Disapproval from romantic partners, friends and parents: source of criticism regulates prefrontal cortex activity

The prevalence of criticism in everyday social situations and empirically demonstrated association with psychopathology highlight the importance of understanding neural mechanisms underlying the perception and response of individuals towards criticism. However, neuroimaging studies have been limited largely to maternal criticism. The present study aims to investigate differences in neural responses to criticism originating from sources of three different relationship types: romantic partners, friends and parents. Perceived criticism (PC) ratings for these relationships by 50 participants were collected. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure changes in oxygenated haemoglobin levels in the prefrontal cortex when participants read vignettes describing three different scenarios of criticism, with random assignment to 3 groups where the relationship of the protagonist to the source of criticism for each vignette was randomised. A significant interaction effect between relationship type and perceived criticism ratings for mothers was found in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Compared to low PC, high PC individuals showed increased activation reading vignettes describing criticism from romantic partners and parents but decreased activation for those of friends. Findings contribute towards understanding neural responses to criticism observed from a third-party perspective. Further studies can look into differentiating neural responses of personalised experiences of criticism and third-party observations.