Social Neuroscience最新文献

Social threat is both a source and consequence of implicit bias against Asian Americans, who are often stereotyped as "perpetual foreigners," posing some threat to (white) American values. The implicit nature of these attitudes makes investigating anti-Asian bias difficult as self-report and behavioral data suffer from social desirability and learning effects. To investigate implicit social threat in anti-Asian bias, we presented participants with a passage critical of American values, purportedly written by a white American (ingroup) or by an Asian American author (outgroup). We utilized electrodermal responses (GSR) to measure autonomic arousal, and cerebral blood oxygenation (fNIRS) to measure cognitive control. Our results suggest that implicit social threats are physiologically represented similar to other feelings of threat, which become more extreme when interacting with a perceived outgroup member. Follow-up analyses suggest that the autonomic responses are moderated by higher-order cognitions, evidenced by changes in blood oxygenation in the anterior and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which occurred independently of behavioral responses obtained after the experimental manipulation. Together, these results indicate that while more abstract feelings of threat are implicitly represented in a salient physiological manner, higher-order cognitive faculties can attenuate them, and innate attitudes need not supersede mindful and learned behavior.

The inconsistent change of inequity aversion under procedural justice may result from the individual difference of cognitive processing ability for information. Deaf college students' social cognition is challenged by systemic barriers that limit inclusive communication and social interaction. However, it is still unknown how inequity aversion manifests among deaf college students in the context of procedural justice. In this study, we recruited 28 deaf and 31 hearing college students by using a modified dictator game combined with Event-related potentials (ERPs). Behavioral results showed that all participants were more satisfied with equitable offer, extremely advantageous inequitable and moderately advantageous inequitable offers, followed by moderately disadvantageous inequitable offers, and lowest for extremely disadvantageous inequitable offers. Interestingly, we found only in deaf college students that the extremely, moderately advantageous inequitable and moderately disadvantageous inequitable offers all induced more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN) than equitable offer. Furthermore, the equitable offer induced more positive P300 than any of the inequitable offers. The results indicated that even under procedural justice, deaf college students still exhibit pronounced inequity aversion, highlighting their preference to fairness norms. These findings empirically characterize inequity aversion in special populations and provide theoretical support for enhancing educational integration in colleges and universities.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common disorder influenced by biopsychosocial factors. There is conflicting and insufficient evidence regarding the role of neuropeptides such as Orexin-A and Oxytocin (OCT) and its association with empathy in MDD. This study aimed to address this question which is not only important for a better neurobiological understanding but could also lead to novel biomarkers. Sixty-nine antidepressant-free patients (48 females, 21 males) diagnosed with MDD according to DSM-5 criteria and 32 healthy controls (19 females, 13 males) were included. Serum Orexin-A and OCT levels were measured, and empathy and depression were assessed using the Basic Empathy Scale and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Patients showed lower cognitive empathy than controls (Z = 4.161, p < 0.001), with significant differences only in females. Emotional and total empathy scores did not differ between groups. Patients had higher serum OCT levels (Z = 1.989, p = 0.047), while Orexin-A levels showed no clear group differences. Longer illness duration and more depressive episodes were modestly associated with higher emotional and total empathy. OCT levels showed a weak positive association with cognitive empathy. Lower cognitive empathy and elevated OCT levels may relate to depressive pathology, but further studies are needed to clarify these relationships.

Romantic partners rely on key information from their partner's face to facilitate optimal social connections. Evidence suggests that the brain differentially responds to a partner's face as evidenced by event-related potentials (ERPs). Yet, little is known about how ERP responses are modulated by day-to-day biological or psychological shifts. In this study, we examined whether daily experiences related to feeling loved by ones' partner influenced brain responses. Twenty-eight adult romantic partners (20-40 years old) completed twice-daily surveys prior to completing a passive ERP face perception task. Amplitudes were larger to partner's face relative to celebrity (peak N250, mean P3) or stranger faces (mean P3). Greater mean level of feeling loved by partner was related to more negative N250 amplitudes and more positive P3 amplitudes across all conditions (partner, celebrity, and stranger faces). Persons with less variability in feeling loved by partner had more negative N250 amplitudes in response to their partner's face. These results suggest that daily experiences modulate neural markers of familiarity (N250, P3) and that less stability in feeling loved may influence facial identity retrieval for individuals giving the love.

This explorative hyperscanning EEG whole-brain study describes activation networks within and between brains representing leading and following behavior. The directed information flow was analyzed for singles and pairs of brains simultaneously activated using the graph-based algorithm of PCMCI. This algorithm was previously tested for frontal activations in singles and pairs of brains, returning significant directed statistical dependencies. The participants led and followed each other using a minimal model based on rhythmic tapping. This whole-brain study resulted in directed causal connections representing neuronal networks for the social activities studied. The brain regions exhibiting the highest number of connections were chosen for further analysis from the extensive network of connections. This resulted in four networks representing within-brain and between-brains, respectively, for leading and following. Network commonalities aligned with previous research of leading and following reflecting cognition, working memory and social cognition, visual attention, and motoric engagement. Follower networks exhibited socially adaptive activations. The between-brain networks appear to involve more brain regions, possibly reflecting the more complex situation involving another person. The PCMCI could prove to be a suitable tool for identifying whole-brain networks of directed causality that represent leading and following, both within and between brains, using hyperscanning EEG data.

Parents' empathic responses are crucial in shaping children's attitudes. Empathy triggers positive emotional responses, which facilitate adaptive moral judgment and utilitarian decisions. However, no study has examined the role of parental empathy in influencing children's moral reasoning and their underlying neural responses. In this study, we investigated the association between mothers' empathy levels and children's moral decisions and brain activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). 19 children wore a 20-channel functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) cap with a standard PFC montage while discussing preschool-aged stories with their mothers. We measured mothers' empathy levels using the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire and their preschool children's empathic tendencies by asking whether they would help the characters of these stories with simple chores in hypothetical scenarios. Findings showed that children are disposed to behave in ways parallel to their mother's attitudes. Empathic mothers have children who make prosocial decisions rooted in empathic mentalization. These helpful children also have higher activations in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the brain area associated with ethical decision-making. This study highlights the impact of parent-child communication in strengthening children's moral knowledge and moral emotions and emphasizes that parents' attitudes and interactions play a significant role in children's decision-making abilities.

We systematically investigated the application of embodied hyperscanning methodologies in social neuroscience research. Hyperscanning enables the simultaneous recording of neurophysiological and physiological signals from multiple participants. We highlight the trend toward integrating Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) within the 4E research framework, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of brain, body, and environment. Our analysis revealed a geographic concentration of studies in the Global North, calling for global collaboration and transcultural research to balance the field. The predominant use of Magneto/Electroencephalogram (M/EEG) in these studies suggests a traditional brain-centric perspective in social neuroscience. Future research directions should focus on integrating diverse techniques to capture the dynamic interplay between brain and body functions in real-world contexts. Our review also finds a preference for tasks involving natural settings. Nevertheless, the analysis in hyperscanning studies is often limited to physiological signal synchrony between participants. This suggests a need for more holistic and complex approaches that combine inter-corporeal synchrony with intra-individual measures. We believe that the future of the neuroscience of relationships lies in embracing the complexity of cognition, integrating diverse methods and theories to enrich our grasp of human social behavior in its natural contexts.

As individuals increasingly engage in social interactions through digital mediums, understanding the neuroscientific underpinnings of such exchanges becomes a critical challenge and a valuable opportunity. In line with a second-person neuroscience approach, understanding the forms of interpersonal syntonisation that occur during digital interactions is pivotal for grasping the mechanisms underlying successful collaboration in virtual spaces. The hyperscanning paradigm, involving the simultaneous monitoring of the brains and bodies of multiple interacting individuals, seems to be a powerful tool for unravelling the neural correlates of interpersonal syntonisation in social exchanges. We posit that such approach can now open new windows on interacting brains' responses even to digitally-conveyed social cues, offering insights into how social information is processed in the absence of traditional face-to-face settings. Yet, such paradigm shift raises challenging methodological questions, which should be answered properly to conduct significant and informative hyperscanning investigations. Here, we provide an introduction to core methodological issues dedicated to novices approaching the design of hyperscanning investigations of remote exchanges in natural settings, focusing on the selection of neuroscientific devices, synchronization of data streams, and data analysis approaches. Finally, a methodological checklist for devising robust hyperscanning studies on digital interactions is presented.

Obesity is linked to notable psychological risks, particularly in social interactions where individuals with high body mass index (BMI) often encounter stigmatization and difficulties in forming and maintaining social connections. Although awareness of these issues is growing, there is a lack of research on real-time, dynamic interactions involving dyads with various BMI levels. To address this gap, our study employed a joint finger-tapping task, where participant dyads engaged in coordinated activity while their brain activity was monitored using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Our findings showed that both Bidirectional and Unidirectional Interaction conditions exhibited higher levels of behavioral and interbrain synchrony compared to the No Interaction condition. Notably, only in the Bidirectional Interaction condition, higher dyadic BMI was significantly correlated with poorer behavioral coordination and reduced interbrain synchrony. This finding suggests that the ability to maintain social coordination, particularly in scenarios requiring continuous mutual prediction and adjustment, is modulated by dyads' BMI.

The explosion of digital media has emerged quickly from the convergence of technological advances, pandemic urgency, and cultural changes that have now taken hold in the daily life of people around the world. With cell phone, tablet and laptop devices as well as broad internet service available to an estimated two-thirds of the world's population, the landscape of social interaction continues to change. "Social media" for personal, educational, business, health and other purposes is being used daily. With this shift, the field of social neuroscience has begun to consider both digital and in-person interactions. The hyperscanning technique lends itself well to this challenge and is beginning to be applied to study of varied social constructs as well as clinical samples. This special issue has assembled a set of papers specifically focused on hyperscanning as an informative approach to investigating digital vs. in-person interactions. Papers present conceptual, methodological, and primary data findings. Authors address issues of interpersonal stress regulation, shared and distinctive bodily and physiological characteristics of digital vs. in-person experiences, the effects of prior social interaction on emotional contagion, and the possible influence of BMI on neural synchrony during motor coordination.