The difference between induced insight by hints and induced insight by answers: an event-related potential study.

We can solve insight problems by ourselves, by hints or by answers. This study compared the temporal features of different types of insight (spontaneous insight, induced insight by hints and induced insight by answers). Fifteen college students participated in the Chinese Remote Association Task. If they did not come up with an answer, the cue word was presented. Finally, they needed to judge whether the answer was correct or not. Participants' brain electroencephalography-event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Induced insight by hints elicited a more negative ERP deflection than spontaneous insight within 260-400 ms (N2). Induced insight by hints and induced insight by answers elicited a more negative late negative component (LNC) than spontaneous insight. Induced insight by hints elicited a more positive ERP deflection than induced insight by answers and spontaneous insight in the right frontal area. Spontaneous insight and induced insight by answers elicited a more positive ERP deflection than induced insight by hints in the right part of the central region. When solving insight problems, the N2 may be related to representation restructuring. The first LNC may be related to the breaking of mental set. The positive component of the right frontal area before pressing the button may be related to the formation of novel associations, and the positive component of the right part of the central region may be related to the intensity of the 'Aha!' experience.

The Effect of the Intensity of Happy Expression on Social Perception of Chinese Faces.

Numerous studies have shown that facial expressions influence trait impressions in the Western context. There are cultural differences in the perception and recognition rules of different intensities of happy expressions, and researchers have only explored the influence of the intensity of happy expressions on a few facial traits (warmth, trustworthiness, and competence). Therefore, we examined the effect of different intensities of Chinese happy expressions on the social perception of faces from 11 traits, namely trustworthiness, responsibility, attractiveness, sociability, confidence, intelligence, aggressiveness, dominance, competence, warmth, and tenacity. In this study, participants were asked to view a series of photographs of faces with high-intensity or low-intensity happy expressions and rate the 11 traits on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = "not very ××," 7 = "very ××"). The results indicated that high-intensity happy expression had higher-rated scores for sociability and warmth but lower scores for dominance, aggressiveness, intelligence, and competence than the low-intensity happy expression; there was no significant difference in the rated scores for trustworthiness, attractiveness, responsibility, confidence, and tenacity between the high-intensity and low-intensity happy expressions. These results suggested that, compared to the low-intensity happy expression, the high-intensity happy expression will enhance the perceptual outcome of the traits related to approachability, reduce the perceptual outcome of traits related to capability, and have no significant effect on trustworthiness, attractiveness, responsibility, confidence, and tenacity.

Understanding one's character through the voice: Dimensions of personality perception from Chinese greeting word "Ni Hao".

Previous western studies revealed a two-dimensional model (valence and dominance) in voice impressions. To explore the cross-cultural validity of this model, the present study recruited Chinese participants to evaluate other people's personality from recordings of Chinese vocal greeting word "Ni Hao". Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax Rotation and Parallel Analysis was used to investigate the dimensions underlying personality judgments. The results also revealed a two-dimensional model: approachability and capability. The approachability dimension was similar to the valence dimension reported in a previous study. It indicated that the approachability/valence dimension has cross-cultural commonality. Unlike the dimension of dominance which was closely related to aggressiveness, the dimension of capability emphasized the social aspects of capability such as intellectuality, social skills, and tenacity. In addition, the acoustic parameters that were used to infer the personality of speakers, as well as the relationship between vocal attractiveness and the personality dimensions of voice, were also partially different from the findings in Western culture.

Outcome Evaluation Affects Facial Trustworthiness: An Event-Related Potential Study.

Facial trustworthiness and feedback information of trustees can influence trustors' investment behavior in trust games. This study investigated the temporal features of outcome evaluation (evaluation of feedback) and how they influence the processing of facial trustworthiness. A total of 25 college students participated in a decision-making task in which feedback was presented prior to a face stimulus. The decision of participants to continue investing was evaluated. We observed that trustors were more inclined to keep investing in trustworthy trustees or those appearing after positive feedback (gains). Event-related potential (ERP) results revealed that in the face presentation stage, trustworthy faces with losses induced more negative feedback-related negativity (FRN) than did trustworthy faces with gains and untrustworthy faces with losses. Further, faces that did not meet expectations induced more negative FRN. Trustworthy faces with gains induced more positive late positive component (LPC) than did trustworthy faces with losses and generated more motivated attention. Bottom-up and top-down processes were integrated for facial trustworthiness perception at different stages. In sum, top-down processing exerted a greater impact during the early stage of facial trustworthiness perception, both top-down and bottom-up processing were involved in the medium term, and bottom-up processing exerted a greater impact in the later stage.

Facial trustworthiness affects outcome evaluation: an event-related potential study.

Facial trustworthiness can influence trust behavior. The outcome may be concordant (a person with a trustworthy face who engages in reciprocal behavior) or conflicting (a person with a trustworthy face who does not reciprocate). This study investigated the temporal features of processing different outcomes following trustworthy or untrustworthy faces. Thirty-one college students participated in a decision-making task in which they were shown a face and were asked to judge whether the person would behave in a trustworthy or an untrustworthy manner in a hypothetical scenario, and feedback was then provided about the target person's behavior in the scenario, while the event-related potential of the electroencephalography of participants' brains was recorded. In the feedback presentation stage, there was a significant interaction between face type and feedback. Trustworthy faces with losses induced the largest feedback-related negativity (FRN), whereas trustworthy faces with gains induced the smallest FRN. For untrustworthy faces, there was no significant difference between losses and gains. Trustworthy faces with losses and untrustworthy faces with gains induced more positive P300. FRN is possibly sensitive to both negative outcomes and expectation violations. P300 is mainly sensitive to expectation violations. Individuals have high positive expectations for trustworthy faces. When the behavior of a trustee with trustworthy face was negative, so as to violate the trustor's expectation, it will elicit a more serious conflict in the mind of the trustor.

Sophisticated Deception in Junior Middle School Students: An ERP Study.

Sophisticated deception refers to the deception of others based on inferences of their mental states (e.g., answering honestly when inferring that the other will not believe their answer). Studying the brain mechanism of sophisticated deception in junior middle school students can provide physiological evidence for deception detection and deceptive ability measurement. Sixteen junior middle school students were asked to engage in different trial types (i.e., instructed truth/lie and chosen truth/lie), during which we recorded their response times (RT) along with electroencephalographic data to calculate event-related potentials (ERPs). We observed significant differences in amplitude [N2, P3, N450, and medial frontal negativity (MFN)] between chosen reactions (sophisticated deception and simple deception) and instructed reactions (instructed truth and instructed lie) in both the stimulus presentation and feedback stages. In the former, the task scores of participants in the chosen condition were significantly and positively correlated with the N2 amplitude over the central brain area during sophisticated deception. In the latter, the task scores of participants in the chosen condition were negatively correlated with the MFN amplitude over the left frontal and left frontocentral regions. Overall, deception intention, rather than simply making counterfactual statements, appears to underlie the increased demand for cognitive control in deceivers. This can be attributed to deceivers' need to strongly consider their opponent's mental state-the better the deceivers' deceptive ability, the more they will make conjectures about the mental state of their opponent with sophisticated deception and monitor conflict; the less conflict they experience while answering honestly with the intention to deceive, the more conflict may arise when the results of their deception are inconsistent with these conjectures.