Upon incorporating social cognitive mechanisms, it regulates one's exposure to social, biological and environmental pathogens and toxins. 

Social cognition=> acquiring social information about a person (social recognition) and from others (social learning)

The entire pathway is designed around recognizing and evaluating the dangers posed by the toxins, pathogens, contaminants and parasites, and assessing the social, cultural, environmental norms revolving around an interaction with these entities and/or an avoidance.
  

Social Disgust 

Not only does the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activate when one experiences disgust but so does the amygdala, ventromedial PFC, orbitofrontal cortex, insular cortex and the anterior cingulate.

The pathway for social and moral disgust is consistent with core disgust or gastrointestinal discomfort. 



State University of New York at Buffalo

Studies investigating different brain regions associated with emotion concluded that there is no singular brain region associated with a specific emotion. Rather, each emotion has different patterns of activation across several different brain regions.

Brain Regions Associated with Emotions

Carmelo M. Vicario, Robert D. Rafal, Davide Martino, Alessio Avenanti, Core, social and moral disgust are bounded: A review on behavioral and neural bases of repugnance in clinical disorders, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Volume 80, 2017, Pages 185 200, ISSN 0149-7634, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.008.

Neural basis for Disgust

J.S. Borg et al. Infection, Incest and Inquity: Investigating the Neural Correlates of Disgust and Morality. J Cog Nsci 20 (2008):1529.

Investigating the Neural Correlates of Disgust and Morality

Sapolsky, Robert M. Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Press: New York, NY. 2017. ISBN: 9780143110910

Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst

- A biological neural network, in theory, is an assemblage of structures that are able to regulate central nervous system automatisms with efficiency and pin-point accuracy.
- The concept of neural networks was originally coined in order to understand the construction of a neural circuit; it has since evolved to explaining circuitry functionality and interconnectedness with other networks and structures.
- The triple-network model of psychopathology, moreover, is representative of this idea, wherein the salience network (SN) serves as an interface between the frontoparietal network (FPN) and default mode network (DMN), allowing the integration and balance of neural processing with affective processes.

Biological Neural Network

- Experiments conducted by Andreas Bartels and Semir Zeki (2000) found that feelings of love increased activity in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex, as well as in the caudate and putamen. 

- Feelings of love also showed reduced activity in the posterior cingulate and amygdala, as well as the right prefrontal cortex. 


The Love Pathway

-PET images of adult subjects asked to reexperience episodes of happiness showed increased activity in the right posterior cingulate cortex and left insula,  as well as decreased activity in the left anterior cingulate cortex.

The Happiness Pathway

-PET images of adult subjects asked to reexperience episodes of anger showed increased activity in the left anterior cingulate cortex and pons.



Neural Pathway for Anger

-PET images of adult subjects asked to reexperience episodes of sadness showed increased activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and dorsal pons, as well as decreased activity in the posterior cingulate cortex.

The Sadness Pathway

The Disgust Pathway

A neuroscientist conducts a study where participants view images designed to evoke fear. Using fMRI scans, the researcher observes significant activation in the amygdala. Based on this finding, the researcher publishes a paper concluding that the amygdala is the brain's 'fear center.' Based on the contemporary understanding of how the brain processes emotions, evaluate the researcher's conclusion. Why is this conclusion likely an oversimplification?

Interpreting Brain Imaging Research

The limbic system is made up of a number of different structures that are involved in processing both emotion and memory. Three of its most important components include the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the hypothalamus.

Learn Before

Related

Learn After