Lecture 8&9 - Social Cognition

Question 1

definition of social cognition

Answer 1

• the self
• perception of social facial and body cues
• social categorization
• understanding the actions and emotions of others
• social competition

Question 2

understanding the self

Answer 2

• > needed to allow for social interaction
• self-reflection in limbic and paralimbig regions (introspection)
• > medial prefrontal cortex (directing attention inwards; thinking about one-self) = default mode network

Question 3

embodiment

Answer 3

• importance in self-localization
• > visual cortex (for seeing ones body parts)
• > temporo-parietal junction (for out of body experience) [on the border between parietal and temporal lobe]; enables rotation function in brain (ex. turning figures, requring mental rotation)

Question 4

Perception of social cues in the face - general idea?

Answer 4

• > non-verbal cues to evaluate ongoing situation

- > infering about others mental state

Question 5

Perception of social cues in the face - process

Answer 5

1. occipital lobe - feature extraction
2. two pathways:
   a. fusiform gyrus; discriminate faces, recognize individuals (fusifrom face area, inferior temporal cortex), hippocampal areas stores memory about a person
   b. dorsal region; detect movement gaze shifts (superior temporal gyrus), concerns emotion (amygdala, insula, limbic system), and speech perception - directed attention, changes in gaze
3. pathways interact

Question 6

social information in the brain - what gets stored where?

Answer 6

• eye features (facial cues)
• body features (temporal sulcus)
• > cretaer activation in superior temporal sulcus when facial expressions don´t match movement

Question 7

why using non-verbal cues for social referencing?

Answer 7

help people determining how to deal with unknown situation
-> using gaze to direct attention
[congruent: faster reaction time for target detection/incongruent: slower reaction time for target detection - increased fMRI activity in superior temporal sulcus]

Question 8

social categorization

Answer 8

• identify and group people (social groups)
• happens automatic, but can also be controlled
• intially for survival purposes, today more concerning prejudicial reactions

Question 9

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Answer 9

= associating specific faces with specific words

• > stereotypes/racial bias (automatically in brain)
• > able to control for this happening

Question 10

monitoring/controlling racial bias

Answer 10

Tow-stage model of cognitive control:

• > anterior cingulate for conflict monitoring
• > prefrontal regions for regulatory responses

Question 11

Error-related negativity (ERN) and social stereotypes

Answer 11

= people consciously counteracting racial bias

-> having higher ERN

Question 12

Theory of mind

Answer 12

= ability to understand others mental state (demands, goals, desires)
- children from about 4 years are able to have such understanding

Question 13

Empathy vs. sympathy

Answer 13

empathy; shared experience of feelings

sympathy; not feeling what other person does, but understanding

Question 14

model of empathy

Answer 14

• > empathetic response can be automatic or intentional
  1. automatic: emotion sharing
  2. intentional: emotion regulation
• > needs self-awareness, mental flexibility and somatic reponse sharing
• > involves (bilateral anterior) insula and anterior cingulate cortex

Question 15

social competition

Answer 15

= hierarchies in social groups, distributing resources

• > can effect mental states of people in hierarchy
• > balance between competition and coorperation

Question 16

social signal processing

Answer 16

• automatic processing of social behavior (nonverbal behavior cues)
• human-human and human-computer interaction (synthesis of social behavior for artifical agents)

Question 17

steps to analyse social signals

Answer 17

1. data capture
2. person detection
3. behavioral cues extraction
4. social interaction interpretation

Question 18

which features can be analysed - analysis of behavioral cues

Answer 18

• facial expressions
• head movements
• body movement/gestures
• vocal features

Question 19

which brain area gets activated when seeing needle?

Answer 19

anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula (also amygdala)

• > anxiety, fear of pain, emotional processing, interoceptive awareness, bodily response, motor preparation
• > fear relates to thalamus activation

Question 20

when showing needles to phobics …

Answer 20

• diminished dorso- and ventromedial prefrontal cortex = imparied cognitive regulation of emotions
• > superior and inferior cortices (attention and visual processes)
• > lateral orbital prefrontal cortex (evaluation of punishment)
• > decreased activation in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)

Question 21

mechanisms when seeing a needle (causing all the symptoms (fear, unwellness, …))

Answer 21

1. stressors cause autonomous nervous system (ANS) responses
2. sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) pathway comes into play during acute stress
3. through adrenal medulla, (nor)adrenaline is released -> instanteous effects
   [hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system important during chronic stress]
   -> some people experience more stress, others more fear

Question 22

Facial Infrared thermal Imaging

Answer 22

• infrared can make all the symptoms visible (ex. sweating, intense breathing, …)
• > patterns in face are different when one is stressed to when on is in fear
• > able to develop algorithm up on that -> able to see if someone is prospect to faint before it happens

Question 23

Biofeedback (needle experiment)

Answer 23

showing people what is goin on in their body (explain it) so they can learn to control it
-> biological mechanims need to be understood