1
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Stewart CA, Mitchell DGV, MacDonald PA, Pasternak SH, Tremblay PF, Finger EC. The nonverbal expression of guilt in healthy adults. Sci Rep 2024; 14:10607. [PMID: 38719866 PMCID: PMC11078964 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60980-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Guilt is a negative emotion elicited by realizing one has caused actual or perceived harm to another person. One of guilt's primary functions is to signal that one is aware of the harm that was caused and regrets it, an indication that the harm will not be repeated. Verbal expressions of guilt are often deemed insufficient by observers when not accompanied by nonverbal signals such as facial expression, gesture, posture, or gaze. Some research has investigated isolated nonverbal expressions in guilt, however none to date has explored multiple nonverbal channels simultaneously. This study explored facial expression, gesture, posture, and gaze during the real-time experience of guilt when response demands are minimal. Healthy adults completed a novel task involving watching videos designed to elicit guilt, as well as comparison emotions. During the video task, participants were continuously recorded to capture nonverbal behaviour, which was then analyzed via automated facial expression software. We found that while feeling guilt, individuals engaged less in several nonverbal behaviours than they did while experiencing the comparison emotions. This may reflect the highly social aspect of guilt, suggesting that an audience is required to prompt a guilt display, or may suggest that guilt does not have clear nonverbal correlates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chloe A Stewart
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada.
| | - Derek G V Mitchell
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C1, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6C 0A7, Canada
| | - Penny A MacDonald
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Stephen H Pasternak
- Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, N6C 2R5, Canada
| | - Paul F Tremblay
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada
| | - Elizabeth C Finger
- Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, ON, N6C 2R5, Canada
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2
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Zhao S, Cao R, Lin C, Wang S, Yu H. Differences in the link between social trait judgment and socio-emotional experience in neurotypical and autistic individuals. Sci Rep 2024; 14:5400. [PMID: 38443486 PMCID: PMC10915137 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-56005-5] [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: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/29/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Neurotypical (NT) individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make different judgments of social traits from others' faces; they also exhibit different social emotional responses in social interactions. A common hypothesis is that the differences in face perception in ASD compared with NT is related to distinct social behaviors. To test this hypothesis, we combined a face trait judgment task with a novel interpersonal transgression task that induces measures social emotions and behaviors. ASD and neurotypical participants viewed a large set of naturalistic facial stimuli while judging them on a comprehensive set of social traits (e.g., warm, charismatic, critical). They also completed an interpersonal transgression task where their responsibility in causing an unpleasant outcome to a social partner was manipulated. The purpose of the latter task was to measure participants' emotional (e.g., guilt) and behavioral (e.g., compensation) responses to interpersonal transgression. We found that, compared with neurotypical participants, ASD participants' self-reported guilt and compensation tendency was less sensitive to our responsibility manipulation. Importantly, ASD participants and neurotypical participants showed distinct associations between self-reported guilt and judgments of criticalness from others' faces. These findings reveal a novel link between perception of social traits and social emotional responses in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shangcheng Zhao
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Runnan Cao
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Chujun Lin
- Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Shuo Wang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA.
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3
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Shen B, Chen Y, He Z, Li W, Yu H, Zhou X. The competition dynamics of approach and avoidance motivations following interpersonal transgression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2302484120. [PMID: 37769254 PMCID: PMC10556639 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2302484120] [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: 02/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Two behavioral motivations coexist in transgressors following an interpersonal transgression-approaching and compensating the victim and avoiding the victim. Little is known about how these motivations arise, compete, and drive transgressors' decisions. The present study adopted a social interaction task to manipulate participants' (i.e., the transgressor) responsibility for another's (i.e., the victim) monetary loss and measure the participants' tradeoff between compensating the victim and avoiding face-to-face interactions with the victim. Following each transgression, participants used a computer mouse to choose between two options differing in the amount of compensation to the victim and the probability of face-to-face contact with the victim. Results showed that as participants' responsibility increased, 1) the decision weights on contact avoidance relative to compensation increased, and 2) the onset of the contact-avoidance attribute was expedited and that of the compensation attribute was delayed. These results demonstrate how competing social motivations following transgression evolve and determine social decision-making and shed light on how social-affective state modulates the dynamics of decision-making in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Shen
- School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua321004, China
- Neuroscience Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY10016
| | - Yang Chen
- Graduate Program in Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA24061
| | - Zhewen He
- Division of Biosciences, University College London, LondonWC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Weijian Li
- School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua321004, China
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA93106
| | - Xiaolin Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai200062, China
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4
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Xiao F, Zhao J, Fan L, Ji X, Fang S, Zhang P, Kong X, Liu Q, Yu H, Zhou X, Gao X, Wang X. Understanding guilt-related interpersonal dysfunction in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder through computational modeling of two social interaction tasks. Psychol Med 2023; 53:5569-5581. [PMID: 36066201 DOI: 10.1017/s003329172200277x] [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: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a high-prevalence personality disorder characterized by subtle but stable interpersonal dysfunction. There have been only limited studies addressing the behavioral patterns and cognitive features of OCPD in interpersonal contexts. The purpose of this study was to investigate how behaviors differ between OCPD individuals and healthy controls (HCs) in the context of guilt-related interpersonal responses. METHOD A total of 113 participants were recruited, including 46 who were identified as having OCPD and 67 HCs. Guilt-related interpersonal responses were manipulated and measured with two social interactive tasks: the Guilt Aversion Task, to assess how anticipatory guilt motivates cooperation; and the Guilt Compensation Task, to assess how experienced guilt induces compensation behaviors. The guilt aversion model and Fehr-Schmidt inequity aversion model were adopted to analyze decision-making in the Guilt Aversion Task and the Guilt Compensation Task, respectively. RESULTS Computational model-based results demonstrated that, compared with HCs, the OCPD group exhibited less guilt aversion when making cooperative decisions as well as less guilt-induced compensation after harming others. CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that individuals with OCPD tend to be less affected by guilt than HCs. These impairments in guilt-related responses may prevent adjustments in behaviors toward compliance with social norms and thus result in interpersonal dysfunctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Xiao
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Jiahui Zhao
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Lejia Fan
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Xinlei Ji
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Shulin Fang
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Panwen Zhang
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Xinyuan Kong
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Qinyu Liu
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
| | - Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9660, USA
| | - Xiaolin Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xiaoxue Gao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Xiang Wang
- Medical Psychological Center, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
- China National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders (Xiangya), Changsha, Hunan 410011, China
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5
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Zhao W, Yang J, Hu Z. Guilt-inducing interaction with others modulates subsequent attentional orienting via their gaze. Sci Rep 2023; 13:5348. [PMID: 37005444 PMCID: PMC10067001 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32283-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 03/25/2023] [Indexed: 04/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Gaze direction can trigger social attentional orientation, characterised by a speeded reaction time in detecting targets appearing in a gazed-at location compared with those appearing in other locations. This is called the 'gaze-cueing effect' (GCE). Here, we investigated whether a feeling of guilt established through prior interaction with a cueing face could modulate the gaze-cueing effect. Participants first completed a guilt-induction task using a modified dot-estimation paradigm to associate the feeling of guilt with a specific face, after which the face that had established the binding relationship was used as the stimulus in a gaze-cueing task. The results showed that guilt-directed faces and control faces induce equal magnitudes of gaze-cueing effect in 200 ms of stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), while guilt-directed faces induce a smaller gaze-cueing effect than control faces in 700 ms SOA. These findings provide preliminary evidence that guilt may modulate social attention triggered by eye gaze at a later stage of processing but not in the earlier stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wen Zhao
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiajia Yang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhonghua Hu
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610068, People's Republic of China.
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6
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Leeming D, Marshall J, Hinsliff S. Self-conscious emotions and breastfeeding support: A focused synthesis of UK qualitative research. MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION 2021; 18:e13270. [PMID: 34651437 PMCID: PMC8710115 DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Revised: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Research on women's experiences of infant feeding and related moral discourse suggests that self‐conscious emotions may be highly relevant to breastfeeding support interactions. However, the emotional impact of receiving support has not been fully explored. The aim of this review is to re‐examine qualitative UK research on receiving breastfeeding support, in order to explore the role of self‐conscious emotions and related appraisals in interactions with professional and peer supporters. From 2007 to 2020, 34 studies met criteria for inclusion. Using template analysis to identify findings relevant to self‐conscious emotions, we focused on shame, guilt, embarrassment, humiliation and pride. Because of cultural aversion to direct discussion of self‐conscious emotions, the template also identified thoughts about self‐evaluation, perceptions of judgement and sense of exposure. Self‐conscious emotions were explicitly mentioned in 25 papers, and related concerns were noted in all papers. Through thematic synthesis, three themes were identified, which suggested that (i) breastfeeding ‘support’ could present challenges to mothering identity and hence to emotional well‐being; (ii) many women managed interactions in order to avoid or minimise uncomfortable self‐conscious emotions; and (iii) those providing support for breastfeeding could facilitate women's emotion work by validating their mothering, or undermine this by invalidation, contributing to feelings of embarrassment, guilt or humiliation. Those supporting breastfeeding need good emotional ‘antennae’ if they are to ensure they also support transition to motherhood. This is the first study explicitly examining self‐conscious emotions in breastfeeding support, and further research is needed to explore the emotional nuances of women's interactions with supporters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dawn Leeming
- Department of Psychology, School of Human & Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, UK
| | - Joyce Marshall
- Division of Maternal Health, School of Human & Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, UK
| | - Sophie Hinsliff
- Division of Maternal Health, School of Human & Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, UK
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7
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Yamamoto K, Kimura M, Osaka M. Sorry, Not Sorry: Effects of Different Types of Apologies and Self-Monitoring on Non-verbal Behaviors. Front Psychol 2021; 12:689615. [PMID: 34512447 PMCID: PMC8428520 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.689615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
This study examines the effects of different types of apologies and individual differences in self-monitoring on non-verbal apology behaviors involving a server apologizing to a customer. Apologies divide into sincere apologies that reflect genuine recognition of fault, and instrumental apologies, made for achieving a personal goal such as avoiding punishment or rejection by others. Self-monitoring (public-performing and other-directedness) were also examined. Fifty-three female undergraduate students participated in the experiment. Participants were assigned randomly to either a sincere apology condition or an instrumental apology condition. They watched the film clip of the communication between a customer and server and then role-played how they would apologize if they were the server. Participants’ non-verbal behavior during the role-play was videotaped. The results showed an interaction between the apology condition and self-monitoring on non-verbal behaviors. When public-performing was low, gaze avoidance was more likely to occur with a sincere apology than an instrumental apology. There was no difference when the public-performing was high. Facial displays of apology were apparent in the instrumental apology compared to the sincere apology. This tendency became more conspicuous with increased public-performing. Our results indicated that the higher the public-performing, the more participants tried to convey the feeling of apology by combining a direct gaze and facial displays in an instrumental apology. On the other hand, results suggest that lower levels of public-performing elicited less immediacy in offering a sincere apology. Further studies are needed to determine whether these results apply to other conflict resolution situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyoko Yamamoto
- Department of Psychology, Kobe Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan
| | - Masanori Kimura
- Department of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, Kobe College, Nishinomiya, Japan
| | - Miki Osaka
- Department of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, Kobe College, Nishinomiya, Japan
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8
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Yu H, Koban L, Crockett MJ, Zhou X, Wager TD. Toward a Brain-Based Bio-Marker of Guilt. Neurosci Insights 2020; 15:2633105520957638. [PMID: 32995750 PMCID: PMC7503000 DOI: 10.1177/2633105520957638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Guilt is a quintessential emotion in interpersonal interactions and moral cognition. Detecting the presence and measuring the intensity of guilt-related neurocognitive processes is crucial to understanding the mechanisms of social and moral phenomena. Existing neuroscience research on guilt has been focused on the neural correlates of guilt states induced by various types of stimuli. While valuable in their own right, these studies have not provided a sensitive and specific bio-marker of guilt suitable for use as an indicator of guilt-related neurocognitive processes in novel experimental settings. In a recent study, we identified a distributed Guilt-Related Brain Signature (GRBS) based on 2 independent functional MRI datasets. We demonstrated the sensitivity of GRBS in detecting a critical cognitive antecedent of guilt, namely one’s responsibility in causing harm to another person, across participant populations from 2 distinct cultures (ie, Chinese and Swiss). We also showed that the sensitivity of GRBS did not generalize to other types of negative affective states (eg, physical and vicarious pain). In this commentary, we discuss the relevance of guilt in the broader scope of social and moral phenomena, and discuss how guilt-related biomarkers can be useful in understanding their psychological and neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these phenomena.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongbo Yu
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America
| | - Leonie Koban
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Molly J Crockett
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Xiaolin Zhou
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.,PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Institute of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang, China.,Key Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China
| | - Tor D Wager
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
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9
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Gellner AK, Voelter J, Schmidt U, Beins EC, Stein V, Philipsen A, Hurlemann R. Molecular and neurocircuitry mechanisms of social avoidance. Cell Mol Life Sci 2020; 78:1163-1189. [PMID: 32997200 PMCID: PMC7904739 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-020-03649-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2020] [Revised: 09/09/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Humans and animals live in social relationships shaped by actions of approach and avoidance. Both are crucial for normal physical and mental development, survival, and well-being. Active withdrawal from social interaction is often induced by the perception of threat or unpleasant social experience and relies on adaptive mechanisms within neuronal networks associated with social behavior. In case of confrontation with overly strong or persistent stressors and/or dispositions of the affected individual, maladaptive processes in the neuronal circuitries and its associated transmitters and modulators lead to pathological social avoidance. This review focuses on active, fear-driven social avoidance, affected circuits within the mesocorticolimbic system and associated regions and a selection of molecular modulators that promise translational potential. A comprehensive review of human research in this field is followed by a reflection on animal studies that offer a broader and often more detailed range of analytical methodologies. Finally, we take a critical look at challenges that could be addressed in future translational research on fear-driven social avoidance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Kathrin Gellner
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany
| | - Jella Voelter
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 7, 26160, Bad Zwischenahn, Germany
| | - Ulrike Schmidt
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry Und Psychotherapy, University of Göttingen, Von-Siebold-Str. 5, 37075, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Eva Carolina Beins
- Institute of Human Genetics, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany
| | - Valentin Stein
- Institute of Physiology II, University Hospital Bonn, 53115, Bonn, Germany
| | - Alexandra Philipsen
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany
| | - René Hurlemann
- Division of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Venusberg-Campus 1, 53127, Bonn, Germany. .,Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Oldenburg, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 7, 26160, Bad Zwischenahn, Germany. .,Research Center Neurosensory Science, University of Oldenburg, 26129, Oldenburg, Germany.
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10
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Schepisi M, Porciello G, Aglioti SM, Panasiti MS. Oculomotor behavior tracks the effect of ideological priming on deception. Sci Rep 2020; 10:9555. [PMID: 32533078 PMCID: PMC7293254 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-66151-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The decision to lie to another person involves a conflict between one's own and others' interest. Political ideology may foster self-promoting or self-transcending values and thus may balance or fuel self vs. other related conflicts. Here, we explored in politically non-aligned participants whether oculomotor behavior may index the influence on moral decision-making of prime stimuli related to left and right-wing ideologies. We presented pictures of Italian politicians and ideological words in a paradigm where participants could lie to opponents with high vs. low socio-economic status to obtain a monetary reward. Results show that left-wing words decreased self-gain lies and increased other-gain ones. Oculomotor behavior revealed that gazing longer at politicians' pictures led participants to look longer at opponent's status-related information than at game's outcome-related information before the decision. This, in turn, caused participants to lie less to low status opponents. Moreover, after lying, participants averted their gaze from high status opponents and maintained it towards low status ones. Our results offer novel evidence that ideological priming influences moral decision-making and suggest that oculomotor behavior may provide crucial insights on how this process takes place.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Schepisi
- Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
| | - Giuseppina Porciello
- Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
- Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome and CNLS@Sapienza Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Rome, Italy
| | - Maria Serena Panasiti
- Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
- IRCCS, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
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11
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Gu R, Liu J, Cui F. Pain and social decision-making: New insights from the social framing effect. BRAIN SCIENCE ADVANCES 2020. [DOI: 10.26599/bsa.2019.9050020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
This paper focuses on the social function of painful experience as revealed by recent studies on social decision-making. Observing others suffering from physical pain evokes empathic reactions that can lead to prosocial behavior (e.g., helping others at a cost to oneself), which might be regarded as the social value of pain derived from evolution. Feelings of guilt may also be elicited when one takes responsibility for another’s pain. These social emotions play a significant role in various cognitive processes and may affect behavioral preferences. In addition, the influence of others’ pain on decision-making is highly sensitive to social context. Combining neuroimaging techniques with a novel decision paradigm, we found that when asking participants to trade-off personal benefits against providing help to other people, verbally describing the causal relationship between their decision and other people’s pain (i.e., framing) significantly changed participants’ preferences. This social framing effect was associated with neural activation in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), which is a brain area that is important in social cognition and in social emotions. Further, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on this region successfully modulated the magnitude of the social framing effect. These findings add to the knowledge about the role of perception of others’ pain in our social life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruolei Gu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jie Liu
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Fang Cui
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518060, China
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12
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Julle-Danière E, Whitehouse J, Mielke A, Vrij A, Gustafsson E, Micheletta J, Waller BM. Are there non-verbal signals of guilt? PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231756. [PMID: 32330158 PMCID: PMC7182233 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2019] [Accepted: 03/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Guilt is a complex emotion with a potentially important social function of stimulating cooperative behaviours towards and from others, but whether the feeling of guilt is associated with a recognisable pattern of nonverbal behaviour is unknown. We examined the production and perception of guilt in two different studies, with a total of 238 participants with various places of origin. Guilt was induced experimentally, eliciting patterns of movement that were associated with both the participants' self-reported feelings of guilt and judges' impressions of their guilt. Guilt was most closely associated with frowning and neck touching. While there were differences between self-reported guilt and perception of guilt the findings suggest that there are consistent patterns that could be considered a non-verbal signal of guilt in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jamie Whitehouse
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Alexander Mielke
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Aldert Vrij
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Erik Gustafsson
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Jérôme Micheletta
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
| | - Bridget M. Waller
- Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
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13
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Yu H, Koban L, Chang LJ, Wagner U, Krishnan A, Vuilleumier P, Zhou X, Wager TD. A Generalizable Multivariate Brain Pattern for Interpersonal Guilt. Cereb Cortex 2020; 30:3558-3572. [PMID: 32083647 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2019] [Revised: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Feeling guilty when we have wronged another is a crucial aspect of prosociality, but its neurobiological bases are elusive. Although multivariate patterns of brain activity show promise for developing brain measures linked to specific emotions, it is less clear whether brain activity can be trained to detect more complex social emotional states such as guilt. Here, we identified a distributed guilt-related brain signature (GRBS) across two independent neuroimaging datasets that used interpersonal interactions to evoke guilt. This signature discriminated conditions associated with interpersonal guilt from closely matched control conditions in a cross-validated training sample (N = 24; Chinese population) and in an independent test sample (N = 19; Swiss population). However, it did not respond to observed or experienced pain, or recalled guilt. Moreover, the GRBS only exhibited weak spatial similarity with other brain signatures of social-affective processes, further indicating the specificity of the brain state it represents. These findings provide a step toward developing biological markers of social emotions, which could serve as important tools to investigate guilt-related brain processes in both healthy and clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongbo Yu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.,Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Leonie Koban
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.,Control-Interoception-Attention Team, Brain & Spine Institute, 47 bd de l'hôpital, 75013 Paris, France
| | - Luke J Chang
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
| | - Ullrich Wagner
- Department of Psychology, University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Anjali Krishnan
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, New York, NY 11210, USA
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Xiaolin Zhou
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.,PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.,Institute of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhejiang 321004, China.,Key Laboratory of Applied Brain and Cognitive Sciences, School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 200083, China
| | - Tor D Wager
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.,Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
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14
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Zhu R, Feng C, Zhang S, Mai X, Liu C. Differentiating guilt and shame in an interpersonal context with univariate activation and multivariate pattern analyses. Neuroimage 2019; 186:476-486. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2017] [Revised: 10/15/2018] [Accepted: 11/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
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