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Liu T, Sui J, Hildebrandt A. To see or not to see: the parallel processing of self-relevance and facial expressions. Cogn Res Princ Implic 2023; 8:70. [PMID: 37991559 PMCID: PMC10665284 DOI: 10.1186/s41235-023-00524-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The self, like the concept of central "gravity", facilitates the processing of information that is directly relevant to the self. This phenomenon is known as the self-prioritization effect. However, it remains unclear whether the self-prioritization effect extends to the processing of emotional facial expressions. To fill this gap, we used a self-association paradigm to investigate the impact of self-relevance on the recognition of emotional facial expressions while controlling for confounding factors such as familiarity and overlearning. Using a large and diverse sample, we replicated the effect of self-relevance on face processing but found no evidence for a modulation of self-relevance on facial emotion recognition. We propose two potential theoretical explanations to account for these findings and emphasize that further research with different experimental designs and a multitasks measurement approach is needed to understand this mechanism fully. Overall, our study contributes to the literature on the parallel cognitive processing of self-relevance and facial emotion recognition, with implications for both social and cognitive psychology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tuo Liu
- Division for Psychological Methods and Statistics, Department of Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
| | - Jie Sui
- School of Psychology, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
| | - Andrea Hildebrandt
- Division for Psychological Methods and Statistics, Department of Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
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2
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Berger U, Anaki D. Exploring the role of the self in disgust-related psychopathologies. Bull Menninger Clin 2023; 87:113-132. [PMID: 37871193 DOI: 10.1521/bumc.2023.87.suppa.113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
While clinical research on disgust relies on nonclinical research, the framework of disgust as an immune mechanism is not as central in clinical research. The immune framework for disgust may be integrated into clinical research by acknowledging the role of the self as the critical element protected by the immune system. In this review, we offer the premise that at the center of all disgust-related behaviors, thoughts, and cognitions is an attempt to protect the self (i.e., "disgust is self-centered" or DISC). We offer evidence in support of DISC and explore the relevance of DISC to clinical research for several disgust-related psychopathologies (obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, anorexia nervosa, and self-disgust). We then offer future directions for DISC research into disgust-related psychopathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Uri Berger
- Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York
| | - David Anaki
- Department of Psychology and at the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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3
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Angioletti L, Balconi M. The Increasing Effect of Interoception on Brain Frontal Responsiveness During a Socially Framed Motor Synchronization Task. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:834619. [PMID: 35669205 PMCID: PMC9163315 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.834619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This research explored the effect of explicit Interoceptive Attentiveness (IA) manipulation on hemodynamic brain correlates during a task involving interpersonal motor coordination framed with a social goal. Participants performed a task requiring interpersonal movement synchrony with and without a social framing in both explicit IA and control conditions. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record oxygenated (O2Hb) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb) changes during the tasks. According to the results, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is involved in high-order social cognition and interpersonal relations processing, was more responsive when inducing the explicit focus (IA) on the breath during the socially framed motor task requiring synchronization, as indicated by increased O2Hb. In the absence of a broader social frame, this effect was not significant for the motor task. Overall, the present study suggests that when a joint task is performed and the individual focuses on his/her physiological body reactions, the brain hemodynamic correlates are “boosted” in neuroanatomical regions that support sustained attention, reorientation of attention, social responsiveness, and synchronization. Furthermore, the PFC responds significantly more as the person consciously focuses on physiological interoceptive correlates and performs a motor task requiring synchronization, particularly when the task is socially framed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Angioletti
- International Research Center for Cognitive Applied Neuroscience (IrcCAN), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
- Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
- *Correspondence: Laura Angioletti,
| | - Michela Balconi
- International Research Center for Cognitive Applied Neuroscience (IrcCAN), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
- Research Unit in Affective and Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
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4
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Bouquet CA, Lafleur M, Quintard V, Jouffre S, Wamain Y, Coello Y, Toussaint L. Self-partner inclusion predicts performance of romantically involved individuals in a body-scaled action-anticipation task. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0251425. [PMID: 34003833 PMCID: PMC8130935 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2020] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that romantic relationships can lead to the cognitive inclusion of a romantic partner into one's own self-representation, resulting in blurred boundaries between self and intimate other. Recent work suggests that this self-other integration process encompasses the two dimensions of the self-the conceptual and the bodily self. In line with this, it has been proposed that romantic love is associated with cognitive states that blur or reduce the saliency of self-boundaries in the bodily domain. The present study tested this hypothesis by investigating the influence of the self-other integration process in romantic love on passability judgments of door-like apertures, an action-anticipation task that rests on the representation of bodily boundaries. Romantically involved and single participants estimated whether they could pass through apertures of different widths. Moreover, inclusion of romantic partner in the self was assessed using the Inclusion of Other in the Self (IOS) scale. The pattern of correlation and the ratio between participants' shoulder width and aperture judgments did not differ between romantically involved participants and singles. However, our results revealed that in romantically involved participants, the relationship between individuals' shoulder width and aperture judgements was moderated by IOS scores. A greater inclusion of romantic partner in the self was associated with a weaker prediction of aperture judgment by participants' shoulder width. A similar moderating effect of the intensity of romantic feelings (as measured by the passionate love scale) on shoulder width-aperture judgment relationship was found. IOS scores, but not romantic feelings, also moderated aperture judgments made for another individual (third person perspective). Together, these findings are consistent with the view that inclusion of romantic partner in the self triggers cognitive states affecting self-boundaries in the bodily domain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric A. Bouquet
- Université de Poitiers, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l’Apprentissage UMR 7295, Poitiers, France
| | - Melissa Lafleur
- Université de Poitiers, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l’Apprentissage UMR 7295, Poitiers, France
| | - Virginie Quintard
- Université de Poitiers, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l’Apprentissage UMR 7295, Poitiers, France
| | - Stéphane Jouffre
- Université de Poitiers, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l’Apprentissage UMR 7295, Poitiers, France
| | - Yannick Wamain
- Université de Lille, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sciences Cognitives et Affectives UMR 9193, Lille, France
| | - Yann Coello
- Université de Lille, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sciences Cognitives et Affectives UMR 9193, Lille, France
| | - Lucette Toussaint
- Université de Poitiers, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition et l’Apprentissage UMR 7295, Poitiers, France
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5
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Bomilcar I, Bertrand E, Morris RG, Mograbi DC. The Seven Selves of Dementia. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:646050. [PMID: 34054604 PMCID: PMC8160244 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.646050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The self is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, encompassing a variety of cognitive processes and psychosocial influences. Considering this, there is a multiplicity of "selves," the current review suggesting that seven fundamental self-processes can be identified that further our understanding of the experience of dementia. These include (1) an embodied self, manifest as corporeal awareness; (2) an agentic self, related to being an agent and influencing life circumstances; (3) an implicit self, linked to non-conscious self-processing; (4) a critical self, which defines the core of self-identity; (5) a surrogate self, based on third-person perspective information; (6) an extended self, including external objects or existences that are incorporated into the self; and, finally, (7) an emergent self, a property of the self-processes that give rise to the sense of a unified self. These are discussed in relation to self-awareness and their use in making sense of the experience of dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Bomilcar
- Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Elodie Bertrand
- Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition (LMC2, URP 7536), Institut de Psychologie, Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Robin G. Morris
- Department of Psychology, King's College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel C. Mograbi
- Department of Psychology, King's College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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6
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Fingelkurts AA, Fingelkurts AA, Kallio-Tamminen T. Selfhood triumvirate: From phenomenology to brain activity and back again. Conscious Cogn 2020; 86:103031. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.103031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2020] [Revised: 08/21/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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7
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Farmer H, Cataldo A, Adel N, Wignall E, Gallese V, Deroy O, Hamilton A, Ciaunica A. The Detached Self: Investigating the Effect of Depersonalisation on Self-Bias in the Visual Remapping of Touch. Multisens Res 2020; 34:1-22. [PMID: 33535167 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-bja10038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
There is a growing consensus that our most fundamental sense of self is structured by the ongoing integration of sensory and motor information related to our own body. Depersonalisation (DP) is an intriguing form of altered subjective experience in which people report feelings of unreality and detachment from their sense of self. The current study used the visual remapping of touch (VRT) paradigm to explore self-bias in visual-tactile integration in non-clinical participants reporting high and low levels of depersonalisation experiences. We found that the high-DP group showed an increased overall VRT effect but a no-self-face bias, instead showing a greater VRT effect when observing the face of another person. In addition, across all participants, self-bias was negatively predicted by the occurrence of anomalous body experiences. These results indicate disrupted integration of tactile and visual representations of the bodily self in those experiencing high levels of DP and provide greater understanding of how disruptions in multisensory perception of the self may underlie the phenomenology of depersonalisation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harry Farmer
- 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- 2School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich, Dreadnought Building, London, SE10 9LS, UK
- 3Institute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich, Dreadnought Building, Greenwich, London SE10 9LS, UK
| | - Antonio Cataldo
- 4Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU, UK
| | - Nagela Adel
- 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Emma Wignall
- 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Vittorio Gallese
- 4Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU, UK
- 5Department of Medicine and Surgery, Unit of Neuroscience, University of Parma, Via Volturno 39, 43100 Parma, Italy
| | - Ophelia Deroy
- 4Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HU, UK
- 6Munich Center for Neuroscience, Ludwig Maximilian University, Ludwigstraße 31, 80539 Munich, Germany
- 7Faculty of Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, Ludwig Maximilian University, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany
| | - Antonia Hamilton
- 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Anna Ciaunica
- 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- 8Department of Philosophy, University of Porto, Via Panorâmica s/n, 4150-564 Porto, Portugal
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8
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Embodied self-other overlap in romantic love: a review and integrative perspective. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2020; 85:899-914. [PMID: 32062730 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-020-01301-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Romantic love has long intrigued scientists in various disciplines. Social-cognitive research has provided ample evidence for overlapping mental representations of self and romantic partner. This overlap between self and romantic partner would contribute to the experience of love and has been found to be a predictor of relationship quality. Self-partner overlap has been mainly documented at the level of conceptual or narrative self, with studies showing confusion between one's own and partner's identity aspects, perspectives, and outcomes. But the self is not restricted to abstract, conceptual representations but also involves body-related representations, which, research has revealed, are linked to social-cognitive processes. In this article, we review the emerging evidence that romantic love involves not only a blurring of conceptual selves but also a reduction of the distinction between self and romantic partner at a bodily level. We discuss the potential function(s) of self-other overlap in romantic relationship at the level of body-related representations and consider possible mechanisms. We conclude with possible future directions to further investigate how romantic love engages embodied self-other representations involved in social interactions.
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9
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Riečanský I, Lamm C. The Role of Sensorimotor Processes in Pain Empathy. Brain Topogr 2019; 32:965-976. [PMID: 31705422 PMCID: PMC6882755 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-019-00738-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Accepted: 10/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Pain is a salient, aversive sensation which motivates avoidance, but also has a strong social signaling function. Numerous studies have shown that regions of the nervous system active in association with first-hand pain are also active in response to the pain of others. When witnessing somatic pain, such as seeing bodies in painful situations, significant activations occur not only in areas related to the processing of negative emotions, but also in neuronal structures engaged in somatosensation and the control of skeletal muscles. These empathy-related sensorimotor activations are selectively reviewed in this article, with a focus on studies using electrophysiological methods and paradigms investigating responses to somatic pain. Convergent evidence from these studies shows that these activations (1) occur at multiple levels of the nervous system, from the spinal cord up to the cerebral cortex, (2) are best conceptualized as activations of a defensive system, in line with the role of pain to protect body from injury, and (3) contribute to establishing a matching of psychological states between the sufferer and the observer, which ultimately supports empathic understanding and motivate prosocial action. Future research should thus focus on how these sensorimotor responses are related to higher-order empathic responses, including affective sharing and emotion regulation, and how this motivates approach-related prosocial behaviors aimed at alleviating the pain and suffering of others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Riečanský
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioural Neuroscience, Centre of Experimental Medicine, Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Sienkiewiczova 1, 813 71, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse 5, 1010, Vienna, Austria.
- Cognitive Neuroscience, International School for Advanced Studies, Via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy.
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10
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Fahey S, Santana C, Kitada R, Zheng Z. Affective judgement of social touch on a hand associated with hand embodiment. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2019; 72:2408-2422. [DOI: 10.1177/1747021819842785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Social touch constitutes a critical component of human interactions. A gentle tap on the hand, for instance, can sometimes create emotional bonding and reduce interpersonal distance in social interactions. Evidence of tactile empathy suggests that touch can be experienced through both physical sensation and observation, yet vicarious perception of observed touch on an object as a function of the object’s conceptual representation (e.g., Is this object identified as mine? Does this object feel like part of me?) remains less explored. Here we examined the affective judgement of social touch when the illusory sense of ownership over a dummy hand was manipulated through the rubber-hand illusion. When the same social touch was performed on either the real or the dummy hand, we found a similar sense of perceived pleasantness between the felt and observed touch, but only when the dummy hand was embodied; when it was not, the perceived pleasantness of the observed touch was lesser (an “embodiment effect”; Experiment 1). In addition, we found that the embodiment effect associated with the observed touch was insensitive to the way in which embodiment was manipulated (Experiment 2), and that this effect was specific to social but not neutral touch (Experiment 3). Taken together, our findings suggest a role of embodiment in the affective component of observed social touch and contribute to our understanding of tactile empathy for objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samira Fahey
- Social Sciences Department, Lasell College, Newton, MA, USA
| | | | - Ryo Kitada
- School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| | - Zane Zheng
- Social Sciences Department, Lasell College, Newton, MA, USA
- RoseMary Fuss Center for Research on Aging, Lasell College, Newton, MA, USA
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11
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Fotopoulou A, Tsakiris M. Mentalizing homeostasis: The social origins of interoceptive inference. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/15294145.2017.1294031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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12
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Abstract
Humphreys and Sui provide a powerful theoretical framework to explain processing biases toward self-related information. However, the framework is primarily applied to information relevant to a conceptual self-representation. Here, we show a similar processing bias for information related to the bodily self, grounded in sensorimotor representations. Furthermore, we can use bodily illusions to explore the ways in which embodied self-associations can affect our perceptual and attentional processing. It is possible to extend the current framework to take into account these effects, and we argue that this will yield considerable benefits for our understanding of self-relevance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Maister
- a Laboratory of Action and Body, Department of Psychology , Royal Holloway University of London , Egham , UK
| | - Harry Farmer
- b Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience , University College London , London , UK
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13
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Sugiura M. Three faces of self-face recognition: Potential for a multi-dimensional diagnostic tool. Neurosci Res 2015; 90:56-64. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2014.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2014] [Revised: 09/22/2014] [Accepted: 09/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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14
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Copying you copying me: interpersonal motor co-ordination influences automatic imitation. PLoS One 2013; 8:e84820. [PMID: 24391976 PMCID: PMC3877322 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2013] [Accepted: 11/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Moving in a co-ordinated fashion with another individual changes our behaviour towards them; we tend to like them more, find them more attractive, and are more willing to co-operate with them. It is generally assumed that this effect on behaviour results from alterations in representations of self and others. Specifically, through neurophysiological perception-action matching mechanisms, interpersonal motor co-ordination (IMC) is believed to forge a neural coupling between actor and observer, which serves to blur boundaries in conceptual self-other representations and causes positive views of the self to be projected onto others. An investigation into this potential neural mechanism is lacking, however. Moreover, the specific components of IMC that might influence this mechanism have not yet been specified. In the present study we exploited a robust behavioural phenomenon--automatic imitation--to assess the degree to which IMC influences neural action observation-execution matching mechanisms. This revealed that automatic imitation is reduced when the actions of another individual are perceived to be synchronised in time, but are spatially incongruent, with our own. We interpret our findings as evidence that IMC does indeed exert an effect on neural perception-action matching mechanisms, but this serves to promote better self-other distinction. Our findings demonstrate that further investigation is required to understand the complex relationship between neural perception-action coupling, conceptual self-other representations, and social behaviour.
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15
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ryan McKay
- Royal Holloway, University of London
- ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Macquarie University
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16
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Experiencing ownership over a dark-skinned body reduces implicit racial bias. Cognition 2013; 128:170-8. [PMID: 23680793 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 139] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2012] [Revised: 04/04/2013] [Accepted: 04/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have investigated how existing social attitudes towards other races affect the way we 'share' their bodily experiences, for example in empathy for pain, and sensorimotor mapping. Here, we ask whether it is possible to alter implicit racial attitudes by experimentally increasing self-other bodily overlap. Employing a bodily illusion known as the 'Rubber Hand Illusion', we delivered multisensory stimulation to light-skinned Caucasian participants to induce the feeling that a dark-skinned hand belonged to them. We then measured whether this could change their implicit racial biases against people with dark skin. Across two experiments, the more intense the participants' illusion of ownership over the dark-skinned rubber hand, the more positive their implicit racial attitudes became. Importantly, it was not the pattern of multisensory stimulation per se, but rather, it was the change in the subjective experience of body ownership that altered implicit attitudes. These findings suggest that inducing an overlap between the bodies of self and other through illusory ownership is an effective way to change and reduce negative implicit attitudes towards outgroups.
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17
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Farmer H, Tajadura-Jiménez A, Tsakiris M. Beyond the colour of my skin: how skin colour affects the sense of body-ownership. Conscious Cogn 2012; 21:1242-56. [PMID: 22658684 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2011] [Revised: 04/19/2012] [Accepted: 04/26/2012] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Multisensory stimulation has been shown to alter the sense of body-ownership. Given that perceived similarity between one's own body and those of others is crucial for social cognition, we investigated whether multisensory stimulation can lead participants to experience ownership over a hand of different skin colour. Results from two studies using introspective, behavioural and physiological methods show that, following synchronous visuotactile (VT) stimulation, participants can experience body-ownership over hands that seem to belong to a different racial group. Interestingly, a baseline measure of implicit racial bias did not predict whether participants would experience the RHI, but the overall strength of experienced body-ownership seemed to predict the participants' post-illusion implicit racial bias with those who experienced a stronger RHI showing a lower bias. These findings suggest that multisensory experiences can override strict ingroup/outgroup distinctions based on skin colour and point to a key role for sensory processing in social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harry Farmer
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX Surrey, UK.
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