Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations during resting state predicts social well-being

Social well-being represents primarily public phenomena, which is crucial for mental and physical health. However, little is known about the neural basis of this construct, especially how it is maintained during resting state. To explore the neural correlates of social well-being, this study correlated the regional fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) with social well-being of healthy individuals. The results revealed that the fALFF in the bilateral posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right thalamus and right insula positively predicted individual differences in social well-being. Furthermore, we demonstrated the different role of three pursuits of human well-being (i.e., pleasure, meaning and engagement) in these associations. Specifically, the pursuits of meaning and engagement, not pleasure mediated the effect of the fALFF in right pSTG on social well-being, whereas the pursuit of engagement mediated the effect of the fALFF in right thalamus on social well-being. Taken together, we provide the first evidence that spontaneous brain activity in multiple regions related to self-regulatory and social-cognitive processes contributes to social well-being, suggesting that the spontaneous activity of the human brain reflects the efficiency of social well-being.