Social Cognitive Neuroscience

This paper explores the characteristics of the intuitive responses that are generated by our brain continuously in an automatic and effortless manner. However, while intuition is a very powerful mechanism, it is also subject to many biasing influences. The author discusses the role of intuition, examines representative examples of biasing influences, compares cognitive theories of intuition advanced by , , and then advances a hypothetical explanation of the neurological operations underlying intuition based on Hebbian rules (Hebb 1949) of plasticity in combination with synergetic principles.

The term "stigma" was first used by the Greeks to describe physical sins intended to highlight something peculiar and negative about the signifier's moral standing (Goffman, 1963). The signs, which were burned or sliced into the body, declared that the bearer was a traitor, a slave, or a criminal (in general a tarnished individual who should be avoided, particularly in public areas; Goffman, 1963) Stigma is a tool used by those who want to hold other people down, in order to achieve their goals and specifically in situations in which stigma processes serve the goals of stigmatisers with regard to the exploitation, domination, or exclusion of others (Link & Phelan, 2014). Over the past 20 years, there has been a significant increase in social science study on stigma, especially in social psychology, where scholars have clarified how people create cognitive categories and connect those categories to stereotyped views (Link & Phelan, 2001). In this multidisciplinary study we review stigma from a sociological standpoint by dwelling into the negative impact of stigma on society as well as from a neuroscientific standpoint by investigating the neural correlates of stigma.

This study introduces a novel framework that integrates social neuroscience and entrepreneurship to explore how neuronal pathways enable the transformation of individuals into entrepreneurs with robust capabilities. Moving beyond traditional individual-centric views, it investigates inter-individual neural and social synchronization, identifying neurosocial mediators that drive the development of entrepreneurial competencies within enterprises. By leveraging the extended mirror neuron system and neuroplasticity, this conceptual paper demonstrates how social learning processes activate and strengthen neural networks, resulting in emergent entrepreneurial behaviours. Employing a theory-bridging approach, this research develops a nomological network to predict relationships between entrepreneurial and neurosocial constructs, clarifying causal linkages, antecedents, outcomes, and contingencies. This framework offers a comprehensive understanding of how individual capabilities evolve into entrepreneurial capabilities, moving beyond assumptions of serendipity and simplistic aggregation.

To date, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying overt visual search. In two experiments, we concurrently recorded EEG and eye movements while participants searched for two identical targets amongst a set of distractors. In such a multiple-target paradigm, participants must continue the search after finding the first target and memorize its location. We investigated neural correlates of item processing in different stages of the search using fixation-related potentials (FRPs). Results of Experiment 1 showed that the detection of the first target elicited a P3-like component absent in distractor fixations. Furthermore, finding the first target influenced FRPs in continued search: a sustained negativity was observed for distractor fixations following the first target fixation, likely indicating the involvement of memory. In Experiment 2, display size was manipulated systematically (10, 22, 30 items). Eye movement analysis showed that the average number of fixations preceding the first target detection varied as a function of display size. We present FRPs for target fixations and discuss the influence of the number of preceding distractor fixations on their morphology. In addition, we analyzed the post-target negativity over longer time intervals and report on its temporal properties and functional role.

The study aims to understand the influence of religio-cultural right-wing persuasion in intercultural communication, as exhibited in a novel representing Pakistani national culture and Parsee minority culture. The methodology involves directed qualitative content analysis of Bapsi Sidhwa's novel "An American Brat," using a conceptual model/framework adapting/extracting coding protocol from Morin and Renvoisé's model to analyze communication within a social neuroscience context. The research delves into the curated message of cultural diversity. Furthermore, it explains the insight of the situation into cultural and religio-cultural persuasion by the writer, which she represented in the context of three cultures, American, Pakistani, and Parsee. The characters' communication seemed dominant, reflecting the communication regarding Pakistani Islamic cultural values due to its impact and dominance, specifically on personal and contrastive stimuli of the characters' intuitive knowledge. Likewise, the other persuasive elements from the conceptual model/framework of Morin and Renvoisé are also reflected in the characters' communication, which interprets any communication in a social neuroscience context. The innovative understudy of intercultural communication shows how social neuro-persuasion succeeds in reconnecting characters to their subconscious fundamental brain-rooted cognitive, cultural, and social identity. Hence, the cognitive changes in stimuli often would not change or get easily influenced at teenage on conceptual, theoretical, or biological levels. According to the researchers' conceptual arguments, future studies may utilize the present model within the textual quotations from the novel's original text, as the present research was only delimited to a qualitative content analysis. However, the theoretical/conceptual framework of the neuroscience of persuasion needs to be verified.

If humanoid robots are to become commonplace in our society, it is important to understand how they are perceived by humans. An influent model in social cognitive neuroscience posits that in human face-to-face interaction, the observation of another individual performing an action facilitates the execution of a similar action, and interferes with the execution of different action. In one interference experiment, null interference was reported when subjects observed an industrial robotic arm moving at a constant velocity perform an incongruent task, suggesting that this effect may be specific to interacting with other humans. This experimental paradigm was adapted to investigate how humanoid robots interfere with humans. Subjects performed rhythmic arm movements while observing either a human agent or humanoid robot performing either congruent or incongruent movements with comparable kinematics. The variance of the executed movements was used as a measure of the amount of interference in the movements. In a previous report, we reported that in contrast to the robotic arm, the humanoid robot caused a significant increase of the variance of the movement during the incongruent condition. In the present report we investigate the effect of the movement kinematics on the interference. The humanoid robot moved either with a biological motion, based on a realistic model of human motion, or with an artificial motion. We investigated the variance of the subjects' movement during the incongruent condition, with the hypothesis that it should be reduced for the artificial movement in comparison to the biological movement. We found a significant effect of the factors defining the experimental conditions, congruency and type of movements' kinematics, on the subjects' variation. Congruency was found to have the expected effect on the area, but the increase in incongruent conditions was only significant when the robot movements followed biological motion. This result implies that motion is a significant factor for the interference effect.

We believe that humanoid robots provide new tools to investigate human social cognition, the processes underlying everyday interactions between individuals. Resonance is an emerging framework to understand social interactions that is based on the finding that cognitive processes involved when experiencing a mental state and when perceiving another individual experiencing the same mental state overlap, both at the behavioral and neural levels. We will first review important aspects of his framework. In a second part, we will discuss how this framework is used to address questions pertaining to artificial agents' social competence. We will focus on two types of paradigm, one derived from experimental psychology and the other using neuroimaging, that have been used to investigate humans' responses to humanoid robots. Finally, we will speculate on the consequences of resonance in natural social interactions if humanoid robots are to become integral part of our societies.

Neuroimaging investigations of self-processing have generally focused on the neural correlates of explicit self-reflection. However, very little is known about the neural basis of implicit self-related processes. We utilized the concept of self-schemas to construct a two-task fMRI study that elicited both implicit and explicit self-relevant processes. The sample consisted of 18 participants who were schematic for either athletics or science. In the implicit self-relevance task, individuals made non-self-relevant judgments about affectively neutral scientific and athletic images. In the explicit self-reference task, participants judged the selfdescriptiveness of adjectives related to athletics or science. Implicit and explicit processing of self-relevant (schematic) material elicited activity in many of the same regions, including medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate/precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate, amygdala, and ventral striatum. We suggest that processing self-related material recruits similar neural networks regardless of whether the self-relevance is made explicit or not.

To date, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying overt visual search. In two experiments, we concurrently recorded EEG and eye movements while participants searched for two identical targets amongst a set of distractors. In such a multiple-target paradigm, participants must continue the search after finding the first target and memorize its location. We investigated neural correlates of item processing in different stages of the search using fixation-related potentials (FRPs). Results of Experiment 1 showed that the detection of the first target elicited a P3-like component absent in distractor fixations. Furthermore, finding the first target influenced FRPs in continued search: a sustained negativity was observed for distractor fixations following the first target fixation, likely indicating the involvement of memory. In Experiment 2, display size was manipulated systematically (10, 22, 30 items). Eye movement analysis showed that the average number of fixations preceding the first target detection varied as a function of display size. We present FRPs for target fixations and discuss the influence of the number of preceding distractor fixations on their morphology. In addition, we analyzed the post-target negativity over longer time intervals and report on its temporal properties and functional role.

Introduction: Decision-making is a process that can be strongly affected by social factors. Evidence has shown how people deviate from traditional rationalchoice predictions under different levels of social interactions. The emergence of prosocial decision-making, defined as any action that is addressed to benefit another individual even at the expense of personal benefits, has been reported as an example of such social influence. Furthermore, brain evidence has shown the involvement of structures such as the prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, and midcingulate cortex during decision settings in which a decision maker interacts with others under physical pain or distress or while being observed by others. Methods: Using a slightly modified version of the dictator game and EEG recordings, we tested the hypothesis that the inclusion of another person into the decision setting increases prosocial decisions in young adults and that this increase is higher when the other person is associated with others in need. At the brain level, we hypothesized that the increase in prosocial decisions correlates with frontal theta activity. Results and Discussion: The results showed that including another person in the decision, setting increased prosocial behavior only when this presence was associated with someone in need. This effect was associated with an increase in frontocentral theta-oscillatory activity. These results suggest that the presence of someone in need enhances empathy concerns and norm compliance, raising the participants' prosocial decision-making.

Speciesism, understood as "the bias or biased favoring of members of one's own species at the expense of others," is a widely discussed phenomenon, considered in the field of philosophy. This type of prejudice is rooted by the cognitive processes that shape people's thinking about themselves and other animals. Over the years, social beliefs have found their support in scientific considerations. Currently, the claim of human uniqueness in the discussion of cognitive processes is not as widely supported as it used to be. The aim of this article is to identify the manifestations of this phenomenon in the history of research on the theory of mind in non-human animals and, more importantly, to identify cognitive biases that contribute to the adoption of careless and, as we will see in later chapters, often false interpretations of empirical research.

Although it is increasingly acknowledged that social interactions may provide support at times of adversity, whether or how such interactions can buffer distress remains unclear. The objective of the present study was to examine whether naming the emotions of our partner in aversive situations can effectively reduce distress and whether the regulator’s empathy contributes to its effectiveness. We utilized a novel performance-based interpersonal affect labeling (IAL) paradigm. Seventy-four romantic couples were randomly divided into targets and regulators. The targets watched aversive pictures with low and high intensity and rated their level of distress after: (1) simply viewing the picture (control trials) (2) choosing a label that describes their emotional reaction (self-labeling trials), (3) viewing a label chosen for them by the regulator, their partner (IAL trials). It was found that IAL significantly reduced distress compared to self-labeling. Moreover, the effectiveness of IAL increased as a function of the regulator’s level of empathy. The results highlight the importance of empathy in social support and suggest that as simple an action as naming our partner’s emotions may be effective in reducing their distress. Moreover, it emphasizes the potential contribution of nonprofessional help in emotion regulation.

74 INTRODUCTION Anthropologists, cognitive archaeologists, and evolutionary psychologists commonly think that (a) throughout much of history the arts operated in tandem with religion; (b) the arts often operated in the service of religious communal rituals; (c) this service already began from the early prehistoric art probably the Upper Paleolithic art of Cro-Magnon about 40,000-10,000 years ago (Finlayson 2009). One of the current and most relevant evolutionary approach proposes that the fi rst art accompanied the invention of magicalreligious ceremonies as an important means of making these rituals special and extraordinary in order to convince practitioners, attract their attention and interest, provide emotional excitement and satisfaction, and coordinate group effort (Dissanayake 2000). In our perspective, it is very plausible that art and religion co-evolved, in particular that the arts arose in human evolution as adjuncts to religion, especially to communal magical-religious ...

Background and Aim: Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness encompassing a spectrum of cognitive, social, and emotional impairments. One of the serious problems in schizophrenia is functional dysfunction. Emotional face recognition is an effective component of social functioning. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between negative emotional faces perception and global function in patients with schizophrenia. The method of this study was analytical-descriptive. Using convenience sampling method 30 patients with schizophrenia (16 male/14female, 20-45 years old) were selected from Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospitalof Tehran University of Medical Science (TUMS) in Tehran, Iran. Their functionswere assessed by Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), and responses to emotional face perception(N170) were recorded by Event Related Potential(ERP). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and linear regression in SPSS software version 15. Results: Results showed that the mean amplitudes of N170 responses to fearful and angry faces in patients with schizophrenia were significantly correlated with the GAFscores (P<0.001). Besides, the amplitudes of N170 responses to angry faces (as compared to fearful faces) could predicate the % 26 of the GAF scores changes by stepwise regression analysis. Findings suggested that the functional dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia is due to the deficit in the early stage of facial expression perception.

When unexpected changes occur in a visual scene, people often fail to notice them. Because change detection depends on attentional mechanisms, people tend to notice changes that are of special significance. People with Williams syndrome (WMS) have an unusually strong interest in other people that is manifest in relatively spared face recognition skills, heightened social attention and hypersociability. We hypothesized that in a change blindness paradigm participants with WMS would be more sensitive to changes in people in social scenes compared to age, IQ and language matched participants with learning or intellectual disabilities. Two videos were presented, one showing an unexpected change to the identity of an actor and one with numerous unexpected changes during a conversation scene. Subjects in both the WMS and the learning disabilities groups noticed fewer overall changes than age-matched normal controls, suggesting that change detection is especially challenging to people with intellectual disabilities. Consistent with our hypothesis, WMS subjects noticed more person-related changes in the complex scene than did subjects with other intellectual/learning disabilities. WMS subjects attend to social elements of dynamic scenes, decreasing change blindness for changes associated with people.

Eros and neurosciences. A critique of brain reductionism. Neuroscience tell us that the brain activity of people in love, or who have a more or less rewarding love relationship, is more intense than that of single people or of people whose relationship has just ended. Nowadays we know this above all thanks to the visualization of our brain areas through functional magnetic resonance or through the determination of the molecules and neurotransmitters involved. Neuroscience treats love as a physiological state of our body in the same way as hunger, thirst and sleep. The growing tendency to think that love is a purely chemical and hormonal phenomenon probably depends on the need to compensate, with a scientific explanation, for the irrationality it presents once it has been reduced to a mere passion. This paper analyzes the reduction of love to cerebral excitement, by posing some questions on the border between science and philosophical anthropology. Are we so confident that what happens to our body can explain our love as it explains our hunger, thirst and sleep? Is it what happens in the brain really a condition that is not only necessary, but also sufficient, to explain the experience of falling in love and of love?

My basic research question – well beyond the scope of this book – is what the relationships between cognitive processes and cultural structures and practices are. Here, I get closer to answering this question in the following five steps: (1) I present cognitive ecology as a research tradition in cognitive science, characteristic of the approaches to wide cognition, i.e., embodied, embedded, extended, ecological psychology, enactivism, etc. (2) I distinguish two dimensions of the distributed cognition approach: as a theoretical framework and as a task model, focusing on the former. This distinction has so far eluded cognitive science theorists, and this approach has not been sufficiently analysed as a potential theory of cognitive science in general and the basis for its integration, being reduced to the dimension of the task model. (3) I discuss approaches in research on interactions in distributed cognitive systems, focusing more on the notion of external representations, and mostly on the notion of affordance. When assessing the potential of the latter, I look for consistency in what is crucial for understanding the interactions, between ecological psychology and design research. (4) I analyze the up to now underestimated potential of the distributed cognition approach in the dispute over the bounds of cognitive processes. (5) I identify and assess the analogies between the distributed cognition approach and the neo-mechanistic model of explanation that has become popular in cognitive science, and indicate possible benefits for the integration of the latter. As one can see, I am not trying to fully answer the question about the relationship between cognition and culture, but rather assess to what extent cognitive science in its current form is capable of.

K siążkę tę kieruję do osób zainteresowanych kognitywistyką lub filozofią kognitywistyki, ale zainteresowanych nie bezkrytycznie. Jeżeli ktoś postrzega badania nad poznaniem jako obszar spektakularnych odkryć empirycznych, kumulujących się sukcesów i rosnącej zgody między dyscyplinami, gdzie najważniejsze elementy prawie już są do siebie dopasowane -może się rozczarować. Jeśli natomiast kogoś interesują dynamika, zmienność i punkty sporne kognitywistyki -tutaj może częściowo zaspokoić czy nawet wzmóc swoją ciekawość. Nie znaczy to jednak, że praca ta nie ma waloru systematycznego opracowania ważnych ustaleń badawczych. Myślę, że pod tym względem uzupełnia ona publikacje podręcznikowe. Tym bardziej, że łatwo będzie rozróżnić między moimi pomysłami a przeglądem cudzych badań -między innymi dzięki temu, że wypowiadam się w tej książce w pierwszej osobie. Taka relacja językowa ma również inną zaletę: buduje pewną zażyłość (bez pobłażliwości) z autorem, mimo że nie jest to praca popularnonaukowa. Wreszcie: istotnym walorem tej książki może być to, że napisana jest w języku polskim. Czy warto adeptom kognitywistyki proponować literaturę w języku narodowym? Oczywiście, że tak, dopóki w tym języku myślimy, rozmawiamy i prowadzimy zajęcia. Czytanie polskojęzycznej klasyki absolutnie tutaj nie wystarczy. Zwłaszcza, że zaniedbania w tym względzie już dają o sobie znać, od nieumiejętności dyskutowania nad anglojęzycznymi tekstami na zajęciach akademickich po niską komunikatywność referatów konferencyjnych i wykładów, a nawet materiałów dydaktycznych. Moim podstawowym pytaniem badawczym -wykraczającym daleko poza ramy tej książki -jest pytanie o to, jakie są związki między procesami I believe that cultural practices are a key component of human cognition. Edwin Hutchins (pages.ucsd.edu/~ehutchins) Sytuacja ma rację. Miron Białoszewski (1965, s. 8) Czytajmy przedmowy! polskiego rozwiązań dla liczby mnogiej, które nie są wątpliwe językowo czy uciążliwe czytelniczo. A więc rozwiązań innych niż nieustanne odmienianie przez dwa rodzaje, co zresztą koliduje z polityką uwzględniania osób transpłciowych, nadużywanie słowa "osoby", czy też nieustanne próby akrobacji w budowaniu zdań tak, by uniknąć nazwania podmiotu po imieniu. Wiem, że trochę rozczarowuję tutaj pewne grupy czytelnicze -ale w tak długiej formie wypowiedzi jak książka nie byłem w stanie zrobić więcej i uniknąć sztuczności. Co jakiś czas więc zestawiam formy męskie i żeńskie, dobieram przykłady raz jednego, raz drugiego rodzaju, używam też określeń neutralnych i form nieosobowych. Chciałbym tutaj również podziękować za istotny, różnorodny i nie zawsze oczywisty wpływ na moją drogę badawczą -bez tytułowania i w kolejności alfabetycznej

To date, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying overt visual search. In two experiments, we concurrently recorded EEG and eye movements while participants searched for two identical targets amongst a set of distractors. In such a multiple-target paradigm, participants must continue the search after finding the first target and memorize its location. We investigated neural correlates of item processing in different stages of the search using fixation-related potentials (FRPs). Results of Experiment 1 showed that the detection of the first target elicited a P3-like component absent in distractor fixations. Furthermore, finding the first target influenced FRPs in continued search: a sustained negativity was observed for distractor fixations following the first target fixation, likely indicating the involvement of memory. In Experiment 2, display size was manipulated systematically (10, 22, 30 items). Eye movement analysis showed that the average number of fixations preceding the first target detection varied as a function of display size. We present FRPs for target fixations and discuss the influence of the number of preceding distractor fixations on their morphology. In addition, we analyzed the post-target negativity over longer time intervals and report on its temporal properties and functional role.

Clinical sciences involved with the mind and brain, including neurology, psychiatry, endocrinology and clinical psychology all frequently deal with cognitive symptoms, side effects, and risk factors. Consequently, there has long been some interaction between those clinical fields and traditional cognitive sciences, focused on computationalist and embodied approaches to understanding natural and machine cognition. Examples include the advances made in understanding the normal cognitive architecture made by studying its breakdown in disease, as well as the enhanced methods of defining and measuring cognitive disorders stemming from understanding the healthy state. Nevertheless, the fields currently fail to fully exploit the potential for mutual advancement. Here we explore the interactions between traditional clinical and cognitive sciences and highlighted strengths of the relationship, and areas that could benefit from greater multidisciplinary emphasis. We argue that original fields of cognitive science (philosophy, linguistics, computer science, anthropology, psychology and neuroscience) remain the core of the multidisciplinary cognitive sciences, but that they can all be applied fruitfully to clinical issues. We explore this in one sample disorder-voice hearing in schizophrenia, showing the potential for clinically applied cognitive sciences. It is our contention that greater achievement is possible, in both academic and applied fields dealing with cognition, if we can foster a mutually symbiotic relationship between the clinical and cognitive sciences.

An orgasm in the human female is a variable, transient peak sensation of intense pleasure, creating an altered state of consciousness, usually with an initiation accompanied by involuntary, rhythmic contractions of the pelvic striated circumvaginal musculature, often with concomitant uterine and anal contractions, and myotonia that resolves the sexually induced vasocongestion and myotonia, generally with an induction of well-being and contentment. Women's orgasms can be induced by erotic stimulation of a variety of genital and nongenital sites. As of yet, no definitive explanations for what triggers orgasm have emerged. Studies of brain imaging indicate increased activation at orgasm, compared to pre-orgasm, in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray of the midbrain, hippocampus, and the cerebellum. Psychosocial factors commonly discussed in relation to female orgasmic ability include age, education, social class, religion, personality, and relationship issues. Findings from surveys and clinical reports suggest that orgasm problems are the second most frequently reported sexual problems in women. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anorgasmia focuses on promoting changes in attitudes and sexually relevant thoughts, decreasing anxiety, and increasing orgasmic ability and satisfaction. To date there are no pharmacological agents proven to be beneficial beyond placebo in enhancing orgasmic function in women.

Introduction The projection of vagina, uterine cervix, and nipple to the sensory cortex in humans has not been reported. Aims The aim of this study was to map the sensory cortical fields of the clitoris, vagina, cervix, and nipple, toward an elucidation of the neural systems underlying sexual response. Methods Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we mapped sensory cortical responses to clitoral, vaginal, cervical, and nipple self-stimulation. For points of reference on the homunculus, we also mapped responses to the thumb and great toe (hallux) stimulation. Main Outcome Measures The main outcome measures used for this study were the fMRI of brain regions activated by the various sensory stimuli. Results Clitoral, vaginal, and cervical self-stimulation activated differentiable sensory cortical regions, all clustered in the medial cortex (medial paracentral lobule). Nipple self-stimulation activated the genital sensory cortex (as well as the thoracic) region of the homu...

The amygdala, a small deep brain structure involved in behavioral processing through interactions with other brain regions, has garnered increased attention in recent years in relation to pain processing. As pain is a multidimensional experience that encompasses physical sensation, affect, and cognition, the amygdala is well suited to play a part in this process. Multiple neuroimaging studies of pain in humans have reported activation in the amygdala. Here, we summarize these studies by performing a coordinate‐based meta‐analysis within experimentally induced and clinical pain studies using an activation likelihood estimate analysis. The results are presented in relation to locations of peak activation within and outside of amygdala subregions. The majority of studies identified coordinates consistent with human amygdala cytoarchitecture indicating reproducibility in neuroanatomical labeling across labs, analysis methods, and imaging modalities. Differences were noted between health...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging allows direct recording from the functioning human LGN, whereas previously our understanding of this primary thalamic nucleus was based on single cell recordings or lesion experiments in primates. FMRI studies, however, have thrown up some surprising results that initially appear to be at odds with data from the previous approaches. Here, I discuss some of these results from my lab, focusing on four different issues: (a) the responses to colour in the LGN as compared with these responses to the same stimuli in V1; (b) the effect of Amblyopia on human LGN and cortical responses and V1; (c) the responses to temporal frequency in the LGN and V1; and (d) the differential adaptation in the LGN for coloured and achromatic stimuli. Overall, I will argue that these results suggest that fMRI recordings are as much (or more) influenced by the descending cortico-thalamic feedback as by the ascending driver neuron responses. If this is correct, fMRI recording of the LGN can provide a very different perspective on its role in human visual processing.

Previous work suggests that perception of an object automatically facilitates actions related to object grasping and manipulation. Recently, the notion of automaticity has been challenged by behavioral studies suggesting that dangerous objects elicit aversive affordances that interfere with encoding of an object's motor properties; however, related electrophysiological studies have provided little support for these claims. We sought EEG evidence that would support the operation of an inhibitory mechanism that interferes with the motor encoding of dangerous objects and we investigated whether such mechanism would be modulated by the perceived distance of an object and the goal of a given task. Electroencephalograms were recorded by 24 participants who passively perceived dangerous and neutral objects in their peripersonal, boundary or extrapersonal space and performed either a reachability judgment task or a categorization task. Our results showed that greater attention, reflected in the visual P1 potential, was drawn by dangerous and reachable objects. Crucially, a frontal N2 potential, associated with motor inhibition, was larger for dangerous objects only when participants performed a reachability judgment task. Furthermore, a larger parietal P3b potential for dangerous objects indicated the greater difficulty in linking a dangerous object to the appropriate response, especially when it was located in the participants' extrapersonal space. Taken together, our results show that perception of dangerous objects elicits aversive affordances in a task-dependent

East Asian cognition has been held to be relatively holistic; that is, attention is paid to the field as a whole. Western cognition, in contrast, has been held to be object focused and control oriented. In this study East Asians (mostly Chinese) and Americans were compared on detection of covariation and field depen-dence. The results showed the following: (a) Chinese participants reported stronger association between events, were more responsive to differences in covariation, and were more confident about their covariation judgments; (b) these cultural differences disappeared when participants believed they had some control over the covariation judgment task; (c) American participants made fewer mistakes on the Rod-and-Frame Test, indicating that they were less field dependent; (d) American performance and confidence, but not that of Asians, increased when participants were given manual control of the test. Possible origins of the perceptual differences are discussed. Scholars in m...

Aim: this study aimed to compare the prosociality and social intelligence between students according to their handedness has been investigated. Methods: The statistical population of this study was all students of Mahallat universities in 94-95, who were selected by voluntary sampling method, 100 people as sample (50 top right and 50 of top left). was chosen through Edinburg`s hand dominance test, Tromso Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS), and Penner`s Prosocial Personality Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Results: The results showed that social intelligence and community personality have a significant difference in left-hand and right-handed students. So that left-handed individuals are more social intelligence and socialization than the right people. the left-handed had a better performance in Ability to understand (P<0/001), Social skills (P<0/001), Social Awareness(P<0/001), Empathic connection(P<0/001), Personal distress (P<0/001), Seen from the perspective of others (P<0/001), social responsibility(P<0/001), Mutual moral reasoning (P<0/001), Moral Reasoning orientation others (P<0/001), but no significant differences were found between the ability to self-report Altruism (P <0/23). Conclusion: Whereas left-handed individuals are superior to right-handed individuals in the components of social intelligence and community-friendly personality, which also include the perspective of others and personal distress And these two components make them vulnerable, despite their high intelligence, and it is better to focus on the emotional and emotional aspects of dealing with them so that their potential for social success can lead to social rather than Psychosocial disorders.

Recent findings demonstrate that faces with an emotional expression tend to attract attention more than neutral faces, especially when having some threat-related value (anger or fear). These findings suggest that discrimination of emotional cues in faces can at least partly be extracted at preattentive or unconscious stages of processing, and then serve to enhance awareness and behavioural responses toward emotionally relevant stimuli. Functional neuroimaging results have begun to delineate brain regions whose response to threat-related expressions is independent of voluntary attention (e.g. amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex), and other regions whose response occurs only with attention (e.g. superior temporal and anterior cingulate cortex). Moreover, visual responses in the fusiform cortex are enhanced for emotional faces, consistent with their greater perceptual saliency. Recent data from event-related evoked potentials and neurophysiology also suggest that rapid processing of emotional information may not only occur in parallel to, but promote a more detailed perceptual analysis of, sensory inputs and thus bias competition for attention toward the representation of emotionally salient stimuli. Curr Opin Psychiatry

Background: Detecting cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease early and tracking it over time is essential for individuals at risk of cognitive decline. Objective: This research aimed to validate the Beynex app's gamified assessment tests and the Beynex Performance Index (BPI) score, which monitor cognitive performance across seven categories, considering age and education data. Methods: Beynex test cutoff scores of participants (n = 91) were derived from the optimization function and compared to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test. Validation and reliability analyses were carried out with data collected from an additional 214 participants. Results: Beynex categorization scores showed a moderate agreement with MoCA ratings (weighted Cohen's Kappa = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.38-0.60). Calculated Cronbach's Alpha indicates good internal consistency. Test-retest reliability analysis using a linear regression line fitted to results yielded R ∧ 2 of 0.65 with a 95% CI: 0.58, 0.71. Discussion: Beynex's ability to reliably detect and track cognitive impairment could significantly impact public health, early intervention strategies and improve patient outcomes.

Neuropsychological assessments of cognitive dysfunction in cerebrovascular illness commonly target basic cognitive functions involving aspects of memory, attention, language, praxis, and number processing. Here, I highlight the clinical importance of often-neglected social cognition functions. These functions recruit a widely distributed neural network, making them vulnerable in most cerebrovascular diseases. Sociocognitive deficits underlie most of the problematic social conduct observed in patients and are associated with more negative clinical outcomes (compared to nonsocial cognitive deficits). In clinical settings, social cognition deficits are normally gleaned from collateral information from caregivers or from indirect inferences made from patients' performance on standard nonsocial cognitive tests. Information from these sources is however inadequate. I discuss key social cognition functions, focusing initially on deficits in emotion perception and theory of mind, two areas that have gained sizeable attention in neuroscientific research, and then extend the discussion into relatively new, less covered but crucial functions involving empathic behaviour, social awareness, social judgements, and social decision making. These functions are frequently impaired following neurological change. At present, a wide range of psychometrically robust social cognition tests is available, and this review also makes the case for their inclusion in neuropsychological assessments.

Neuropsychological assessments of cognitive dysfunction in cerebrovascular illness commonly target basic cognitive functions involving aspects of memory, attention, language, praxis, and number processing. Here, I highlight the clinical importance of often-neglected social cognition functions. These functions recruit a widely distributed neural network, making them vulnerable in most cerebrovascular diseases. Sociocognitive deficits underlie most of the problematic social conduct observed in patients and are associated with more negative clinical outcomes (compared to nonsocial cognitive deficits). In clinical settings, social cognition deficits are normally gleaned from collateral information from caregivers or from indirect inferences made from patients’ performance on standard nonsocial cognitive tests. Information from these sources is however inadequate. I discuss key social cognition functions, focusing initially on deficits in emotion perception and theory of mind, two areas ...

Background: Previous studies have reported the high rate of alexithymia in medical and psychological disorders along with the role of emotional expressiveness practices in terms of different aspects of health. The aim of this study was to compare the alexithymia and emotional expressiveness in patients with coronary heart disease and healthy people. Materials and Methods: In this ex post facto research the participants (n=35) with coronary heart disease (CHD) referred to Chamran and Sina Heart Center in Isfahan (2014) and healthy individuals (n=35) selected based on available sampling method were compared. Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) and Emotional Expressiveness Scale (EEQ) were used to evaluate the participants. Results: The results were indicated a difference in alexithymia and emotional expressiveness in patients with CHD compared to those of the healthy ones (P&lt;0.05). Patients with CHD were significantly different from healthy individuals in terms of two out of three aspe...

Language can serve to constrain cognitive and emotional representations. Here, we investigate to what extent linguistic emotional information alters processing of faces with neutral expressions. Previous studies have shown that cortical processing of emotional faces differs from that of neutral faces. Electroencephalography (EEG) has revealed emotion effects for early and late event-related potentials (ERPs) such as the N1, the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) and the Late Positive Potential (LPP). In order to study the effect of language information on face processing, 30 negative and 30 neutral descriptive phrases were presented, each followed by a neutral expression face. Participants were instructed to remember the association. We analyzed the immediate effect of information type on face processing during encoding as well as delayed effects during subsequent recognition. During encoding, faces following negative language information elicited a larger left frontal positivity between 500-700 ms after stimulus onset. During recognition, a left centro-parietal LPP was likewise increased for faces previously associated with a negative description. In addition, the parietal old/new effect was significantly increased for faces with negative information compared to new ones, while no significant effect was observed for faces with neutral information. No information effects on early perceptual ERPs (N1, EPN) were found. Reaction times (RTs) for source memory decisions (negative versus neutral) were significantly shorter for faces with negative versus neutral information. In sum, ERP results indicate that emotional significance can be linguistically induced in faces on a cortical level and, at least in an explicit memory task, this information modulates later stages of face processing and memory. Implications for cognitive effects of public media design are discussed.

We investigated to what extent emotional connotation influences cortical potentials during reading. To this end, eventrelated potentials (ERPs) were recorded during reading of high arousal pleasant and unpleasant and low arousal neutral adjectives that were presented at rates of 1 Hz and 3 Hz. Enhanced processing of both pleasant and unpleasant emotional compared to neutral adjectives was first reflected in an amplified early posterior negativity (EPN) starting from 200 ms after word onset. Later potentials (4300 ms), as analyzed in the slower 1 Hz condition, revealed facilitated processing selectively for pleasant adjectives that were associated with a reduced N400 and an enhanced late positive potential (LPP). Pleasant adjectives were also better remembered in an incidental memory test. Thus, emotionally relevant adjectives are processed spontaneously and selectively. Initially, emotional arousal drives attention capture (EPN). Healthy subjects may have a natural bias toward pleasant information facilitating late ERPs (N400, LPP) to pleasant adjectives as well as their superior recall.

Introduction: The detection and characterization of functional impairments in patients with cognitive impairment is an important clinical and research issue. The Everyday Cognition (ECog) scale is a relatively new informant-rated measure of everyday function. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the indices of validity and internal consistency of the ECog in the Argentina-Alzheimer´s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (Arg-ADNI) sample. Methods: We assessed 15 clinically normal elderly (CN), 28 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 13 mild Alzheimer´s Disease (AD) dementia subjects from Arg-ADNI. External, convergent and divergent validity and internal consistency were examined. Results: The average total score on the ECog scale was significantly different across the three diagnostic syndromes (p b 0.5). The area under the curve (AUC) for the ECog was .97 (95% CI = .93-.99). The ECog scale was more sensitive than FAQ in discriminating between those with any cognitive impairment (either dementia or MCI) and CN. The ECog scale showed a moderate to strong correlation with other measures of daily function, including the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and the FAQ scales and moderate correlations with neuropsychological tests. Cronbach´s alpha was .98. Co-varying for age or education had no effect on these results. Conclusions: The ECog scale is an efficient instrument for the differentiation of individuals with mild dementia or MCI from normal older adults, with good accuracy and good correlation with other tests measuring daily and cognitive functions.

Symmetry is ubiquitous in the natural world. Numerous investigations, dating back over one hundred years, have explored the visual processing of symmetry. However, these studies have been concerned with mirror symmetry, overlooking radial (or rotational) symmetry, which is also prevalent in nature. Using a visual search paradigm, which approximates the everyday task of searching for an object embedded in background clutter, we have measured how quickly and how accurately human observers detect radially symmetric dot patterns. Performance was compared with mirror symmetry. We found that with orders of radial symmetry greater than 5, radial symmetry can be detected more easily than mirror symmetry, revealing for the first time that radial symmetry is a salient property of objects for human vision.

To date, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying overt visual search. In two experiments, we concurrently recorded EEG and eye movements while participants searched for two identical targets amongst a set of distractors. In such a multiple-target paradigm, participants must continue the search after finding the first target and memorize its location. We investigated neural correlates of item processing in different stages of the search using fixation-related potentials (FRPs). Results of Experiment 1 showed that the detection of the first target elicited a P3-like component absent in distractor fixations. Furthermore, finding the first target influenced FRPs in continued search: a sustained negativity was observed for distractor fixations following the first target fixation, likely indicating the involvement of memory. In Experiment 2, display size was manipulated systematically (10, 22, 30 items). Eye movement analysis showed that the average number of fixations preceding the first target detection varied as a function of display size. We present FRPs for target fixations and discuss the influence of the number of preceding distractor fixations on their morphology. In addition, we analyzed the post-target negativity over longer time intervals and report on its temporal properties and functional role.

But that's how biographies are. I mean, who's going to read about the peaceful life and times of a nobody employed at the Kawasaki Municipal Library"-Haruki Murakami (1994), Dance, Dance, Dance Novelist Haruki Murakami's claim is hardly contentious. We all prefer to read a biography full of unexpected events, tragic downfalls, and hard-won victories. They take us on a journey through which we hope to glean the character of the individual and perhaps some insight into human nature more generally. It is not that the simple life of the librarian has any fewer events filling the days or years but rather that those events follow an expected repetitive pattern with little variation over time. Indeed, there are no more hours in the day for a head of state than for Murakami's librarian, just more memorable ones. Just as we prefer the miraculous to the mundane, the tragic to the trivial, and conflict over commonplace in choosing which biographies to read, we often rely on similar distinctions in understanding and defining ourselves. We look to those moments in our past when we were faced with obstables for which our daily routine, and the mental habits formed through this routine, could not guarantee safe passage. Should I be a lawyer or a doctor? Should I be a Democrat or Republican? Should I stand up for the student who is being picked on or keep quiet? If these situations have not been a part of one's routine, how is one to go forward? There seems to be no alternative but to "assert oneself" in these cases and use one's "free will," or at least that is how these episodes are often experienced in retrospect. These are the moments when the self seems to burst onto the scene, AU: Quote marks needed only if this is a character speaking within Murakami's novel.; pls. advise. Also, please add closing punctuation: question mark? period?

CHAPTER 9 Intersubjectivity before language Three windows on preverbal sharing Andrew N. Meltzoff and Rechele Brooks University of Washington There has been a revolution in our understanding of intersubjectivity. This rev-olution has many roots. Three findings of ...

It is argued that a definition of intentionality in terms of object directeciness is more adequate than the traditional definition in terms of goal directedness. Inconsistencies in the use of "intentionality" among infant researchen are pointed out. A method of observation is explored, based on the definition in terms of behavioral object directedness, that takes into account precursors to fully-fledged intentional actions by approaching intentionality as a matter of degree rather than as an all or none issue. The method, when used on longitudinal video recordings of parent-infant interaction, produced results that substantiated Trevarthen's observations of infant intentionality before the age of six months. Furthermore, the results suggest that the parent's attribution of intentions to the infant is based on the perception of the infant's intentionality, whether in social interaction or in interaction with "physical" objects.

The social worlds of young children primarily revolve around parents and caregivers, who play a key role in guiding children's social and cognitive development. However, a hallmark of adolescence is a shift in orientation toward nonfamilial social targets, an adaptive process that prepares adolescents for their independence. Little is known regarding neurobiological signatures underlying changes in adolescents' social orientation. Using functional brain imaging of human voice processing in children and adolescents (ages 7-16), we demonstrate distinct neural signatures for mother's voice and nonfamilial voices across child and adolescent development in reward and social valuation systems, instantiated in nucleus accumbens and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. While younger children showed greater activity in these brain systems for mother's voice compared with nonfamilial voices, older adolescents showed the opposite effect with increased activity for nonfamilial compared with mother's voice. Findings uncover a critical role for reward and social valuative brain systems in the pronounced changes in adolescents' orientation toward nonfamilial social targets. Our approach provides a template for examining developmental shifts in social reward and motivation in individuals with pronounced social impairments, including adolescents with autism.

The social worlds of young children primarily revolve around parents and caregivers, who play a key role in guiding children&#39;s social and cognitive development. However, a hallmark of adolescence is a shift in orientation toward nonfamilial social targets, an adaptive process that prepares adolescents for their independence. Little is known regarding neurobiological signatures underlying changes in adolescents&#39; social orientation. Using functional brain imaging of human voice processing in children and adolescents (ages 7-16), we demonstrate distinct neural signatures for mother&#39;s voice and nonfamilial voices across child and adolescent development in reward and social valuation systems, instantiated in nucleus accumbens and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. While younger children showed greater activity in these brain systems for mother&#39;s voice compared with nonfamilial voices, older adolescents showed the opposite effect with increased activity for nonfamilial compar...

Empathy has been measured in several fields, such as psychology, marketing and sales force, which is why several scales have been developed. The contradictory effects of empathy on sales performance are partly attributed to the conceptualisation of empathy as a onedimensional, bi-dimensional or multi-dimensional construct. This research aims to contribute to this debate by drawing on a review of the cognitive neuroscience literature and the contributions of the biomarketing paradigm to explain the neurochemical and neuroanatomical processes of empathy. we will focus our attention on the study of the scale of empathy proposed by McBane (1995). This neurological corroboration leads us to consider that empathy is composed of both the affective and cognitive dimensions and that emotional contagion is not a third dimension of empathy, but constitutes the phylogenetic basis of affective empathy. These neurochemical and neuroanatomical corroborations fundamentally reconfirm the number of dimensions proposed by McBane (1995) and constitute a solid theoretical groundwork that paves the way for future empirical research.

Lipoid proteinosis is a rare hereditary disease which often results in bilateral calcifications in the medial temporal region. Thirty-four adults living with lipoid proteinosis (Ͼ10% of the world population) were extensively assessed with standardized neuropsychiatric and neuropsychological measures. Of these, 27 patients representing a homogenous group living in the Northern Cape were matched with 47 controls. Subjects with lipoid proteinosis had a high incidence of neuropsychiatric disorders and performed poorly on facial recognition of positive and negative emotions and on many neuropsychological measures. These findings are consistent with involvement of the medial temporal areas in cognitive and emotive processing.

Post stroke language disorders are frequent and include aphasia, alexia, agraphia and acalculia. There are different definitions of aphasias, but the most widely accepted neurologic and/or neuropsychological definition is that aphasia is a loss or impairment of verbal communication, which occurs as a consequence of brain dysfunction. It manifests as impairment of almost all verbal abilities, e.g., abnormal verbal expression, difficulties in understanding spoken or written language, repetition, naming, reading and writing. During the history, many classifications of aphasia syndromes were established. For practical use, classification of aphasias according to fluency, comprehension and abilities of naming it seems to be most suitable (nonfluent aphasias: Broca's, transcortical motor, global and mixed transcortical aphasia; fluent aphasias: anomic, conduction, Wernicke's, transcortical sensory, subcortical aphasia). Aphasia is a common consequence of left hemispheric lesion and most common neuropsychological consequence of stroke, with a prevalence of one-third of all stroke patients in acute phase, although there are reports on even higher figures. Many speech impairments have a tendency of spontaneous recovery. Spontaneous recovery is most remarkable in the first three months after stroke onset. Recovery of aphasias caused by ischemic stroke occurs earlier and it is most intensive in the first two weeks. In aphasias caused by hemorrhagic stroke, spontaneous recovery is slower and occurs from the fourth to the eighth week after stroke. The course and outcome of aphasia depend greatly on the type of aphasia. Regardless of the fact that a significant number of aphasias spontaneously improve, it is necessary to start treatment as soon as possible. The writing and reading disorders in stroke patients (alexias and agraphias) are more frequent than verified on routine examination, not only in less developed but also in large neurologic departments. Alexia is an acquired type of sensory aphasia where damage to the brain causes the patient to lose the ability to read. It is also called word blindness, text blindness or visual aphasia. Alexia refers to an acquired inability to read due to brain damage and must be distinguished from dyslexia, a developmental abnormality in which the individual is unable to learn to read, and from illiteracy, which reflects a poor educational background. Most aphasics are also alexic, but alexia may occur in the absence of aphasia and may occasionally be the sole disability resulting from specific brain lesions. There are different classifications of alexias. Traditionally, alexias are divided into three categories: pure alexia with agraphia, pure alexia without agraphia, and alexia associated with aphasia ('aphasic alexia'). Agraphia is defined as disruption of previously intact writing skills by brain damage. Writing involves several elements: language processing, spelling, visual perception, visuospatial orientation for graphic symbols, motor planning, and motor control of writing. A disturbance of any of these processes can impair writing. Agraphia may occur by itself or in association with aphasias, alexia, agnosia and apraxia. Agraphia can also result from 'peripheral' involvement of the motor act of writing. Like alexia, agraphia must be distinguished from illiteracy, where writing skills were never developed. Acalculia is a clinical syndrome of acquired deficits in mathematical calculation, either mentally or with paper and pencil. These language disturbances can be classified