Temporal neural dynamics of understanding communicative intentions from speech prosody.

Understanding the correct intention of a speaker is critical for social interaction. Speech prosody is an important source for understanding speakers' intentions during verbal communication. However, the neural dynamics by which the human brain translates the prosodic cues into a mental representation of communicative intentions in real time remains unclear. Here, we recorded EEG (electroencephalograph) while participants listened to dialogues. The prosodic features of the critical words at the end of sentences were manipulated to signal either suggestion, warning, or neutral intentions. The results showed that suggestion and warning intentions evoked enhanced late positive event-related potentials (ERPs) compared to the neutral condition. Linear mixed-effects model (LMEM) regression and representational similarity analysis (RSA) analyses revealed that these ERP effects were distinctively correlated with prosodic acoustic analysis, emotional valence evaluation, and intention interpretation in different time windows; The onset latency significantly increased as the processing level of abstractness and communicative intentionality increased. Neural representations of intention and emotional information emerged and parallelly persisted over a long time window, guiding the correct identification of communicative intention. These results provide new insights into understanding the structural components of intention processing and their temporal neural dynamics underlying communicative intention comprehension from speech prosody in online social interactions.

Leader-follower dynamics during early social interactions matter for infant word learning.

We know little about the mechanisms through which leader-follower dynamics during dyadic play shape infants' language acquisition. We hypothesized that infants' decisions to visually explore a specific object signal focal increases in endogenous attention, and that when caregivers respond to these proactive behaviors by naming the object it boosts infants' word learning. To examine this, we invited caregivers and their 14-mo-old infants to play with novel objects, before testing infants' retention of the novel object-label mappings. Meanwhile, their electroencephalograms were recorded. Results showed that infants' proactive looks toward an object during play associated with greater neural signatures of endogenous attention. Furthermore, when caregivers named objects during these episodes, infants showed greater word learning, but only when caregivers also joined their focus of attention. Our findings support the idea that infants' proactive visual explorations guide their acquisition of a lexicon.

Dogs distinguish authentic human emotions without being empathic.

Several recent studies have investigated how dogs perceive human emotional expressions. They have measured the reactions of dogs when exposed to stimuli presented in different modalities, such as photographs, audio recordings or odor samples, or to humans simulating various emotional situations. In the current study, dog owners were manipulated to genuinely experience emotions of happiness, sadness, and neutrality. We measured how dogs responded to their owners' authentic emotions in two different natural situations: induction of the emotion through a video clip and training of a new task. Through a detailed analysis of dog behavior in these naturalistic settings, we investigated whether dogs show behavioral responses to genuine human emotions. We found that dogs behaved differently depending on the owner's emotional state: they gazed and jumped less at owners when they were sad, and their compliance with the 'sit' command was also diminished. When owners were happy, dogs performed better in the trained task. These results are discussed in light of how dogs perceive human emotional expressions and the adaptive value of this skill.

A behavioral analysis system MCFBM enables objective inference of songbirds' attention during social interactions.

Understanding animal behavior is crucial in behavioral neuroscience, aiming to unravel the mechanisms driving these behaviors. A significant milestone in this field is the analysis of behavioral reactions during social interactions. Despite their importance in social learning, the behavioral aspects of these interaction are not well understood in detail due to the lack of appropriate tools. We introduce a high-precision, marker-based motion-capture system for analyzing behavior in songbirds, accurately tracking body location and head direction in multiple freely moving finches during social interaction. Focusing on zebra finches, our analysis revealed variations in eye use based on individuals presented. We also observed behavioral changes during virtual and live presentations and a conditioned-learning paradigm. Additionally, the system effectively analyzed social interactions among mice. This system provides an efficient tool for advanced behavioral analysis in small animals and offers an objective method to infer their focus of attention.

Executive functions and theory of mind associations in middle childhood: Does social interaction act as a mediator?

This study explored the interplay of executive functions (EFs), social interactions, and theory of mind (ToM) in middle childhood. The first aim was to examine how specific EFs-shifting, inhibition, and working memory (WM)-predict social-perceptual and social-cognitive ToM. The second aim was to explore the potential mediating role of social interactions in the EF-ToM relationship. A total of 98 children aged 8 to 11 years completed three computerized EF tasks (task switching, flanker, and running span) and two ToM tasks (Strange Stories and Reading the Mind in the Eyes). The quality and quantity of social interactions were self-reported by using questionnaires. First, multiple regression analyses with age-adjusted scores examined how specific EFs predict ToM scores. The regression model was significant for social-cognitive ToM, but not for social-perceptual ToM. WM accuracy was the only significant, positive predictor for performance on the Strange Stories task. Second, mediation analyses assessed whether social interactions mediate this EF-ToM relationship. There were no significant mediation effects of the quality and quantity of social interactions on the relationship between WM and social-cognitive ToM. In conclusion, EFs play a significant role in explaining social-cognitive ToM variability in middle childhood. WM is relevant for understanding others' mental states, in contrast to shifting and inhibition that lacked predictive value. The results also suggest different cognitive processes associated with social-perceptual versus social-cognitive ToM in this developmental stage.

Bacillus lipopeptides as key players in rhizosphere chemical ecology.

Microbial natural products are widely explored for their therapeutic potential. Understanding the underlying evolutionary and adaptive forces driving their production remains a fundamental question in biology. Amphiphilic cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs), a prominent category of bacterial specialized metabolites, show strong antimicrobial activity, particularly against phytopathogens. It is thus assumed that these compounds are deployed by soil- or rhizosphere-dwelling bacteria as microbial weapons in competitive natural environments. Here, we challenge this reductionist perspective and present evidence that Bacillus CLPs are prominent chemical mediators of ecological interactions. They help Bacillus to communicate, compete, defend against predators, or cooperate and establish mutualistic relationships with other (micro)organisms. Additional parallel examples are highlighted in other genera, such as Pseudomonas. This broader perspective underscores the need for further investigation into the role of CLPs in shaping the adaptive strategies of key rhizobacterial species.

Quality of life is impaired in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody associated disease.

Background: There is a paucity of studies examining quality of life (QoL) in people with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). Methods: A cross-sectional, online, self-administered survey was distributed. Data elements included demographic and clinical characteristics, and QoL in Neurological Disorders (Neuro-QoL) short form questionnaires. Neuro-QoL domain scores were compared to reference populations, yielding standardized T-scores. Symptom severity was categorized as mild, moderate, or severe, using standard Neuro-QoL cut points. Results: A total of 259 participants completed the survey. Neuro-QoL domain impairment was present in a significant proportion of respondents (anxiety: 58.1%, depression: 30.7%, stigma 29.8%, cognition: 58.5%, social function: 57.7%). T-scores were significantly worse than the reference population for anxiety (p<0.001), stigma (p=0.005), cognitive function (p<0.001) and social interactions (p<0.001). There was no clear association between QoL domains and demographics, disease-modifying therapy class, or type of clinical presentation. A relapsing vs monophasic disease course was associated with worse anxiety, stigma, cognition, and social interactions (p<0.05). Conclusion: People with MOGAD may exhibit impairment in multiple domains of QoL. Practicing clinicians should be aware of this burden in MOGAD. Further research is needed to better understand factors associated with QoL impairment in MOGAD.

Where did it go? A study of DNA transfer in a social setting.

The sensitivity of DNA analysis has progressed to the point that trace levels of DNA, originating from only a few cells, can generate informative profiles. This means that virtually any item or surface can be sampled with a reasonable chance of obtaining a DNA profile. As the presence of DNA does not suggest how it was deposited, questions are often raised as to how the DNA came to be at a particular location and the activity that led to its deposition. Therefore, understanding different modes of DNA deposition, reflective of realistic forensic casework situations, is critical for proper evaluation of DNA results in court. This study aimed to follow the movements of DNA to and from individuals and common household surfaces in a residential premises, while socially interacting. This took place over an hour and involved four participants, with known shedder status, designated as visitors (a male and a female) and hosts (a male and a female), who engaged in the activity of playing a board game while being served food. During the study, the participants were instructed to use the toilet on a single occasion to assess the transfer of DNA to new and unused underwear that was provided. All contacts made by the participants in the dining room and kitchen were video recorded to follow the movements of DNA. Samples were collected based on the history of contact, which included hands, fingernails and penile swabs. Direct contacts resulted in detectable transfer (LR > 1) in 87 % (87/100) of the non-intimate samples and clothing. For surfaces touched by multiple participants, DNA from the person who made the last contact was not always detectable. The duration and number of contacts did not significantly affect the detection of the person contacting the item. On the other hand, presence of background DNA and participant's shedder status appear to play an important role. Further, unknown contributors were detected in the majority of samples. Finally, indirect transfer was observed on a number of occasions including co-habiting partners of guests who were not present at the study location. The results of this study may assist with decision making for exhibit selection or targeting areas for sampling within the home environment. Our findings can also be used in conjunction with previous literature to develop activity-level evaluations in such situations where the source of the DNA is conceded, but the mode of deposition is disputed.

Exercise-induced inflammation alters the perception and visual exploration of emotional interactions.

Introduction: The study aimed to investigate whether an exercise-induced pro-inflammatory response alters the perception as well as visual exploration of emotional body language in social interactions. Methods: In a within-subject design, 19 male, healthy adults aged between 19 and 33 years performed a downhill run for 45 min at 70% of their VO2max on a treadmill to induce maximal myokine blood elevations, leading to a pro-inflammatory status. Two control conditions were selected: a control run with no decline and a rest condition without physical exercise. Blood samples were taken before (T0), directly after (T1), 3 h after (T3), and 24 h after (T24) each exercise for analyzing the inflammatory response. 3 h after exercise, participants observed point-light displays (PLDs) of human interactions portraying four emotions (happiness, affection, sadness, and anger). Participants categorized the emotional content, assessed the emotional intensity of the stimuli, and indicated their confidence in their ratings. Eye movements during the entire paradigm and self-reported current mood were also recorded. Results: The downhill exercise condition resulted in significant elevations of measured cytokines (IL6, CRP, MCP-1) and markers for muscle damage (Myoglobin) compared to the control running condition, indicating a pro-inflammatory state after the downhill run. Emotion recognition rates decreased significantly after the downhill run, whereas no such effect was observed after control running. Participants' sensitivity to emotion-specific cues also declined. However, the downhill run had no effect on the perceived emotional intensity or the subjective confidence in the given ratings. Visual scanning behavior was affected after the downhill run, with participants fixating more on sad stimuli, in contrast to the control conditions, where participants exhibited more fixations while observing happy stimuli. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that inflammation, induced through a downhill running model, impairs perception and emotional recognition abilities. Specifically, inflammation leads to decreased recognition rates of emotional content of social interactions, attributable to diminished discrimination capabilities across all emotional categories. Additionally, we observed alterations in visual exploration behavior. This confirms that inflammation significantly affects an individual's responsiveness to social and affective stimuli.

Distinct social behavior and inter-brain connectivity in Dyads with autistic individuals.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined by distinctive socio-cognitive behaviors that deviate from typical patterns. Notably, social imitation skills appear to be particularly impacted, manifesting early on in development. This paper compared the behavior and inter-brain dynamics of dyads made up of two typically developing (TD) participants with mixed dyads made up of ASD and TD participants during social imitation tasks. By combining kinematics and EEG-hyperscanning, we show that individuals with ASD exhibited a preference for the follower rather than the lead role in imitating scenarios. Moreover, the study revealed inter-brain synchrony differences, with low-alpha inter-brain synchrony differentiating control and mixed dyads. The study's findings suggest the importance of studying interpersonal phenomena in dynamic and ecological settings and using hyperscanning methods to capture inter-brain dynamics during actual social interactions.

Social interactions offset the detrimental effects of digital media use on children's vocabulary.

Young children's rapid vocabulary growth during the first few years is supported by input during social interactions with caregivers and, increasingly, from digital media. However, the amount of exposure to both sources can vary substantially across socioeconomic classes, and little is known about how social interactions and digital media use together predict vocabulary in the first few years of life. The current study takes a first step toward examining whether increased social interactions with other individuals may buffer the potentially detrimental effects of digital media use on language among a socioeconomically diverse sample. 305 caregivers of children between 17 and 30-months completed questionnaires about their family demographics, their child's technology use, and the child's daily routines and social interactions. Findings suggest children who experience fewer human interactions and greater technology exposure have smaller vocabularies than their peers who socialize more and use less technology, and this disparity becomes greater as children get older. Moreover, the number of social interactions moderates the link between SES, digital media, and vocabulary such that the negative impact of digital media on vocabulary for children from low SES households can be offset with increased social interactions. Together, this suggests that increasing the amount of human interactions may serve as a protective factor for vocabulary outcomes in a world where digital media use is prominent.

Irritability: associations with real-time affect dynamics, social interactions, and daily substance use in older adolescents.

Irritability is a common and clinically significant symptom associated with a wide range of negative outcomes. Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) is a valuable tool for capturing experiences, such as emotions, social interactions, and substance use in real-time, and may be useful in understanding how irritability is related to everyday functioning. We investigated cross-sectional associations between a widely used self-report irritability rating scale and affect dynamics, social interactions, and substance use captured with EMA (5 surveys daily for 14 days) in 349 18-year-olds. We also examined the associations of self- and parent-reported irritability at ages 12 and 15 with the age 18 EMA variables to explore whether these relationships persist over time. Youth-reported irritability at age 18 was linked to greater intensity, variability, and inertia of irritability, sadness, and anxiety, less positive and more negative interpersonal experiences, and greater cigarette and drug use. Most effect sizes were in the medium-small range. Associations of youth- and parent-reported irritability at ages 12 and 15 with the age 18 EMA measures were generally similar, although smaller in magnitude. Findings contribute to understanding how irritability is manifested in real-time affect dynamics and interpersonal functioning, as well as daily substance use. Most effects were evident over the course of up to 6 years - that is, early adolescent irritability, reported by both youth and their parents, was associated with similar real-time affect dynamics and interpersonal experiences at age 18. This study contributes to the literature on the developmental psychopathology of irritability by extending findings to everyday functioning.

Growth mindset and well-being in social interactions: countering individual loneliness.

Introduction: Loneliness is a prevalent negative emotion experienced by college students. This study explores the relationship between a growth mindset and loneliness among college students. Methods: A total of 560 college students completed the Growth Mindset Scale (GMS), UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA), Interpersonal Relationships Assessment Scale (IRS), and two measures assessing distinct facets of well-being the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the revised Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Results and discussion: The results found a significant negative correlation between a growth mindset and loneliness. A growth mindset negatively predicted loneliness through the chain-mediated effects of interpersonal distress and well-being. These findings underscore the important role of a growth mindset in influencing loneliness, providing teachers and practitioners a new perspective to understand and intervene college students' psychological challenges.

Autistic adults exhibit typical sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance.

The visual processing differences seen in autism often impede individuals' visual perception of the social world. In particular, many autistic people exhibit poor face recognition. Here, we sought to determine whether autistic adults also show impaired perception of dyadic social interactions-a class of stimulus thought to engage face-like visual processing. Our focus was the perception of interpersonal distance. Participants completed distance change detection tasks, in which they had to make perceptual decisions about the distance between two actors. On half of the trials, participants judged whether the actors moved closer together; on the other half, whether they moved further apart. In a nonsocial control task, participants made similar judgments about two grandfather clocks. We also assessed participants' face recognition ability using standardized measures. The autistic and nonautistic observers showed similar levels of perceptual sensitivity to changes in interpersonal distance when viewing social interactions. As expected, however, the autistic observers showed clear signs of impaired face recognition. Despite putative similarities between the visual processing of faces and dyadic social interactions, our results suggest that these two facets of social vision may dissociate.

Does the Relationship between Affect and Social Interactions among Adults Experiencing Homelessness Differ during Moments when at a Shelter versus Not?

The prevalence of alcohol use disorders is higher amongst adults experiencing homelessness (AEH) compared with domiciled adults. Greater exposure to heavy drinkers increases personal risk for heavy alcohol use. AEH spend substantial periods of time at shelters and report greater pressure to use alcohol when near shelter locations, as well as greater negative affect when near a shelter. It is unclear if the relationship between affect and 1) interacting with people and 2) being near someone AEH drank alcohol with before differs when AEH are at a shelter versus not. AEH reporting alcohol misuse (n = 72, Mage= 47, 85% Male, 68% Non-White) completed five daily smartphone-based ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) over 28 days. Generalized multilevel modeling revealed that when AEH were interacting with someone they drank with before, they had significantly lower positive affect when at a shelter (b = -0.17, p = 0.05), versus when not (b = 0.00, p = 0.99). AEH are likely to interact with previous drinking partners while at shelters. It may be important to deliver real-time treatment messages targeting affect in these moments, as well as deliver alcohol reduction/abstinence messages.

On the neural networks of self and other bias and their role in emergent social interactions.

Extensive research has documented the brain networks that play an integral role in bias, or the alteration and filtration of information processing in a manner that fundamentally favors an individual. The roots of bias, whether self- or other-oriented, are a complex constellation of neural and psychological processes that start at the most fundamental levels of sensory processing. From the millisecond information is received in the brain it is filtered at various levels and through various brain networks in relation to extant intrinsic activity to provide individuals with a perception of reality that complements and satisfies the conscious perceptions they have for themselves and the cultures in which they were reared. The products of these interactions, in turn, are dynamically altered by the introduction of others, be they friends or strangers who are similar or different in socially meaningful ways. While much is known about the various ways that basic biases alter specific aspects of neural function to support various forms of bias, the breadth and scope of the phenomenon remains entirely unclear. The purpose of this review is to examine the brain networks that shape (i.e., bias) the self-concept and how interactions with similar (ingroup) compared to dissimilar (outgroup) others alter these network (and subsequent interpersonal) interactions in fundamental ways. Throughout, focus is placed on an emerging understanding of the brain as a complex system, which suggests that many of these network interactions likely occur on a non-linear scale that blurs the lines between network hierarchies.

Back to Normal? Harnessing Long Short-term Memory Network to Examine the Associations Between Adolescent Social Interactions and Depressive Symptoms During Different Stages of COVID-19.

Adolescence is a developmental period in which social interactions are critical for mental health. While the onset of COVID-19 significantly disrupted adolescents' social environments and mental health, it remains unclear how adolescents have adapted to later stages of the pandemic. We harnessed a machine learning architecture of Long Short-Term Memory recurrent networks (LSTM) with gradient-based feature importance, to model the association among daily social interactions and depressive symptoms during three stages of the pandemic. A year before COVID-19, 148 adolescents reported social interactions and depressive symptoms, every day for 21 days. One hundred sixteen of these youths completed a 28-day diary after schools closed due to COVID-19. Seventy-nine of these youths and additional 116 new participants completed a 28-day diary approximately a year into the pandemic. Our results show that LSTM successfully predicted depressive symptoms from at least a week of social interactions for all three waves (r2 > .70). Our study shows the utility of using an analytic approach that can identify temporal and nonlinear pathways through which social interactions may confer risk for depression. Our unique analysis of the importance of input features enabled us to interpret the association between social interactions and depressive symptoms. Collectively, we observed a return to pre-pandemic patterns a year into the pandemic, with reduced gender and age differences during the pandemic closures. This pattern suggests that the system of social influences in adolescence was affected by COVID-19, and that this effect was attenuated in more chronic stages of the pandemic.

Exploring Social Interactions in the Context of Justice System Involvement: Perspectives of Patients and Psychiatric Nurses.

Psychiatric nurses who work with people who are involved with the justice system experience ethical and moral tension arising from their dual role (care and control). This is known to significantly affect the development of a therapeutic relationship between nurses and patients. (a) better understand how justice system involvement affects people living with mental disorders and the nurses who work with them; (b) explore the influence of judiciarization on social interactions between these actors. Grounded theory (GT) was used as the qualitative methodology for this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. The study was carried out in three different units of a psychiatric institution: Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, Emergency Department, and Brief Intervention Unit. A sample of 10 patients and 9 psychiatric nurses was recruited (n = 19). Theoretical sampling was used to recruit participants. We followed the iterative steps of qualitative GT analysis (open coding, axial coding, constant comparison, and modelization). Three main themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: (a) Experience of Justice System Involvement, (b) Crisis, (c) Relational Aspects and Importance of the Approach. These results will inform nurses and healthcare providers about the impacts of justice system involvement on people living with mental illness and how clinical practices can be better adapted to this population with complex health needs.

Getting closer to social interactions using electroencephalography in developmental cognitive neuroscience.

The field of developmental cognitive neuroscience is advancing rapidly, with large-scale, population-wide, longitudinal studies emerging as a key means of unraveling the complexity of the developing brain and cognitive processes in children. While numerous neuroscientific techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have proved advantageous in such investigations, this perspective proposes a renewed focus on electroencephalography (EEG), leveraging underexplored possibilities of EEG. In addition to its temporal precision, low costs, and ease of application, EEG distinguishes itself with its ability to capture neural activity linked to social interactions in increasingly ecologically valid settings. Specifically, EEG can be measured during social interactions in the lab, hyperscanning can be used to study brain activity in two (or more) people simultaneously, and mobile EEG can be used to measure brain activity in real-life settings. This perspective paper summarizes research in these three areas, making a persuasive argument for the renewed inclusion of EEG into the toolkit of developmental cognitive and social neuroscientists.

Proximity tracking using ultra-wideband technology for equine social behaviour research.

Sociopositive interactions with conspecifics are essential for equine welfare and quality of life. This study aimed to validate the use of wearable ultra-wideband (UWB) technology to quantify the spatial relationships and dynamics of social behaviour in horses by continuous (1/s) measurement of interindividual distances. After testing the UWB devices' spatiotemporal accuracy in a static environment, the UWB measurement validity, feasibility and utility under dynamic field conditions was assessed in a group of 8 horses. Comparison of the proximity measurements with video surveillance data established the measurement accuracy and validity (r = 0.83, p < 0.0001) of the UWB technology. The utility for social behaviour research was demonstrated by the excellent accordance of affiliative relationships (preferred partners) identified using UWB with video observations. The horses remained a median of 5.82 m (95% CI 5.13-6.41 m) apart from each other and spent 20% (median, 95% CI 14-26%) of their time in a distance ≤ 3 m to their preferred partner. The proximity measurements and corresponding speed calculation allowed the identification of affiliative versus agonistic approaches based on differences in the approach speed and the distance and duration of the resulting proximity. Affiliative approaches were statistically significantly slower (median: 1.57 km/h, 95% CI 1.26-1.92 km/h, p = 0.0394) and resulted in greater proximity (median: 36.75 cm, 95% CI 19.5-62 cm, p = 0.0003) to the approached horse than agonistic approaches (median: 3.04 km/h, 95% CI 2.16-3.74 km/h, median proximity: 243 cm, 95% CI 130-319 cm), which caused an immediate retreat of the approached horse at a significantly greater speed (median: 3.77 km/h, 95% CI 3.52-5.85 km/h, p < 0.0001) than the approach.