Social approach and avoidance in language: N400-like ERP negativity indexes congruency and theta rhythms the conflict.

Motivational congruency has been examined using tasks where participants perform approach or avoidance movements towards socially positive or negative faces. Language is tightly intertwined with interpersonal cognition. Thus, similar situations could be represented by means of language in interpersonal contexts: adjectives furnish valence to people (e.g. someone is cordial or arrogant), and attitudinal verbs define direction to relationship-actions: approach-avoidance (e.g. accept vs. reject). In an Electroencephalography (EEG) study, 40 participants were presented with sentences where a character was valenced (e.g. "Arthur is cordial/arrogant") before being the target of a relationship-actions ("Grisela welcomed/ignored Arthur at the party"). We analyzed both Event-related potential (ERP) amplitude and time-frequency power in response to the attitudinal verb. For ERP amplitudes, we found a significant cluster between 280 and 370 ms, covering part of the development of a N400-like ERP component. This cluster reflects an interaction driven by congruency between motivational direction and target valence. Likewise, time-frequency power analysis revealed an enhancement of theta rhythms under incongruent conditions, most likely indexing conflict processing. Results support that relationship-actions are represented as approach and avoidance and thus involve conflict processing and resolution of incongruent situations. Implications for the interweaving of affective language and social cognition within Embodiment Simulation Theory are discussed.

Understanding approach and avoidance in verbal descriptions of everyday actions: An ERP study.

Understanding verbal descriptions of everyday actions could involve the neural representation of action direction (avoidance and approach) toward persons and things. We recorded the electrophysiological activity of participants while they were reading approach/avoidance action sentences that were directed toward a target: a thing/a person (i.e., "Petra accepted/rejected Ramón in her group"/ "Petra accepted/rejected the receipt of the bank"). We measured brain potentials time locked to the target word. In the case of things, we found a N400-like component with right frontal distribution modulated by approach/avoidance action. This component was more negative in avoidance than in approach sentences. In the case of persons, a later negative event-related potential (545-750 ms) with left frontal distribution was sensitive to verb direction, showing more negative amplitude for approach than avoidance actions. In addition, more negativity in approach-person sentences was associated with fear avoidance trait, whereas less negativity in avoidance-person sentences was associated with a greater approach trait. Our results support that verbal descriptions of approach/avoidance actions are encoded differently depending on whether the target is a thing or a person. Implications of these results for a social, emotional and motivational understanding of action language are discussed.

Phonological, lexical, and semantic errors produced by impairment at the output buffer in a Spanish aphasic patient.

We present a single case of a right-handed female patient, RH, who was categorized as suffering from conduction aphasia. She presented no articulatory problems during spontaneous speech but made a significant number of phonological paraphasias in naming and repetition tasks. The number of errors increased for long words and pseudowords. This pattern of results points to damage in the "Phonological Output Buffer" (POB) as the basis of this disorder. However, this patient did not make mistakes when reading words and pseudowords aloud, even when we introduced a delay between the presentation of the word and its production to test the working memory resources of the phonological buffer. Furthermore, the patient's ability to name objects, repeat words, and write to dictation improved with her degree of familiarity with the items. The damage could be situated at the point where phonemes are selected and ordered to produce words. We posit that the deficits observed in this patient, and the differences encountered between her performance and that of others described in the literature, in particular in reading tasks, can be explained by considering POB damage to be gradual in nature. According to this explanation, the performance of patients with damage to the POB will depend on the amount of information provided by the stimulus (word/nonword), the language particularities (regular/irregular), and the nature of the task demands (repetition, writing, naming, or reading).

Procedural Memory Deficits in Preschool Children with Developmental Language Disorder in a Spanish-Speaking Population.

This study aimed to compare procedural learning skills between Spanish-speaking preschool children (ages 4 years to 4 years, 11 months) with developmental language disorder (DLD) and their chronologically matched typically developing (TD) peers. Using the serial reaction time (SRT) task, participants (30 children with DLD and 30 TD children) responded to visual stimuli in a sequenced manner over four blocks, followed by a random order block. The task assessed reaction time (RT) and accuracy. The results showed a significant interaction between group and block for RT and accuracy, with children with DLD exhibiting longer RTs and accuracy deficits across blocks. In contrast, the TD group showed higher RT efficiency and accuracy in the sequential blocks and, as expected, decreased performance in the random block according to the experimental manipulation. Overall, the results of this investigation suggest that there was no implicit learning in the DLD group, as indicated by the SRT task paradigms of procedural memory. These findings align with some aspects of the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH), which suggests that linguistic deficits in the DLD population may derive from a deficit in sequential learning from the procedural memory system domain in the Spanish context.

Neural Correlates of Telicity in Spanish-Speaking Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder.

BACKGROUND: It is broadly acknowledged that children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) show verb-related limitations. While most previous studies have focused on tense, the mastery of lexical aspect-particularly telicity-has not been the primary focus of much research. Lexical aspect refers to whether an action has a defined endpoint (telic verbs) or not (atelic verbs). OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the effect of telicity on verb recognition in Chilean children with DLD compared to their typically developing (TD) peers using the Event-Related Potential (ERP) technique. METHOD: The research design is a mixed factorial design with between-group factors of 2 (DLD/TD) and within-group factors of 2 (telic/atelic verbs) and 2 (coherent/incoherent sentences). The participants were 36 school-aged children (18 DLD, 18 TD) aged 7 to 7 years and 11 months. The task required subjects to listen to sentences that either matched or did not match an action in a video, with sentences including telic or atelic verbs. RESULTS: The study found notable differences between groups in how they processed verbs (N400 and post-N400 components) and direct objects (N400 and P600 components). CONCLUSIONS: Children with DLD struggled to differentiate telic and atelic verbs, potentially because they employed overgeneralization strategies consistent with the Event Structural Bootstrapping model.

Negation and social avoidance in language recruits the right inferior frontal gyrus: a tDCS study.

Introduction: In the process of comprehension, linguistic negation induces inhibition of negated scenarios. Numerous studies have highlighted the role of the right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (rIFG) - a key component of the inhibitory network - in negation processing. Social avoidance can be linguistically portrayed using attitudinal verbs such as "exclude" vs. "include", which inherently carry negative connotations. Consequently, we hypothesize that the interplay between explicit negation and the implicit negativity of avoidance verbs can be modulated via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the rIFG. Methods: In our study, sixty-four participants read approach/avoidance sentences, which were either affirmative or negative, such as "Anne included (did not include) meat in her diet" vs. "Anne excluded (did not exclude) meat in her diet". This reading task followed a 20-minute tDCS session. The sentences were sequentially displayed, and at 1500 ms post-sentence, a verb was shown - either the one previously mentioned or its semantic alternative counterpart (e.g., included vs. excluded). Results: Findings revealed that anodal stimulation intensifies the inhibitory impact of negation during sentence comprehension. Under anodal conditions, negative sentences led to extended reading times for the mentioned verbs compared to their affirmative counterparts, suggesting an increased inhibitory effect on the verb. Furthermore, in avoidance sentences, anodal stimulation resulted in reduced reading times for alternative verbs (e.g. "included") in negative sentences compared to alternative verbs (e.g. "excluded") in negated approach sentences. Discussion: As "avoidance" is semantically equivalent to "non-approach", the inhibitory effect of negation is primarily applied to the implicit negation: NOT EXCLUDED = NOT→NOT (INCLUDED), which consequently activates the representation of the alternative verb making it more available. We further discuss these findings in light of the rIFG's pivotal role in processing attitudinal verbs and linguistic negation. This discussion is framed within the overarching context of the two-step model of negation processing, highlighting its significance in the realm of social communication.

When does the brain distinguish between genuine and ambiguous smiles? An ERP study.

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded to assess the processing time course of ambiguous facial expressions with a smiling mouth but neutral, fearful, or angry eyes, in comparison with genuinely happy faces (a smile and happy eyes) and non-happy faces (neutral, fearful, or angry mouth and eyes). Participants judged whether the faces looked truly happy or not. Electroencephalographic recordings were made from 64 scalp electrodes to generate ERPs. The neural activation patterns showed early P200 sensitivity (differences between negative and positive or neutral expressions) and EPN sensitivity (differences between positive and neutral expressions) to emotional valence. In contrast, sensitivity to ambiguity (differences between genuine and ambiguous expressions) emerged only in later LPP components. Discrimination of emotional vs. neutral affect occurs between 180 and 430ms from stimulus onset, whereas the detection and resolution of ambiguity takes place between 470 and 720ms. In addition, while blended expressions involving a smile with angry eyes can be identified as not happy in the P200 (175-240ms) component, smiles with fearful or neutral eyes produce the same ERP pattern as genuinely happy faces, thus revealing poor discrimination.

Effect of transcranialdirect current stimulation on the right brain temporal area on processing approach and avoidance attitudes with negation.

Language describes approach/avoidance intentionality by means of attitudinal verbs (e.g., accept vs. reject). The right superior temporal sulcus (rSTS) has been shown to be recruited in processing action goals and approach intentionality in social contexts. In this study, we examine whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of this area improves the processing of attitudinal verbs (either of approach or avoidance) in the context of affirmative and negative sentences [e.g., Julio (did not)/included meat on the grocery list]. After being subjected to tDCS, 46 participants were given sentences for passive reading. Sentences were displayed in segments with a fixed time of exposition, and a verb, either the one mentioned in the sentence or an alternative one was displayed 1,500 ms after the sentence (e.g., included vs. excluded, in the example). Participants were told to read them and then press the space bar to continue the experiment. Results showed shorter latencies for approach verbs that were either mentioned in approach sentences or the alternatives in avoidance sentences, both in affirmative and negative versions under anodal conditions compared to sham conditions. Thus, the anodal stimulation of rSTS affected the accessibility of approach verbs that were not modulated either by being mentioned or by sentence polarity. In addition, mentioned verbs had shorter reading times than the alternative ones in negative sentences in the anodal vs. sham condition. This suggests that stimulation caused an effect of negation in the activation of the mentioned verb. Implications are discussed in the context of the role of the rSTS in processing attitudinal verbs and negation to understand better approach and avoidance mediated by language in the framework of the two-step model of negation processing.

Motivational mediation between coping and post-traumatic growth in previously bullied college students.

Research has consistently shown that experiences of peer victimization may have long lasting negative consequences on health and academic achievement. Less attention has been paid to the association between past bullying and post-traumatic growth in college students. This cross-sectional study aims to examine the role of different motivational orientations (The Behavioral Inhibition and Behavioral Activation Systems (BIS/BAS) and regulatory focus) as potential mediators between cognitive strategies (rumination and resilient coping) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Using a large sample of 1,134 college students, 85 were selected who were in their first year of college and had reported having previously experienced bullying. After classifying the participants acording to their the 33rd and 66th percentile scores on post-traumatic growth, a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant differences between the low and high groups, with those highest in PTG showing the highest scores on drive approach, focus on promotion, and resilient coping. Conditional process analysis with these significant variables revealed that regulatory focus on promotion mediates between resilient coping and post-traumatic growth, whereas drive moderates the link between both variables. The findings shed light on the motivational mechanisms underlying PTG, which may be useful to guide interventions to prevent the consequences of bullying.

The uncertain universality of the Macbeth effect with a Spanish sample.

Recently a psychological mechanism has been proposed between bodily purity and moral purity: the "Macbeth effect". The act of washing their hands seems to free individuals of their guilt. However, the universality of this psychological mechanism is an empirical question that should be studied. In four studies we replicated the original Zhong & Liljenquist's experiments with Spanish samples. We were unsuccessful in replicating the Zhong & Liljenquist's results that supported cleansing as a psychological mechanism for compensating guilty: results couldn't confirm an increased mental accessibility of cleansing-related concepts or even a greater desire for cleansing products, neither a greater likelihood of taking antiseptic wipes. In addition we didn't find that physical cleansing alleviates the upsetting consequences of unethical behaviour. Spanish samples showed sensibility to morality and helping behaviour but not with cleansing as a way to reduce their threatened morality.

Personality Traits Modulate the Effect of tDCS on Reading Speed of Social Sentences.

In this case, 62 university students participated in the study, in which a between-subjects design was adopted. Participants were also given the behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) scales. Participants had to read a list of 60 sentences with interpersonal and neutral content: 20 approach ("Pedro accepted Rosa in Whatsapp"), 20 avoidance ("Pedro Blocked Rosa in Whatsapp") and 20 neutral ("Marta thought about the causes of the problem"). After reading them, they were subjected to 20 min of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in one of the two conditions: anodal (31) or sham (31). After tDCS, they had to read other list of 60 sentences matched in approach, avoidance and neutral contents with the former list. We found significant improvement in reading speed after anodal stimulation for social and neutral sentences. Regarding affective traits, we found that anodal stimulation benefitted reading speed in low-BIS and low-BAS participants and had no effect in either high BAS or high BIS participants. In addition, tDCS improvement in reading speed was significantly lower in avoidance sentences in low-BIS (avoidance) participants. We discuss these results at the light of previous research and highlight the importance of approach and avoidance traits as moderators of tDCS effects.

Negation interacts with motivational direction in understanding action sentences.

Linguistic negation acts by inhibiting the representation of information under its scope, often leading to the representation of positive alternative states of affairs. Motivational direction refers to approach/avoidance intentionality in our interactions with environmental stimuli expressed by means of verbs (e.g., "accept" vs "reject"). We consider it plausible that negation interacts with direction to represent the true motivation of the protagonist in sentence understanding (e.g., if an approach action is negated it is represented as avoidance). In the first study, we examine this interaction offline by asking participants to judge approach or avoidance meaning of affirmative (e.g., "he/she included/excluded meat") and negative sentences ("he/she did not include/exclude meat"). Results support that negation reversed participants' interpretation of sentence motivational direction. In a further study, we carried out two probe recognition experiments to examine the interaction during sentence comprehension; in both, the critical probe was the word referring to the target of the action (e.g., "meat"). In the first experiment, participants had to recognize the probe word presented 1500 milliseconds after sentence offset, while for the second one, the delay was 500 milliseconds. Results showed that at 1500 ms, target recognition took significantly more time for negated avoidance sentences than for the other conditions. Therefore, representing negated avoidance sentences seems to imply more complex processing, as avoidance verbs would be implicitly negative. By contrast, at the 500 ms delay, negation impaired target recognition for both approach and avoidance sentences, suggesting an unspecific inhibitory effect of negation at that sentence processing stage. Implication of these results for both research on negation and in action understanding are discussed.

Enhancing Memory for Relationship Actions by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Superior Temporal Sulcus.

We examine the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of right superior temporal sulcus (rSTS) in memorization of approach/avoidance relationship-action sentences; for example, "Alejandro accepted/rejected Marta in his group." Sixty-five university students participated in a tDCS study, in which a between-subjects design was adopted. Sixty-four participants were also given the behavioral approach system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS) scales. Participants were subjected to 20 min of stimulation: anodal (N = 24), cathodal (N = 21), or sham (N = 20); subsequently, they were given a list of 40 sentences (half approach and half avoidance) and told to try to memorize them. Finally, they performed a changed/same memory task (half the sentences were the "same" and half were "changed"). Previously, we had examined performance in the memory task without tDCS with another group of participants (N = 20). We found that anodal stimulation improved d' index of discriminability (hits-false alarms) compared to sham and cathodal conditions for both approach and avoidance sentences. Moreover, the comparison between anodal and task-alone performance showed that stimulation improved d' index of approach sentences more, as task-alone performance showed better discrimination for avoidance than for approach. Likewise, we explored a potential modulation of tDCS effect by (BAS) and (BIS) traits. We found that d' index improvement in anodal stimulation condition only benefited low BAS and low BIS participants. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of rSTS function in encoding and memorizing verbally described intentional relationship-actions and the role of individual differences on modulating tDCS effect.

Brain Encoding of Social Approach: Is it Associated With Spatial Ability?

Human brains encode approach in social relationships as cognitively relevant for adaptive behavior. In this study, using event-related potentials (ERPs), we found that reading approach-social actions are likely to cause activation around the right anterior/middle superior temporal sulcus (STS), a brain area particularly involved in processing action intentionality and social relationships. We consider that the human capacity for the mental rotation of figures could also be adaptive for social relationships at the service of planning interaction with other bodies in social encounters. Encoding of social approach and spatial ability would correlate if both capacities are aimed at achieving the adaptive goal of secure interactions with others. We found a strong correlation between brain activation in the right temporal brain region and spatial ability. Implications of these results for the psychological mechanisms involved in adaptive social behavior are discussed.

Both the mirror and the affordance systems might be impaired in adults with high autistic traits. Evidence from EEG mu and beta rhythms.

The association of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with an altered mirror neuron system is still controversial. At the same time, the processing of object affordances by persons with ASD is a neglected issue. In this electroencephalographic study, adults differing in their autism quotient (AQ) scores were selected. We found anomalous modulation of mu and beta rhythms in high-AQ, compared to low-AQ persons, while they watched a set of goal-directed manual actions. This confirms that observing actions involving implicit intentions most clearly reveals the impairment of the mirror neurons system (MNS). The high-AQ group also showed anomalous mu and beta modulation when they looked at pictures of manipulable objects, indicating a deficit in processing motor affordances. We conclude that high-AQ adults have neural impairment of both the MNS and the affordance systems, which could underlie their relational problems with both people and objects. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1032-1042. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: Adults with autistic traits (high-autism quotient [AQ] scores) and matched controls (low-AQ) observed intentional hand actions, and pictures of manipulable and non-manipulable objects. The high-AQ group compared to the control group, showed anomalous modulation of the electroencephalographic motoric rhythms (mu and beta) while observing familiar goal-directed actions, confirming an impairment of their mirror neuron system. Also, their brain rhythms were anomalous when they watched manipulable objects, which suggest a dysfunction in their relation with objects (affordance system).

Comprensión del tiempo a través del espacio: Un estudio de plasticidad inducida en niños con trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje / Time comprehension through space: A research study on induced plasticity in children with developmental language disorder

Objetivo: Evaluar si los niños con trastorno del desarrollo lingüístico de tipo mixto (TDL) comprenden el tiempo verbal por medio de la metáfora conceptual «tiempo es espacio» (futuro adelante, pasado atrás). Método: Se elaboró un experimento de plasticidad inducida que consistió en mover fichas de un recipiente a otro realizando un movimiento adelante o atrás, y luego realizar un juicio de coherencia semántica en oraciones en pasado y futuro. Resultados: El desempeño general de los niños con TDL fue inferior en comparación con los niños con desarrollo típico (DT), con menos aciertos en las oraciones en pasado que en futuro. La interacción entre los dominios conceptuales de la metáfora (dirección del movimiento y tiempo verbal) al medir el tiempo de respuesta evidenció un efecto de interferencia compatible con la metáfora en niños con TDL y con DT. Al medir el porcentaje de aciertos, los resultados arrojaron una interacción entre dirección, tiempo y grupo, que muestra un efecto de facilitación compatible con la metáfora en los niños con TDL y un efecto de interferencia en niños con DT. Todos los resultados dependieron de la covariable atención sostenida. Conclusiones: Esta investigación da cuenta de la relación que existe entre el dominio espacial del eje adelante-atrás y la comprensión del tiempo verbal en niños con TDL y niños con normodesarrollo lingüístico. Los resultados se explican por medio de la teoría de la metáfora conceptual y las teorías corpóreas, y son de relevancia para futuras investigaciones y nuevas propuestas de intervención en el TDL.(AU)

Objective: To assess whether children with mixed developmental language disorders (DLD) understand verb tense through the conceptual metaphor «time is space» (future ahead, past behind). Method: An induced plasticity experiment was used which comprised moving tokens from one container to another using a forward or backward movement, and then forming a judgement of semantic coherence in past and future sentences. Results: The overall performance of the children with DLD was lower compared to typically developing (TD) children, attaining fewer hits in past sentences than future sentences. The interaction between the conceptual domains of the metaphor (movement direction and verb tense) when measuring response time, showed an interference effect compatible with the metaphor in the DLD and the TD children. When measuring the hit rate, the results showed an interaction between direction, tense, and group, showing a facilitation effect compatible with the metaphor in the children with DLD and an interference effect in the TD children. All the results depended on sustained attention. Conclusions: This research study shows the relationship between the spatial dominance of the forward/backward axis and understanding of verb tense in children with DLD and children with normal language development. The results are explained through the theory of conceptual metaphor and corporeal theories and are relevant for future research and new proposals for intervention in DLD.(AU)

Neurophysiological traces of the reader's geographical perspective associated with the deictic verbs of motion to go and to come.

This ERP study explores how participants activate their own geographical perspective, while reading sentences describing a motion (to come or to go), or a static spatial relation (to be) referred either to the participant's current location or a distant place. The ERPs recorded at the place names revealed that, compared to "distant places", "close places" enhanced ERP's components, associated with motivational relevance, in the context of the deictic verbs of motion to come and to go, but not in the context of the static verb to be. Also, in the context of the verbs of motion source estimation showed that "close places" elicited more activity than "distant places" in the medial temporal cortex (around the parahippocampal gyrus), suggesting projection of the reader's self-relevant information, or retrieval of geographical episodic memories. Finally, sentences describing motions congruent with the self-perspective (e.g. "going to distant place") elicited less activation than sentences incongruent with the self-perspective (e.g. "coming to distant place") in the right fronto-polar cortex and in the posterior cingulate cortex, regions generally associated with the other's perspective or with self/other perspective conflict. These findings provide information on the brain processes underlying readers' perspective taking, guided by the deictic verbs of motion.

Carefully encoding approach/avoidance body locomotion with interpersonal conduct in narrated interactions.

Approach and avoidance tendencies towards valenced others could be associated with our interpersonal conduct towards them: helping would be associated with approach tendency, and harming (or denying help) would be associated with avoidance. We propose that the encoding of this association enjoys attentional priority, as approach/avoidance representations of past interactions would regulate one's predisposition to either help or harm in subsequent interactions. Participants listened to interactions conveying positive/negative conduct between 2 characters. The conduct verb was then presented visually with a cue prompting participants to quickly step forward or backward. Subsequently, they performed a recognition task of noncentral story details. In matching conditions (positive conduct-step forward, negative conduct-step backward) the concurrent step should interfere with the encoding of motor representation of the conduct verb, and the verb encoding should divert attentional resources from the consolidation of memory traces of less relevant information. Results showed the predicted impairment in the recognition task in matching conditions, which supports an attentional bias towards encoding motor approach/avoidance representation of interpersonal conduct in the process of comprehending narrated interactions.

Content and strategy in syllogistic reasoning.

Syllogistic reasoning has been investigated as a general deductive process (Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991; Revlis, 1975; Rips, 1994). However, several studies have demonstrated the role of cognitive strategies in this type of reasoning. These strategies focus on the method used by the participants (Ford, 1995; Gilhooly, Logie, Wetherick, & Wynn, 1993) and strategies related to different interpretations of the quantified premises (Roberts, Newstead, & Griggs, 2001). In this paper, we propose that content (as well as individual cognitive differences) is an important factor in inducing a certain strategy or method for syllogistic resolution. Specifically, we suggest that syllogisms with a causal conditional premise that can be extended by an agency premise induce the use of a conditional method. To demonstrate this, we carried out two experiments. Experiment 1 provided evidence that this type of syllogism leads participants to draw the predicted conditional conclusions, in contrast with control content syllogisms. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the drawing of conditional conclusions is based on a causal conditional to an agent representation of the syllogism premises. These results support the role of content as inducing a particular strategy for syllogistic resolution. The implications of these results are discussed.