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Updated: Feb 22, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation
Published on: August 26, 2011
Cultural differences in the neural correlates of social-emotional feelings: an interdisciplinary, developmental
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang1, Xiao-Fei Yang2
1Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA; Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Abstract:
Social neuroscience has documented cultural differences in emotional brain functioning. Most recently, these differences have been extended to include cultural effects on the real-time neural correlates of social-emotional feelings. Here we review these findings and use them to illustrate a biopsychosocial framework for studying acculturated social-affective functioning and development. We argue that understanding cultural differences in emotion neurobiology requires probing their social origins and connection with individuals' subjective, lived experiences. We suggest that an interdisciplinary, developmental perspective would advance scientific understanding by enabling the invention of protocols aligning neurobiological measures with techniques for documenting cultural contexts, social relationships and subjective experiences. Such work would also facilitate insights in applied fields struggling to accommodate cultural variation, such as psychiatry and education.
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