The differences in the neural correlates of criticism from parents, romantic partners and friends

Criticism is often an unpleasant but unavoidable occurrence in daily life and even regarded as a social threat. There is an abundance of literature demonstrating the association of excessive criticism with various psychopathology. However, neuroimaging studies examining the neural correlates of the response to criticism is emerging and limited largely to maternal criticism. The present study aims to investigate whether there are differences in neural responses towards criticism originating from sources of three different relationship types to the individual – romantic partners, friends and parents. Perceived criticism (PC) ratings for these relationships by each participant towards their own corresponding counterparts were collected. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure changes in oxygenated haemoglobin levels in the prefrontal cortex when participants (n = 50) read vignettes describing three different scenarios of criticism. Participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups where the given description of the relationship of the protagonist to the source of criticism for each vignette was randomised. No significant main effect of relationship type, gender or perceived criticism was found. A significant interaction effect between relationship type and perceived criticism ratings for mothers was found in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. High PC individuals showed increased activation when reading vignettes describing criticism from romantic partners and parents but decreased activation for those describing criticism from friends, as compared to low PC individuals. Findings contribute towards understanding neural responses of observing criticism from a third-party perspective. Further studies can look into differentiating neural responses of personalised experiences of criticism and third-party observations.Bachelor of Arts in Psycholog