Week 6 lecture

Question 1

Theory of Mind

Answer 1

The ability to understand that others have thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives different from one’s own.

Question 2

Social Cognition

Answer 2

The processes involved in understanding the social world, including perception of others’ emotions, intentions, and behaviors.

Question 3

Building Blocks of Social Interaction

Answer 3

Key components of social communication, including joint attention, social referencing, and social relationships.

Question 4

Joint Attention

Answer 4

Sharing attention with another person on an object; involves alternating gaze between the object and the person, guided by eye gaze, vocal cues, and body orientation

Question 5

Social Referencing

Answer 5

The process where infants look to caregivers for cues on how to react to uncertain situations, using emotional expressions or vocal cues to guide behavior

Question 6

Social Interactions

Answer 6

Exchanges between individuals that form the basis of relationships and social engagement.

Question 7

Social Relationships

Answer 7

Ongoing interactions that lead to bonds between individuals, influencing behavior and emotional development.

Question 8

Face Perception

Answer 8

The ability to recognize and interpret facial expressions, which is crucial for understanding social cues.

Question 9

Voice Perception

Answer 9

Recognition and interpretation of vocal cues, which communicate emotion and intent in social interactions

Question 10

Body Perception

Answer 10

The ability to understand social cues from body movements and postures.

Question 11

Emotion Recognition

Answer 11

The process of identifying and interpreting emotional expressions from faces, voices, and body language.

Question 12

Social Information Gathering

Answer 12

Collecting cues such as eye gaze, facial expressions, and vocal signals to interpret others’ emotions and intentions.

Question 13

Eye Gaze in Joint Attention

Answer 13

Eye gaze helps share attention between individuals and objects, relying on gaze direction, head orientation, and vocal cues.

Question 14

Eye Gaze Salience

Answer 14

Eye gaze is a key social cue; infants can detect eye contact from birth and prefer direct eye gaze, which enhances early face processing.

Question 15

Preferential Looking Paradigm

Answer 15

A method used to show that newborns look longer at direct gazes, demonstrating their early sensitivity to social information.

Question 16

Posner Cueing Task

Answer 16

designed to measure the time it takes to re-orient attention from one side of the visual field to the other when a misleading cue is given

Question 17

Infant-Directed Speech (IDS)

Answer 17

A speech style used by adults to engage infants, characterized by slower tempo, higher pitch, and exaggerated intonation, which attracts attention and supports language acquisition.

Question 18

IDS vs. ADS

Answer 18

Infants prefer Infant-Directed Speech (IDS) over Adult-Directed Speech (ADS) because IDS is more attention-grabbing and emotionally engaging.

Question 19

Social Referencing: Visual Cliff

Answer 19

An experiment where infants use caregivers’ emotional cues to decide whether to cross a visually ambiguous surface (the “cliff”).

Question 20

Social Referencing: Novel Toy Study

Answer 20

When 12-month-olds were presented with a novel toy, negative vocal cues from parents led to avoidance of the toy, whereas negative facial cues alone did not change behaviour.

Question 21

What is Simulation Theory?

Answer 21

A theory suggesting that we understand others by recreating their processes in ourselves. It involves a mechanism shared with emotion recognition and Theory of Mind (ToM), where perception is closely linked to action. This can occur consciously or unconsciously (mirroring), and is thought to underlie empathy.

Question 22

What is the Mirror Neuron System?

Answer 22

A system of neurons that are active both when performing an action and when observing the same action in others. Evidence from monkey studies suggests these neurons are involved in empathy and imitation, and they activate in regions relevant to emotion processing.

Question 23

How is the Mirror Neuron System linked to empathy?

Answer 23

Activation in the premotor cortex when viewing actions correlates with empathy questionnaire scores, suggesting a connection between the mirror neuron system and empathy. However, this activation can be influenced by top-down cognitive processing.

Question 24

What brain regions are involved in the Mirror Neuron System?

Answer 24

The mirror neuron system involves the premotor cortex (for motor representations) and the amygdala and insula (for emotional processing), indicating its role in both imitation and emotion recognition.

Question 25

What is empathy?

Answer 25

Empathy involves understanding another’s internal states (thoughts, feelings) and reacting to their situation. It includes imagining both how you would react and how the other person would react. Empathy is not just perception-action coupling but a complex emotional and cognitive process.

Question 26

How can empathy be measured?

Answer 26

Empathy can be measured using Theory of Mind (ToM) vignettes, questionnaires (e.g., “Seeing people cry upsets me”), neural reactions (e.g., seeing others in pain), and emotion recognition tasks like the “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” task.

Question 27

What are the models of empathy according to Zaki & Ochsner?

Answer 27

Empathy involves both mirroring (emotional contagion) and mentalizing (understanding others’ thoughts). The balance between these depends on the context, such as mirroring when seeing someone in pain versus mentalizing when interpreting their behavior.

Question 28

What are the components of empathy according to Decety & Jackson?

Answer 28

Empathy consists of emotion sharing (simulation), emotion understanding (mentalizing), and emotion regulation (perspective-taking). It requires a shared representation of self and other and the ability to distinguish between them.

Question 29

What brain regions are activated during empathic accuracy?

Answer 29

Accurate empathy engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and premotor cortex, linking it to both mentalizing and the mirror neuron system. This is seen in scenarios like observing social rejection.

Question 30

When do mirror neurons seem to appear in infants?

Answer 30

Mirror neurons seem to be present in infants as early as 12 months old, although it is unclear how neurons acquire their ‘mirror’ properties. These neurons may play a role in early social cognition and imitation.

Question 31

What is the difference between emotion sharing and mentalizing?

Answer 31

Emotion sharing (mirroring) refers to feeling others’ emotions, while mentalizing involves understanding their thoughts. These two aspects of empathy often interact, but one does not necessarily imply the other.

Question 32

How is empathy studied in adolescents using the Cyberball game?

Answer 32

In the Cyberball game experiment, adolescents aged 12-13 show activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and premotor cortex when observing social rejection, suggesting the role of these brain regions in empathic processing during social situations.