome phase were conducted. Results: Social anxiety did not associate with differences in hit rates or reaction times when responding to cues. Further, socially anxious individuals did not exhibit decreased ventral striatum activity during anticipation of gains or decreased MPFC activity during the outcome of gain trials, contrary to expectations based on literature indicating blunted positive affect in social anxiety. Instead, social anxiety showed positive associations with extensive regions implicated in default mode network activity (for example, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and parietal lobe) during anticipation and receipt of monetary gain. Social anxiety was further linked with decreased activity in the ventral striatum during anticipation of monetary loss. Conclusions: Socially anxious individuals may increase default mode network activity during reward processing, suggesting high self-focused attention even in relation to potentially rewarding stimuli lacking explicit social connotations. Additionally, social anxiety may relate to decreased ventral striatum reactivity when anticipating potential losses.

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2013

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2012

Neurobiological investigations of empathy often support an embodied simulation account. Using fun... more Neurobiological investigations of empathy often support an embodied simulation account. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we monitored statistical associations between brain activations indicating self-focused threat to those indicating threats to a familiar friend or an unfamiliar stranger. Results in regions such as the anterior insula, putamen and supramarginal gyrus indicate that self-focused threat activations are robustly correlated with friend-focused threat activations but not stranger-focused threat activations. These results suggest that one of the defining features of human social bonding may be increasing levels of overlap between neural representations of self and other. This article presents a novel and important methodological approach to fMRI empathy studies, which informs how differences in brain activation can be detected in such studies and how covariate approaches can provide novel and important information regarding the brain and empathy.

Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2011

Social proximity and interaction attenuate cardiovascular arousal, facilitate the development of ... more Social proximity and interaction attenuate cardiovascular arousal, facilitate the development of nonanxious temperament, inhibit the release of stress hormones, reduce threat-related neural activation, and generally promote health and longevity. Conversely, social subordination, rejection and isolation are powerful sources of stress and compromised health. Drawing on the biological principle of economy of action, perception ⁄ action links, and the brain's propensity to act as a Bayesian predictor, Social Baseline Theory (SBT) proposes that the primary ecology to which human beings are adapted is one that is rich with other humans. Moreover, SBT suggests that the presence of other people helps individuals to conserve important and often metabolically costly somatic and neural resources through the social regulation of emotion.

PLoS ONE, 2011

Indicators of temperament appear early in infancy and remain relatively stable over time. Despite... more Indicators of temperament appear early in infancy and remain relatively stable over time. Despite a great deal of interest in biological indices of temperament, most studies of infant temperament rely on parental reports or behavioral tasks. Thus, the extent to which commonly used temperament measures relate to potential biological indicators of infant temperament is still relatively unknown. The current experiment examines the relationship between a common parental report measure of temperament-the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R)-and measures of frontal EEG asymmetry in infants. We examined associations between the subscales of the IBQ-R and frontal EEG asymmetry scores recorded during a combined series of neutral attentional and putatively emotional recording conditions in infants between 7 and 9 months of age. We predicted that approach-related subscales of the IBQ-R (e.g., Approach, Soothability) would be related to greater left prefrontal asymmetry, while withdrawal-related subscales (e.g., Distress to Limitations, Fear, Falling Reactivity, Perceptual Sensitivity) would be related to greater right prefrontal asymmetry. In the mid-and lateral-frontal regions, Approach, Distress to Limitations, Fear, Soothability, and Perceptual Sensitivity were generally associated with greater left frontal activation (rs$.23, ps,0.05), while only Falling Reactivity was associated with greater right frontal activation (rs#2.44, ps,0.05). Results suggest that variability in frontal EEG asymmetry is robustly associated with parental report measures of temperament in infancy.