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Social support benefits its recipients — but may also benefit support givers with improved physical and psychological well-being, including decreased mortality. Maternal caregiving behavior in animals has been associated with activation of the reward-related ventral striatum and the septal area, a reward-related pleasure center also associated with fear reduction. To see whether caregiving similarly affects humans, researchers conducted magnetic resonance imaging scans of 20 romantically connected women, all very happy with their partners and comfortable with touching them, while they held the arm of their male partners who were receiving painful electric shocks (i.e., the “support-giving” condition).
Each woman was also scanned during three control conditions (holding her partner's arm during a nonshock trial and holding a rubber “squeeze” ball during her partner's shock and nonshock trials). Greater activity in both the ventral striatum and septal area was observed during the support-giving condition compared with control conditions. In self-ratings performed after each trial, women's greater feelings of support effectiveness and social connection were associated with greater septal area and ventral striatum activity. Moreover, greater septal activity during support giving was associated with lower activity in both the right and left amygdalae, consistent with fear reduction.
Inagaki TK and Eisenberger NI. Neural correlates of giving support to a loved one. Psychosom Med 2011 Nov 9; [e-pub ahead of print]. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e3182359335)
Comment
These findings are concordant with the presence of mammalian pathways that reward caregivers while inhibiting fear and perhaps reducing their pain distress. The authors note that the septal area, ventral striatum, and amygdala have many oxytocin receptors. Studies examining concurrent neuro-humoral events involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (including oxytocin) during caregiving would be of interest. These acute processes may shift over time and become less beneficial during chronic caregiving. For clinicians educating caregivers, these findings support the view that “giving has its own rewards.”