Relative contributions of the face and body to social judgements: emotion, threat and status.

Do the nonverbal signals used to make social judgements differ depending on the type of judgement being made and what other nonverbal signals are visible? Experiment 1 investigated how nonverbal signals across three channels (face: angry/fearful, posture: expanded/contracted, lean: forward/backward), when viewed together, were used for judgements of emotion, threat, and status. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 and explored how use of the body channels differed in making social judgements when the face channel was obscured. Both experiments found facial anger linked to high anger, threat, and status ratings; facial fear was linked to low ratings. Expanded body posture increased threat and status judgements, while backward lean decreased anger and threat. With the face channel blocked (Experiment 2B), the influence of body posture increased across emotion, threat, and status judgements, while body lean was more consistent. Findings demonstrate that despite the face's importance across types of social judgements, the body channels differentially contribute to judgements of emotion, threat and status. Further, they are differentially affected by the absence of facial information. How much face and body-related channels are used in social judgements is moderated by the type of judgement being made and the availability of other (particularly facial) channel information.

Age-related similarities and differences in cognitive and neural processing revealed by task-related microstate analysis.

We explored neural processing differences associated with aging across four cognitive functions. In addition to ERP analysis, we included task-related microstate analyses, which identified stable states of neural activity across the scalp over time, to explore whole-head neural activation differences. Younger and older adults (YA, OA) completed face perception (N170), word-pair judgment (N400), visual oddball (P3), and flanker (ERN) tasks. Age-related effects differed across tasks. Despite age-related delayed latencies, N170 ERP and microstate analyses indicated no age-related differences in amplitudes or microstates. However, age-related condition differences were found for P3 and N00 amplitudes and scalp topographies: smaller condition differences were found for in OAs as well as broader centroparietal scalp distributions. Age group comparisons for the ERN revealed similar focal frontocentral activation loci, but differential activation patterns. Our findings of differential age effects across tasks are most consistent with the STAC-r framework which proposes that age-related effects differ depending on the resources available and the kinds of processing and cognitive load required of various tasks.

Electrophysiological concomitants of pupillary synchrony.

Pupillary synchrony or contagion is the automatic unconscious mimicry of pupil dilation in dyadic interactions. This experiment explored electrophysiological event-related potential (ERP) concomitants of pupillary synchrony. Artificial pupils (black dots) were superimposed on either partial faces (eyes, nose, brow) or random textures. Observers were asked to judge dot size (large, medium, or small). There was clear evidence of pupillary synchrony with observer pupil dilation greater to large dots than to small or medium dots. The pupillary synchrony increased in magnitude throughout the trial and was found both with faces and with textures. When the stimuli were partial faces with artificial pupils (dots), there was ERP activity related to target dot size in the period at P250 and P3. A face specific N170 was also found. When the stimuli were random textures with dots, there was ERP activity at P1 and in the interval from 140 to 200 ms post-stimulus onset. The use of ERP with pupillometry revealed results for faces that were consistent with a social explanation of pupillary synchrony whereas results for textures were consistent with a local luminance explanation.

Peak frequency of the sensorimotor mu rhythm varies with autism-spectrum traits.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental syndrome characterized by impairments in social perception and communication. Growing evidence suggests that the relationship between deficits in social perception and ASD may extend into the neurotypical population. In electroencephalography (EEG), high autism-spectrum traits in both ASD and neurotypical samples are associated with changes to the mu rhythm, an alpha-band (8-12 Hz) oscillation measured over sensorimotor cortex which typically shows reductions in spectral power during both one's own movements and observation of others' actions. This mu suppression is thought to reflect integration of perceptual and motor representations for understanding of others' mental states, which may be disrupted in individuals with autism-spectrum traits. However, because spectral power is usually quantified at the group level, it has limited usefulness for characterizing individual variation in the mu rhythm, particularly with respect to autism-spectrum traits. Instead, individual peak frequency may provide a better measure of mu rhythm variability across participants. Previous developmental studies have linked ASD to slowing of individual peak frequency in the alpha band, or peak alpha frequency (PAF), predominantly associated with selective attention. Yet individual variability in the peak mu frequency (PMF) remains largely unexplored, particularly with respect to autism-spectrum traits. Here we quantified peak frequency of occipitoparietal alpha and sensorimotor mu rhythms across neurotypical individuals as a function of autism-spectrum traits. High-density 128-channel EEG data were collected from 60 participants while they completed two tasks previously reported to reliably index the sensorimotor mu rhythm: motor execution (bimanual finger tapping) and action observation (viewing of whole-body human movements). We found that individual measurement in the peak oscillatory frequency of the mu rhythm was highly reliable within participants, was not driven by resting vs. task states, and showed good correlation across action execution and observation tasks. Within our neurotypical sample, higher autism-spectrum traits were associated with slowing of the PMF, as predicted. This effect was not likely explained by volume conduction of the occipitoparietal PAF associated with attention. Together, these data support individual peak oscillatory alpha-band frequency as a correlate of autism-spectrum traits, warranting further research with larger samples and clinical populations.

Equivalent pupillary mimicry in younger and older adults.

Pupillary contagion is a form of autonomic mimicry in which faces with dilated pupils elicit larger pupils in observers whereas faces with constricted pupils elicit smaller pupils. Autonomic reactivity may be fundamental to higher order social processes, yet older adults may be less likely to register other's autonomic signals. We explored pupillary contagion in younger and older adult observers. We presented younger and older observers with partial-face photographs of women with the pupils manipulated to be small, medium, or large. The faces were either young (20s) or old (70s). There were two tasks: To judge the model's age and to judge which pupil was larger. In the pupil judgment task, the magnitude of response was lower in older adults than in younger adults, but both younger and older observers showed equivalent pupillary contagion. In the age judgment task, which did not draw attention to the pupils, we found no evidence of pupillary contagion in either age-group. Registration of the autonomic signal of pupil dilation does not appear to be impaired in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Selective contributions of executive function ability to the P3.

The P3 component (P300, P3b) is considered to be an effective index of attention and categorization processes when elicited in a visual oddball task, specifically reflecting the selection of a rare target item among frequent non-targets. Researchers have proposed that target categorization is guided by representations of target features held in working memory (WM), thus guiding attention and categorization processes to distinguish targets from non-targets. Although WM is theorized to have visuospatial, verbal and executive function components, most studies do not investigate how these WM components contribute to the P3. This study uses an individual differences approach to determine whether correlations between WM capabilities and P3 amplitudes indicate a common underlying cognitive construct. Participants (n = 140) completed an 80/20 visual oddball task to elicit the P3 as well as independent visual working memory (VWM), spatial working memory (SPWM), and executive function (task switching (TS) and digit symbol substitution (DSS)) tests. Results indicated that measures of executive function, DSS and TS, but not VWM or SPWM ability, correlated with and predicted faster task response times and greater P3 amplitudes. RT and WM measures were not correlated with P3 fractional area latencies. These results support context updating theory. Executive function WM availability, whether as a property of the participant's processing system or based on task demands, plays a functional role in the P3 and an important role in efficient visual categorization and goal-directed learning.

Does hand position affect orienting when no action is required? An electrophysiological study.

Previous research has shown that attention can be biased to targets appearing near the hand that require action responses, arguing that attention to the hand facilitates upcoming action. It is unclear whether attention orients to non-targets near the hand not requiring responses. Using electroencephalography/event-related potentials (EEG/ERP), this study investigated whether hand position affected visual orienting to non-targets under conditions that manipulated the distribution of attention. We modified an attention paradigm in which stimuli were presented briefly and rapidly on either side of fixation; participants responded to infrequent targets (15%) but not standard non-targets and either a hand or a block was placed next to one stimulus location. In Experiment 1, attention was distributed across left and right stimulus locations to determine whether P1 or N1 ERP amplitudes to non-target standards were differentially influenced by hand location. In Experiment 2, attention was narrowed to only one stimulus location to determine whether attentional focus affected orienting to non-target locations near the hand. When attention was distributed across both stimulus locations, the hand increased overall N1 amplitudes relative to the block but not selectively to stimuli appearing near the hand. However, when attention was focused on one location, amplitudes were affected by the location of attentional focus and the stimulus, but not by hand or block location. Thus, hand position appears to contribute only a non-location-specific input to standards during visual orienting, but only in cases when attention is distributed across stimulus locations.

Open science as a path to education of new psychophysiologists.

There is a pressing need for resources to train the next generation of psychophysiologists. Psychophysiology, and especially the subfield of cognitive electrophysiology, poses challenges for educators because it requires an understanding of complex concepts and experimental design, advanced analysis and programming skills, and access to specialized software and equipment. These challenges are common to other STEM fields as well. We present PURSUE (Preparing Undergraduates for Research in STEM Using Electrophysiology - www.PursueERP.com) as an example initiative that engages open educational practices to create and share freely available electrophysiology training materials. This model uses evidence-based pedagogy to create accessible and flexible materials, an open database with supporting lab-based training resources, and also provides instructor support during implementation. This model can be used for other areas within STEM. We review benefits and challenges of using open science research and publishing practices for training. Open science resources have benefits for both course-based undergraduate research experiences and other types of training by increasing access to publications, software, and code for conducting experiments and analyses, as well as access to data for those who do not have access to research equipment. Further, we argue that coordinated open educational practices are necessary to take full advantage of open science resources for training students. Open educational practices such as open educational resources, collaborative course building, and implementation support greatly enhance the ability to incorporate these open science resources into a curriculum.

Individual Differences in Working Memory and the N2pc.

The lateralized ERP N2pc component has been shown to be an effective marker of attentional object selection when elicited in a visual search task, specifically reflecting the selection of a target item among distractors. Moreover, when targets are known in advance, the visual search process is guided by representations of target features held in working memory at the time of search, thus guiding attention to objects with target-matching features. Previous studies have shown that manipulating working memory availability via concurrent tasks or within task manipulations influences visual search performance and the N2pc. Other studies have indicated that visual (non-spatial) vs. spatial working memory manipulations have differential contributions to visual search. To investigate this the current study assesses participants' visual and spatial working memory ability independent of the visual search task to determine whether such individual differences in working memory affect task performance and the N2pc. Participants (n = 205) completed a visual search task to elicit the N2pc and separate visual working memory (VWM) and spatial working memory (SPWM) assessments. Greater SPWM, but not VWM, ability is correlated with and predicts higher visual search accuracy and greater N2pc amplitudes. Neither VWM nor SPWM was related to N2pc latency. These results provide additional support to prior behavioral and neural visual search findings that spatial WM availability, whether as an ability of the participant's processing system or based on task demands, plays an important role in efficient visual search.

Body Matters in Emotion: Restricted Body Movement and Posture Affect Expression and Recognition of Status-Related Emotions.

Embodiment theory suggests that we use our own body and experiences to simulate information from other people's bodies and faces to understand their emotions. A natural consequence of embodied theory is that our own current position and state contributes to this emotional processing. Testing non-disabled individuals, we investigated whether restricted body posture and movement influenced the production and recognition of nonverbal, dynamic emotional displays in able-bodied participants. In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to either unrestricted or wheelchair-restricted (sitting, torso restrained) groups and nonverbally expressed six emotions (disgust, happiness, anger, fear, embarrassment, and pride) while being videotaped. After producing each emotion, they rated their confidence regarding how effectively they communicated that emotion. Videotaped emotional displays were coded for face, body, and face + body use. Based on naïve coders' scores, both unrestricted and wheelchair-restricted groups produced emotionally congruent face and body movements and both groups were equally confident in their communication effectiveness. Using videos from Experiment 1, Experiment 2 tested non-disabled participants' ability to recognize emotions from unrestricted and wheelchair-restricted displays. Wheelchair-restricted displays showed an overall decline in recognition accuracy, but recognition was selectively impaired for the dominance-related emotions of disgust and anger. Consistent with embodied emotion theory, these results emphasize the importance of the body for emotion communication and have implications for social interactions between individuals with and without physical disabilities. Changes in nonverbal emotion signals from body restrictions may influence social interactions that rely on the communication of dominance-related social emotions.

Functional tool actions in near and far space affect the distribution of visual attention along the tool.

Researchers propose 2 opposing views regarding visuospatial attentional distributions of tool space. Tool-use in far space either (a) remaps peripersonal space leading to distributed attention along the tool, or (b) shifts attention to the tool's functional end. However, most studies employ only one type of functional tool action to support their view. This study assessed whether attentional distributions are explained by different tool action types performed in space relative to the body. In Experiment 1, participants used a curved tool to push objects in far space or pull objects from far-to-near space, n = 96. Visual attention (mean correct RT, d') was measured at three equidistant target locations (tool handle, middle shaft, functional end) in far space, before and after tool actions using a 50/50, go/no-go target discrimination task. In Experiment 2, push actions were confined to near space and pull actions to far space, n = 96. Regardless of pushing or pulling, tool actions in far space improved attention only at the tool's end. Pulling objects into near space distributed attentional facilitation along the tool's length. Thus, tool-use peripersonal space remapping and attentional shifts may be dependent on specific functional tool actions in near and far space. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Older and wiser: age differences in susceptibility to investment fraud: the protective role of emotional intelligence.

There have been inconsistent results regarding whether older adults are more vulnerable to fraud than younger adults. The two main goals of this study were to investigate the claim that there is an age-related vulnerability to fraud and to examine whether emotional intelligence (EI) may be associated with fraud susceptibility. Participants (N = 281; 18-82 years; M = 53.4) were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk and completed measures of EI, decision-making, and scam susceptibility. Participants who scored higher on "ability" EI were less susceptible to scams. The "younger" group (M = 2.50, SD = 1.06) was more susceptible to scams than the "older" group, p <.001, d = 0.56, while the "older" group (M = 4.64, SD = 1.52) reported the scams as being more risky than the "younger" group, p =.002, d = 0.37. "Older" participants were more sensitive to risk, less susceptible to persuasion, and had higher than average emotional understanding. Emotional understanding was found to be a partial mediator for age-related differences in scam susceptibility and susceptibility to persuasion.

Perceived relative social status and cognitive load influence acceptance of unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game.

Participants in the Ultimatum Game will often reject unfair resource allocations at personal cost, reflecting a trade-off between financial gain and maintenance of social standing. Although this rejection behavior is linked to executive control, the exact role of cognitive regulation in relation to status cues is unclear. We propose that the salience of status cues affects how cognitive regulation resolves the conflict between financial gain and social status considerations. Situations that tax executive control by limiting available cognitive resources should increase acceptance rates for unfair offers, particularly when the conflict between economic self-interest and social reputation is high. Here, participants rated their own subjective social status, and then either mentally counted (Load) or ignored (No Load) simultaneously-presented tones while playing two rounds of the Ultimatum Game with an online (sham) "Proposer" of either high or low social status. A logistic regression revealed an interaction of Proposer status with cognitive load. Compared to the No Load group, the Load group showed higher acceptance rates for unfair offers from the high-status Proposer. In contrast, cognitive load did not influence acceptance rates for unfair offers from the low-status Proposer. Additionally, Proposer status interacted with the relative social distance between participant and Proposer. Participants close in social distance to the high-status Proposer were more likely to accept the unfair offer than those farther in social distance, whereas the opposite pattern was observed for offers from the low-status Proposer. Although rejection of unfair offers in the Ultimatum Game has previously been conceptualized as an intuitive response, these results instead suggest it reflects a deliberative strategy, dependent on cognitive resources, to prioritize social standing over short-term financial gain. This study reveals the dynamic interplay of cognitive resources and status concerns within this paradigm, providing new insights into when and why people reject inequitable divisions of resources.

Hand function, not proximity, biases visuotactile integration later in object processing: An ERP study.

Behavioral studies document a functional hand proximity effect: objects near the palm, but not the back of the hand, affect visual processing. Although visuotactile bimodal neurons integrate visual and haptic inputs, their receptive fields in monkey cortex encompass the whole hand, not just the palm. Using ERPs, we investigated whether hand function influenced the topology of integrated space around the hand. In a visual detection paradigm, target and non-target stimuli appeared equidistantly in front or in back of the hand. Equivalent N1 amplitudes were found for both conditions. P3 target versus non-target amplitude differences were greater for palm conditions. Hand proximity biased processing of visual targets equidistant from the hand early in processing. However, hand function biases emerged later when targets were selected for potential action. Thus, early hand proximity effects on object processing depend on sensory-reliant neural responses, whereas later multisensory integration depend more on the hand's functional expertise.

Dissociable processing of emotional and neutral body movements revealed by µ-alpha and beta rhythms.

Both when actions are executed and observed, electroencephalography (EEG) has shown reduced alpha-band (8-12 Hz) oscillations over sensorimotor cortex. This 'µ-alpha' suppression is thought to reflect mental simulation of action, which has been argued to support internal representation of others' emotional states. Despite the proposed role of simulation in emotion perception, little is known about the effect of emotional content on µ-suppression. We recorded high-density EEG while participants viewed point-light displays of emotional vs neutral body movements in 'coherent' biologically plausible and 'scrambled' configurations. Although coherent relative to scrambled stimuli elicited µ-alpha suppression, the comparison of emotional and neutral movement, controlling for basic visual input, revealed suppression effects in both alpha and beta bands. Whereas alpha-band activity reflected reduced power for emotional stimuli in central and occipital sensors, beta power at frontocentral sites was driven by enhancement for neutral relative to emotional actions. A median-split by autism-spectrum quotient score revealed weaker µ-alpha suppression and beta enhancement in participants with autistic tendencies, suggesting that sensorimotor simulation may be differentially engaged depending on social capabilities. Consistent with theories of embodied emotion, these data support a link between simulation and social perception while more firmly connecting emotional processing to the activity of sensorimotor systems.

Attention orienting near the hand following performed and imagined actions.

Recent studies have documented that the hand's ability to perform actions affects the visual processing and attention for objects near the hand, suggesting that actions may have specific effects on visual orienting. However, most research on the relation between spatial attention and action focuses on actions as responses to visual attention manipulations. The current study examines visual attention immediately following an executed or imagined action. A modified spatial cuing paradigm tested whether a brief, lateralized hand-pinch performed by a visually hidden hand near the target location, facilitated or inhibited subsequent visual target detection. Conditions in which hand-pinches were fully executed (action) were compared to ones with no hand-pinch (inaction) in Experiment 1 and imagined pinches (imagine) in Experiment 2. Results from Experiment 1 indicated that performed hand pinches facilitated rather than inhibited subsequent detection responses to targets appearing near the pinch, but target detection was not affected by inaction. In Experiment 2, both action and imagined action conditions cued attention and facilitated responses, but along differing time courses. These results highlight the ongoing nature of visual attention and demonstrate how it is deployed to locations even following actions.

Feeling but not seeing the hand: Occluded hand position reduces the hand proximity effect in ERPs.

The hand proximity effect (nearby hands influence visual processing) reflects the integration of vision and proprioception for upcoming action; it is reduced when hand position is occluded. In an ERP study, we investigate whether hand proximity, without vision of the hand, accentuates the processing of stimuli requiring actions (targets) early (N1) and later (P3) in processing. In a go/no-go paradigm, participants viewed stimuli between two panels with hands placed near or far from stimuli. Occlusion of the hand eliminated near-hand target vs. non-target differentiation of the N1; amplification of near-hand target amplitudes emerged at the P3. Visual hand location appears necessary to draw visual attention to intended-action objects to integrate body and visual information early in processing. The integration of visual stimulus information and hand position from proprioception appears later in processing, indicating greater reliance on cognitive systems for discriminating the task-relevance of a stimulus.

Brief Report: Attentional Cueing to Images of Social Interactions is Automatic for Neurotypical Individuals But Not Those with ASC.

Human actions induce attentional orienting toward the target of the action. We examined the influence of action cueing in social (man throwing toward a human) and non-social (man throwing toward a tree) contexts in observers with and without autism spectrum condition (ASC). Results suggested that a social interaction enhanced the cueing effect for neurotypical participants. Participants with ASC did not benefit from non-predictive cues and were slower in social contexts, although they benefitted from reliably predictive cues. Social orienting appears to be automatic in the context of an implied social interaction for neurotypical observers, but not those with ASC. Neurotypical participants' behavior may be driven by automatic processing, while participants with ASC use an alternative, effortful strategy.

It's Not All About the Face: Variability Reveals Asymmetric Obligatory Processing of Faces and Bodies in Whole-Body Contexts.

Researchers have sought to understand the specialized processing of faces and bodies in isolation, but recently they have considered how face and body information interact within the context of the whole body. Although studies suggest that face and body information can be integrated, it remains an open question whether this integration is obligatory and whether contributions of face and body information are symmetrical. In a selective attention task with whole-body stimuli, we focused attention on either the face or body and tested whether variation in the irrelevant part could be ignored. We manipulated orientation to determine the extent to which inversion disrupted obligatory face and body processing. Obligatory processing was evidenced as performance changes in discrimination that depended on stimulus orientation when the irrelevant region varied. For upright but not inverted face discrimination, participants could not ignore body posture variation, even when it was not diagnostic to the task. However, participants could ignore face variation for upright body posture discrimination but not for inverted posture discrimination. The extent to which face and body information necessarily influence each other in whole-body contexts appears to depend on both domain-general attentional and face- or body-specific holistic processing mechanisms.