Neural Correlates of Giving Support to a Loved One 男女之間, 施比受更有福, 您同意嗎？

男女之間, 施比受更有福, 您同意嗎？每當人們提到社會支持對健康有益時，一般我們都假定從別人那裡會得到支持，UCLA心理學助理教授Naomi Eisenberger提出了不一樣的看法：當我們給予心愛的人支持時，對自己的健康也大有好處。

Social support may benefit mental and physical well-being, but most research has focused on the receipt, rather than the provision, of social support. We explored the potentially beneficial effects of support giving by examining the neural substrates of giving support to a loved one. We focused on a priori regions of interest in the ventral striatum and septal area (SA) because of their role in maternal caregiving behavior in animals.

Eisenberger 和 Tristen Inagaki研究了20對年輕的異性伴侶。該20名女友接受功能性磁振造影(fMRI)的同時, 也看著男友接受電擊。他們有時被允許握住男友的手提供支持，而有時只能握著一個握力球來替代。另有時男友並沒有遭受電擊，此時女友可以自由選擇是否要碰觸男友。

研究發現，當女性可以給予遭受電擊的男友支持時，大腦中和獎勵相關的神經活動與區域，包括腹紋狀體(ventral striatum)及隔區(septal area)活動量增加。在沒有提供支持的情況下，這些區域的活動量下降。

Twenty romantic couples completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session in which the female partner underwent a scan while her partner stood just outside the scanner and received unpleasant electric shocks.

Eisenberger 表示，這些區域通常對簡單的獎勵有反應，像是金錢、食物或性。給予他人支持也能活化這個區域，顯示給予支持在獎勵經驗中，可能是非常基本的類型。研究人員還發現，在隔區的神經活動越大，杏仁核(amygdala)的活動量就會被抑制，這可以達到減壓的作用。

Support giving (holding a partner’s arm while they experienced physical pain), compared with other control conditions, led to significantly more activity in the ventral striatum, a reward-related region also involved in maternal behavior (p values < .05). Similar effects were observed for the SA, a region involved in both maternal behavior and fear attenuation. Greater activity in each of these regions during support giving was associated with greater self-reported support giving effectiveness and social connection (r values = 0.55–0.64, p values < .05). In addition, in line with the SA’s role in fear attenuation (presumably to facilitate caregiving during stress), increased SA activity during support giving was associated with reduced left (r = −0.44, p < .05) and right (r = −0.42, p < .05) amygdala activity.

Inagaki提到，當女友在男友接受電擊給予支持，比起觸碰沒有受到電擊的男友時，腦部和獎勵相關的區域活動量大幅增加。這令人感到驚訝，我們總會認為觸碰沒有遭受電擊的男友應該會感到更愉快，但事實正好相反。

Results suggest that support giving may be beneficial not only for the receiver but also for the giver. Implications for the possible stress-reducing effects of support giving are discussed.

 

Eisenberger 認為提供我們親近的人支持，例如家人、兒童，能提升他們的存活率，這樣的行為對物種生存是有利的。因此在我們的演化過程中，給予支持可能成為了心理上的一種獎勵，以確保這種行為能夠被延續。 (University of California – Los Angeles (2011, November 9). ‘Tis better to give than to receive? Life scientists find that giving support offers health benefits — to the giver. Science Daily.)