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postgraduate thesis: The neuropsychological relationships of perceived loneliness and affective functioning

TitleThe neuropsychological relationships of perceived loneliness and affective functioning
Authors
Advisors
Advisor(s):Lee, TMC
Issue Date2017
PublisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)
Citation
Wong, M. N. [黃聞洛]. (2017). The neuropsychological relationships of perceived loneliness and affective functioning. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR.
AbstractPerceived loneliness and objective social isolation both fall under the broader concept of social exclusion. Perceived loneliness refers to subjective negative feelings in response to a perceived discrepancy between one’s actual and desired social relationships. Objective social isolation, on the other hand, refers to a situation in which an individual has limited ties with the social world. Specifically, individuals who perceive themselves as more lonely have altered affective functioning that may have an underlying neuropsychological basis. This thesis reports the findings of a series of studies that explored the neuropsychological mediators and moderators of the relationships between perceived loneliness and affective functioning. Feelings of loneliness are particularly intense during adolescence as this period typically involves dramatic social changes and emotional experiences that are accompanied by brain maturation. Therefore, developing a greater understanding of perceived loneliness in individuals during this critical developmental period will provide important insight into the neuropsychological basis of affective functioning in developing brains. Previous literature has suggested that the attentional system in the brain has an impact on the association between perceived loneliness and affective functioning. Chapter Two reports a task-based fMRI study of an emotion-word Stroop task. It was found that perceived loneliness is related to increased recruitment of the lateral frontal regions in adolescents in addition to subcortical activity, such that the cortical-subcortical connectivity is weaker than in adults. Brain connectivity during adolescence thus appears to be important to adolescents’ manifestation of loneliness. Chapter Three further investigates how the brain connectivity of the developing brain moderates the relationships between affect traits and perceived loneliness. The findings of this chapter reveal that the strength of brain connectivity plays a moderating role in the relationships between affect traits and perceived loneliness both within individuals and across siblings. As perceived loneliness is a subjective feeling varying substantially across individuals, Chapter Four investigates and identifies the structural brain and perceived loneliness as mediators of the association between objective social isolation and levels of depression. It is revealed that the gray matter within the anterior cingulate cortex is critical in mediating the relationship between objective social isolation and perceived loneliness, significantly relating to levels of depression. In addition to being higher during adolescence, perceived loneliness is also increased in the later stage of life. Feelings of loneliness are particularly intense amongst elderly individuals suffering from depression. Chapter Five studies how perceived loneliness is related to affective processing in an elderly population with and without late-life depression. By using a task-based fMRI paradigm, strong neuropsychological relationships between loneliness and affective functioning were found in depressed patients, confirming the adverse effect of perceived loneliness on neuropsychological and affective functioning in elderly patients with depression. Overall, perceived loneliness, as a subjective feeling, has a significant impact on affective functioning in younger and older brains, amongst both healthy and clinical populations. The findings reported in this thesis clearly reveal the significant implications of perceived loneliness on psychological health and encourage the development of interventions for remediating loneliness for the promotion of better affective well-being.
DegreeDoctor of Philosophy
SubjectAffective neuroscience
Loneliness
Dept/ProgramPsychology
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/255024

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.advisorLee, TMC-
dc.contributor.authorWong, Man-lok, Nichol-
dc.contributor.author黃聞洛-
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-21T03:41:58Z-
dc.date.available2018-06-21T03:41:58Z-
dc.date.issued2017-
dc.identifier.citationWong, M. N. [黃聞洛]. (2017). The neuropsychological relationships of perceived loneliness and affective functioning. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR.-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/255024-
dc.description.abstractPerceived loneliness and objective social isolation both fall under the broader concept of social exclusion. Perceived loneliness refers to subjective negative feelings in response to a perceived discrepancy between one’s actual and desired social relationships. Objective social isolation, on the other hand, refers to a situation in which an individual has limited ties with the social world. Specifically, individuals who perceive themselves as more lonely have altered affective functioning that may have an underlying neuropsychological basis. This thesis reports the findings of a series of studies that explored the neuropsychological mediators and moderators of the relationships between perceived loneliness and affective functioning. Feelings of loneliness are particularly intense during adolescence as this period typically involves dramatic social changes and emotional experiences that are accompanied by brain maturation. Therefore, developing a greater understanding of perceived loneliness in individuals during this critical developmental period will provide important insight into the neuropsychological basis of affective functioning in developing brains. Previous literature has suggested that the attentional system in the brain has an impact on the association between perceived loneliness and affective functioning. Chapter Two reports a task-based fMRI study of an emotion-word Stroop task. It was found that perceived loneliness is related to increased recruitment of the lateral frontal regions in adolescents in addition to subcortical activity, such that the cortical-subcortical connectivity is weaker than in adults. Brain connectivity during adolescence thus appears to be important to adolescents’ manifestation of loneliness. Chapter Three further investigates how the brain connectivity of the developing brain moderates the relationships between affect traits and perceived loneliness. The findings of this chapter reveal that the strength of brain connectivity plays a moderating role in the relationships between affect traits and perceived loneliness both within individuals and across siblings. As perceived loneliness is a subjective feeling varying substantially across individuals, Chapter Four investigates and identifies the structural brain and perceived loneliness as mediators of the association between objective social isolation and levels of depression. It is revealed that the gray matter within the anterior cingulate cortex is critical in mediating the relationship between objective social isolation and perceived loneliness, significantly relating to levels of depression. In addition to being higher during adolescence, perceived loneliness is also increased in the later stage of life. Feelings of loneliness are particularly intense amongst elderly individuals suffering from depression. Chapter Five studies how perceived loneliness is related to affective processing in an elderly population with and without late-life depression. By using a task-based fMRI paradigm, strong neuropsychological relationships between loneliness and affective functioning were found in depressed patients, confirming the adverse effect of perceived loneliness on neuropsychological and affective functioning in elderly patients with depression. Overall, perceived loneliness, as a subjective feeling, has a significant impact on affective functioning in younger and older brains, amongst both healthy and clinical populations. The findings reported in this thesis clearly reveal the significant implications of perceived loneliness on psychological health and encourage the development of interventions for remediating loneliness for the promotion of better affective well-being.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherThe University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong)-
dc.relation.ispartofHKU Theses Online (HKUTO)-
dc.rightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights) and the right to use in future works.-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.subject.lcshAffective neuroscience-
dc.subject.lcshLoneliness-
dc.titleThe neuropsychological relationships of perceived loneliness and affective functioning-
dc.typePG_Thesis-
dc.description.thesisnameDoctor of Philosophy-
dc.description.thesislevelDoctoral-
dc.description.thesisdisciplinePsychology-
dc.description.naturepublished_or_final_version-
dc.identifier.doi10.5353/th_991044014361803414-
dc.date.hkucongregation2018-
dc.identifier.mmsid991044014361803414-

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