The neural bases of cooperation and competition: an fMRI investigation

Does outcome feedback similarly impact the processing of surprised faces in competitive and cooperative contexts? Evidence from ERP

Competition and cooperation are pervasive across diverse domains of human society, and outcome feedback in these contexts has been shown to significantly influence human emotional responses and behavioral strategies. However, there is limited understanding of the mechanisms through which outcome feedback in obstructive and supportive settings affects the perception of facial expressions of interactors. To address this issue, thirty-seven participants in this event-related potential (ERP) study completed a modified version of the Tetris game with randomly assigned interactors (cooperative supporter, competitive hinderer). After receiving outcome feedback (correct, incorrect), participants were asked to rate the valence of surprised faces which were assumed to be displayed by interactors. Behaviorally, surprised faces in supportive correct feedback contexts were rated as more pleasant, while those in obstructive correct feedback contexts were rated as less pleasant. The ERP results showed a significant main effect of outcome feedback on the FRN and LPPfeedback, with enhanced amplitudes for incorrect relative to correct trials. More importantly, face-related P1, N170, and EPN components showed significant interactions between interaction type and outcome feedback. Surprised faces in obstructive correct contexts evoked larger P1 amplitudes compared to those faces in obstructive incorrect contexts. Conversely, amplified N170 and EPN responses were observed for faces in supportive correct contexts compared to those in supportive incorrect contexts. For the LPPface, an amplified response to faces was observed in correct feedback contexts compared to incorrect ones, irrespective of the influence of interaction type. Altogether, these findings offer the first empirical evidence that feedback cues in obstructive and supportive contexts can interactively influence the top-down processing of facial expressions, shifting attention away from the suppression of aversive stimuli towards a focus on self-related positive information, thus providing insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the impact of complex social information on higher-order cognitive processes.

From social effort to social behavior: An integrated neural model for social motivation

As humans rely on social groups for survival, social motivation is central to behavior and well-being. Here we define social motivation as the effort that initiates and directs behavior towards social outcomes, with the goal of satisfying our fundamental need for connection. We propose an integrated framework of social motivation which emphasizes the maintenance of optimal connection levels through effort exertion, regulating social approach and avoidance, which allow interpersonal synchrony. Together, these behaviors serve as basic building blocks of social behavior, and give rise to behaviors critical for collective living such as cooperation and empathy. We describe a neural model according to which social connection levels are monitored by the hypothalamus, while the anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula respond to detected social deficiency. As adjustment is required, the social effort system - comprised of the thalamus and striatum - is activated. This system directs neural networks that permit interpersonal synchrony or, conversely, desynchronization, aiming to restore and maintain optimal connection by preventing isolation on the one hand, and exaggerated social closeness on the other hand. The proposed framework offers insights into disorders characterized by aberrant social motivation, potentially identifying neural dysfunctions that may inform novel interventions.

The impact of physical and mind exercise on functional disability in activities of daily living among the oldest old

OBJECTIVE

In an aging society, it is essential for older adults to maintain their ability for independent daily living. This study investigates the effects of physical and mind exercise on functional impairment in activities of daily living among older adults aged 80 years and older.

METHODS

Data were sourced from the CLHLS database for the years 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2018, with a final sample of 62,581 respondents included in the analysis. Binary logistic regression models were employed for data analysis.

RESULTS

Our analysis suggests that the oldest-old adults engaging in physical exercise have an approximately 44.9% lower probability of ADL disability than those not exercising (95%CI: 0.509, 0.596), whereas those engaging in mind exercise have an approximately 40.4% lower probability (95%CI: 0.537, 0.661). when the oldest-old engage in both physical and mind exercise, their risk of ADL disability is reduced by 53.6% (95%CI: 0.399, 0.538).

CONCLUSION

In addition to encouraging the oldest-old to engage in appropriate physical exercise, promoting simultaneous engagement in mind exercises is important. This approach is more beneficial for sustaining older adults' health and contributes to healthy aging.

Neural substrates of attack event prediction in video games: the role of ventral posterior cingulate cortex and theory of mind network

Action anticipation, the ability to observe actions and predict the intent of others, plays a crucial role in social interaction and fields such as electronic sports. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the inference of purpose from action observation remain unclear. In this study, we conducted an fMRI experiment using video game combat scenarios to investigate the neural correlates of action anticipation and its relationship with task performance. The results showed that the higher level of ability to infer the purpose from action observation during experiment associates with higher level of proficiency in real world electric gaming competition. The action anticipation task activates visual streams, fronto-parietal network, and the ventral posterior cingulate cortex (vPCC), a key hub in the theory of mind network. The strength of vPCC activation during action anticipation, but not movement direction judgment, was positively correlated with gaming proficiency. Finite impulse response analysis revealed distinct dynamic response profiles in the vPCC compared to other theory of mind regions. These findings suggest that theory of mind ability may be an important factor influencing individual competitive performance, with the vPCC serving as a core neural substrate for inferring purpose from action observation.

DyNamic Interactive Anticipation-Time for a Paradigmatic Shift

Everyday human interactions require observers to anticipate the actions of others (e.g., when walking past another in a corridor or choosing where to hit a ground stroke in tennis). Yet, experimental paradigms that aim to examine anticipation continue to use simplistic designs that are not interactive and therefore fail to account for the real-life, social nature of these interactions. Here we propose a fundamental, paradigmatic shift toward a "dynamic interactive anticipation" paradigm that models real-life interactions. We propose that it will change the way behavioral experimentalists study anticipation and spark theory development by unravelling the mechanisms underlying anticipation in real-time interactions.

Exploring the neural mechanisms underlying cooperation and competition behavior: Insights from stereo-electroencephalography hyperscanning

Cooperation and competition are essential social behaviors in human society. This study utilized hyperscanning and stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) to investigate intra- and inter-brain neural dynamics underlying these behaviors within the insula and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), regions critical for executive function and mentalizing. We found distinct high-gamma responses and connectivity patterns, with a stronger influence from IFG to insula during competition and more balanced interactions during cooperation. Inter-brain synchronization shows significantly higher insula gamma synchronization during competition and higher IFG gamma synchronization during cooperation. Cross-frequency coupling suggests that these gamma synchronizations result from intra- and inter-brain interactions. Competition stems from intra-brain alpha-gamma coupling from IFG to insula and inter-brain IFG alpha synchronization, while cooperation is driven by intra-brain beta-gamma coupling from insula to IFG and inter-brain insula beta synchronization. Our findings provide insights into the neural basis of cooperation and competition, highlighting the roles of both insula and IFG.

Revisiting the musical reminiscence bump: insights from neurocognitive and social brain development in adolescence

Music listening is enjoyed across the lifespan and around the world. This has spurred many theories on the evolutionary purpose of music. The Music for Social Bonding hypothesis posits that the human capacity to make music evolved for the purpose of creating and preserving relationships between one another. Considering different time periods of music use across the lifespan, adolescence is especially a period of social reorientation away from family towards peers, characterized by new social bonds and increased prosocial behavior. This shift is accompanied by notable structural and functional changes in brain networks supporting reward processing and prosocial behavior. Reviewing the extant literature on developmental cognitive neuroscience and adolescent music use, we propose that neurocognitive changes in the reward system make adolescence an ideal developmental time window for investigating interactions between prosocial behavior and reward processing, as adolescence constitutes a time of relative increase in music reward valuation. Testing this hypothesis may clarify our understanding of developmental trajectories in music reward valuation, and offer insights into why music from adults' adolescence holds a great deal of personal significance.

Multivariate pattern analysis of cooperation and competition in constructive action

The neural underpinning of cooperative and competitive constructive activity has been investigated using mass-univariate approaches. In this study, we sought to compare the results of these approaches with the results of multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). In particular, we wanted to test whether MVPA supports the claim made in previous studies that cooperation is associated with the activity of reward-related brain circuits. Participants were required to construct a pattern on the screen either individually or in cooperation or competition with another person during an fMRI scan. Both the MVPA classification methods and the representational similarity analysis indicated the involvement of orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal areas in processes that distinguish between cooperation and competition, and activation analysis showed that these areas are more active during cooperation than during competition. However, a single trial analysis showed that the effect was reversed when only winning trials were considered. In these trials, activation of reward-related areas was higher during competition than during cooperation. Moreover, the contrast between won and lost trials in terms of reward circuits involvement was sharper under competition than under cooperation. Thus, although cooperation can be generally more rewarding than competition, it is associated with smaller difference between trials lost and trials won in terms of reward circuits activation. One may speculate that in cooperation, victory and defeat are shared with the partner and, contrary to competition, are not experienced as personal achievement or failure.

Asymmetric Adaption in Social Learning: Understanding the Dilemma of Competition and Cooperation

The constant challenge in social interactions involves making informed decisions in the face of competitive and cooperative dilemmas. The decision-making process can be influenced by various factors present in the social context. According to the behavior-pattern-categorization framework of information acquisition, potential biases may develop at all stages of decision-making as information about social context is progressively entered and integrated. In this study, employing the Chicken Game, we investigated the influence of varying information levels within the behavior-pattern-categorization framework (i.e., competitiveness of behavior choice, uncertainty of behavior pattern, and sociality of category) on decision-making in the dilemma of competition and cooperation. Combined with reinforcement learning models, our findings from three experiments showed that participants exhibited basic complementary behavior, becoming less competitive against highly competitive opponents and vice versa. Notably, individuals exhibited varying adaptation rates to different levels of opponent competitiveness and fluctuations. Specifically, participants adapted slower to highly competitive opponents and faster to cooperative opponents. This asymmetric adaptation in social learning is related to the rate at which various levels of information are updated. The current study disentangles the different levels of information acquisition and highlights the asymmetric processing that can occur during the updating of information within each level.

Neural correlates of static and dynamic social decision-making in real-time sibling interactions

In traditional game theory tasks, social decision-making is centered on the prediction of the intentions (i.e., mentalizing) of strangers or manipulated responses. In contrast, real-life scenarios often involve familiar individuals in dynamic environments. Further research is needed to explore neural correlates of social decision-making with changes in the available information and environmental settings. This study collected fMRI hyperscanning data (N = 100, 46 same-sex pairs were analyzed) to investigate sibling pairs engaging in an iterated Chicken Game task within a competitive context, including two decision-making phases. In the static phase, participants chose between turning (cooperate) and continuing (defect) in a fixed time window. Participants could estimate the probability of different events based on their priors (previous outcomes and representation of other's intentions) and report their decision plan. The dynamic phase mirrored real-world interactions in which information is continuously changing (replicated within a virtual environment). Individuals had to simultaneously update their beliefs, monitor the actions of the other, and adjust their decisions. Our findings revealed substantial choice consistency between the two phases and evidence for shared neural correlates in mentalizing-related brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and precuneus. Specific neural correlates were associated with each phase; increased activation of areas associated with action planning and outcome evaluation were found in the static compared with the dynamic phase. Using the opposite contrast, dynamic decision-making showed higher activation in regions related to predicting and monitoring other's actions, including the anterior cingulate cortex and insula. Cooperation (turning), compared with defection (continuing), showed increased activation in mentalizing-related regions only in the static phase, while defection, relative to cooperation, exhibited higher activation in areas associated with conflict monitoring and risk processing in the dynamic phase. Men were less cooperative and had greater TPJ activation. Sibling competitive relationship did not predict competitive behavior but showed a tendency to predict brain activity during dynamic decision-making. Only individual brain activation results are included here, and no interbrain analyses are reported. These neural correlates emphasize the significance of considering varying levels of information available and environmental settings when delving into the intricacies of mentalizing during social decision-making among familiar individuals.

Cooperation and competition have same benefits but different costs

Cooperation and competition shape everyday human interactions and impact individuals' chances of success in different domains. Using a virtual Stroop test, classically employed to assess general cognitive interference, we examined the impact of social context (cooperation and competition) and other's ability (higher and lower performers) on performance, perceived stress, and autonomic activity. In Experiment 1, we found that both cooperation with a lower performer and competition with a higher performer led to similar enhancement in performance. However, only competition with a more skilled opponent induced an increase in perceived stress and physiological activity. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that these effects persisted even with prolonged exposure to these contexts. In summary, cooperation can be just as effective as competition in improving individuals' performance. However, cooperation does not carry the same level of stress and physiological burden as the competitive context, representing a healthier and more optimal way to boost individual performance.

How Socially Avoidant Emerging Adults Process Social Feedback during Human-to-Human Interaction after Social Rejection: An Event-Related Potential Study

Social avoidance refers to active non-participation in social activities, which is detrimental to healthy interpersonal interaction for emerging adults. Social rejection is a kind of negative social evaluation from others making people feel social pain. However, how socially avoidant emerging adults process social feedback information after experiencing social rejection has received less attention. The current study aimed to explore the differences in social interaction feedback processing after social rejection between a socially avoidant group (n = 16) and a comparison group (n = 16) in a human-to-human interaction context. Computer game tasks with two types of interaction (cooperation and competition) were used to record the event-related potentials when receiving social interaction feedback in two conditions (social rejection and control condition). The results showed that (1) the socially avoidant group had lower reward positivity amplitudes than the comparison group when receiving social feedback; (2) the socially avoidant group presented larger P300 amplitudes in the social rejection condition than in the control condition, but the comparison group did not; and (3) social rejection evoked more negative N1 amplitudes in the socially avoidant and comparison groups. The findings suggest that socially avoidant emerging adults may have flaws in reward sensitivity during interpersonal interaction, and they might also exert more attentional and emotional resources to social feedback after social rejection.

Individual differences in the neural representation of cooperation and competition

Much evidence links the Big Five's agreeableness to a propensity for cooperation and aggressiveness to a propensity for competition. However, the neural basis for these associations is unknown. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, using multivariate pattern analysis of data recorded during a computer game in which participants were required to construct target patterns either in cooperation or in competition with another person, we sought to determine how individual differences in neural representations of cooperative and competitive behavior relate to individual differences in agreeableness and aggressiveness. During cooperation, agreeableness was positively correlated with the consistency of spatial patterns of neural activation in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and showed positive correlations with inter-subject similarity in the dynamics of neural responses in the posterior default mode network hub and areas involved in the regulation of attention, movement planning, and visual perception. During competition, aggressiveness was positively correlated with the consistency of spatial patterns in the left and right TPJ and showed positive correlations with neural dynamics in visual processing and movement regulation areas. These results are consistent with the assumption that agreeable individuals are more involved in cooperative interactions with others, whereas aggression-prone individuals are more involved in competitive interactions.

Using interbrain synchrony to study teamwork: A systematic review and meta-analysis

It has been proposed that interbrain synchrony (IBS) may help to elucidate the neural mechanisms underpinning teamwork. As hyperscanning studies have provided abundant findings on IBS in team environments, the current review aims to synthesize the findings of hyperscanning studies in a way that is relevant to the teamwork research. A systematic review was conducted. Included studies were classified according to the IPO (i.e. input, process, output) model of teamwork. Three multi-level meta-analyses were performed to quantify the associations between IBS and the three IPO variables. The methodology followed PRISMA guidelines and the protocol was pre-registered (https://osf.io/7h8sa/). Of the 229 studies, 41 were included, representing 1326 teams. The three meta-analyses found statistically significant positive effects, indicating a positive association between IBS and the three IPO teamwork variables. This study provides evidence that IBS is a relevant measure of the teamwork process and argues for the continued use of IBS to study teamwork.

Favoritism or bias? Cooperation and competition under different intergroup relationships: evidence from EEG hyperscanning

Cooperation and competition are the most common forms of social interaction in various social relationships. Intergroup relationships have been posited to influence individuals' interpersonal interactions significantly. Using electroencephalography hyperscanning, this study aimed to establish whether intergroup relationships influence interpersonal cooperation and competition and the underlying neural mechanisms. According to the results, the in-group Coop-index is better than the out-group, whereas the out-group Comp-index is stronger than the in-group. The in-group functional connectivity between the frontal-central region and the right temporoparietal junction in the β band was stronger in competition than cooperation. The out-group functional connectivity between the frontal-central region and the left temporoparietal junction in the α band was stronger in cooperation than competition. In both cooperation and competition, the in-group exhibited higher interbrain synchronization between the prefrontal cortex and parietal region in the θ band, as well as between the frontal-central region and frontal-central region in the α band, compared to the out-group. The intrabrain phase-locking value in both the α and β bands can effectively predict performance in competition tasks. Interbrain phase-locking value in both the α and θ bands can be effectively predicted in a performance cooperation task. This study offers neuroscientific evidence for in-group favoritism and out-group bias at an interpersonal level.

Social pain sharing boosts interpersonal brain synchronization in female cooperation

Social pain sharing promotes cooperation, but we still don't know its neural basis. The present study employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technology to investigate whether interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) increased between females engaging in cooperative activities after a shared experience of social pain. We utilized the Cyberball paradigm, manipulating social pain by regulating the number of catches for the participants. Dyads in the shared social pain (SP) group received passes only at the beginning of the game, whereas dyads in the control (CT) group had the same number of catches as other players. The results indicate that participants in the SP group showed significant IBS in the right superior frontal cortex (r-SFC, p < 0.05) and left middle frontal cortex (l-MFC, p < 0.05), but no channels in the CT group showed significant IBS (p > 0.05). Further analysis revealed that IBS in r-SFC was significantly higher in the SP group compared to the CT group (p < 0.05). Additionally, IBS in r-SFC was positively correlated with the level of cooperation (r = 0.66, p < 0.001). This study elucidates the neural basis of enhanced cooperation facilitated by shared social pain at the interbrain level. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that this study exclusively enrolled female participants. The generalizability of these findings across genders is yet to be confirmed.

Comparisons are Odious? The neural basis of in-group and out-group social comparison among game players: An fMRI study

Social comparison is an important way for individuals to define their social characteristics. Online games with a large amount of social information provide a convenient platform for social comparison between players. However, few studies have examined the neural basis of different social comparisons in game players. This study aims to explore the activation of brain regions triggered by social comparison in different contexts and the possible moderating effect of group identity. A total of 26 subjects participated in our experiment. We referred to the minimum group paradigm to evoke group identity and used the dot estimation paradigm to generate in-group or out-group social comparisons. The activation of brain regions was measured and analyzed. Compared to upward comparison, the fusiform gyrus, putamen, lentiform nucleus, precuneus, and precentral gyrus were significantly activated in downward comparison when the group identity of the comparison object was the same as that of the player. When the two had different identities, downward comparison significantly activated the angular gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus. However, the moderating effect of group identity was not significant. Further functional connectivity analysis based on the brain region activation results was performed. Our study has shown that social comparison in group contexts leads to the activation of different brain regions and provides neurophysiological evidence of social interaction among game players.

The role of external factors in affect-sharing and their neural bases

Affect-sharing, the ability to vicariously feel another person's emotions, is the primary component of empathy that is typically thought to rely on the observer's capacity to feel the emotions of others. However, external signals, such as the target's physical characteristics, have been demonstrated to influence affect-sharing in the neuroscientific literature that speaks to the underappreciated role of external factors in eliciting affect-sharing. We consider factors that influence affect-sharing, including physical cues, emotional cues, situational factors, and observer-target relationships, as well as the neural circuits involved in these processes. Our review reveals that, while neural network activation is primarily responsible for processing affect-sharing, external factors also co-activate a top-down cognitive processing network to modulate the conscious process of affect-sharing. From this knowledge, an integrative framework of external factor interactions with affect-sharing are explained in detail. Finally, we identify critical areas for future research in social and affective neuroscience, including research gaps and incorporation of ecologically valid paradigms.

Exploring Inter-Brain Electroencephalogram Patterns for Social Cognitive Assessment During Jigsaw Puzzle Solving

Social interaction enables the smooth progression of our daily lives. Mounting evidence from recent hyperscanning neuroimaging studies indicates that key components of social behavior can be evaluated using inter-brain oscillations and connectivity. However, mapping out inter-brain networks and developing neurocognitive theories that explain how humans co-create and share information during social interaction remains challenging. In this study, we developed a jigsaw puzzle-solving game with hyperscanning electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded to investigate inter-brain activities during social interactions involving cooperation and competition. Participants were recruited and paired into dyads to participate in the multiplayer jigsaw puzzle game with 32-channel EEG signals recorded. The corresponding event-related potentials (ERPs), brain oscillations, and inter-brain functional connectivity were analyzed. The results showed different ERP morphologies of P3 patterns in competitive and cooperative contexts, and brain oscillations in the low-frequency band may be an indicator of social cognitive activities. Furthermore, increased inter-brain functional connectivity in the delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands was observed in the competition mode compared to the cooperation mode. By presenting comparable and valid hyperscanning EEG results alongside those of previous studies using traditional paradigms, this study demonstrates the potential of utilizing hyperscanning techniques in real-life game-playing scenarios to quantitatively assess social cognitive interactions involving cooperation and competition. Our approach offers a promising platform with potential applications in the flexible assessment of psychiatric disorders related to social functioning.

Dissociable contributions of the hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex to representing task space in a social context

The hippocampus (HC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) jointly encode a map-like representation of a task space to guide behavior. It remains unclear how the OFC and HC interact in encoding this map-like representation, though previous studies indicated that both regions have different functions. We acquired the functional magnetic resonance imaging data under a social navigation task in which participants interacted with characters in a two-dimensional "social space." We calculate the social relationships between the participants and characters and used a drift-diffusion model to capture the inner process of social interaction. Then we used multivoxel pattern analysis to explore the brain-behavior relationship. We found that (i) both the HC and the OFC showed higher activations during the selective trial than the narrative trial; (ii) the neural pattern of the right HC was associated with evidence accumulation during social interaction, and the pattern of the right lateral OFC was associated with the social relationship; (iii) the neural pattern of the HC can decode the participants choices, while the neural pattern of the OFC can decode the task information about trials. The study provided evidence for distinct roles of the HC and the OFC in encoding different information when representing social space.

Intimate Relationships Weaken Female Competition: Evidence from Phase-amplitude Coupling and Event-Related Potentials

Competition, an essential component of social interaction, frequently occurs in daily life, and the impact of intimate relationships on women's competition has not yet been revealed. In this study, the visual target paradigm was used to explore the neural mechanisms underlying the regulation of female competitiveness by intimate relationships using event-related potential (ERP) data, time-frequency analysis, and brain functional connectivity. The research results indicate that, the P1, the N4, and the LPP were sensitive to the impact of intimate relationships on competition. Compared to competition between unfamiliar opposite-gender dyads, the average amplitudes of the N4 and LPP were higher in the late stage of competition between romantic partners. Compared to competition with strangers of the opposite gender, alpha band power was significantly higher when female individuals competed with their romantic partners. In addition, there was a positive correlation between the synchronization of activity in the frontal, parietal, and right temporal lobes of a female's brain and their degree of female engagement in competition. When a female individuals focused on the competition, activity synchronization was higher. The results indicate that competition with unfamiliar individuals of the opposite gender can make female focus on the competitive task, causing synchronous activation of corresponding brain regions. When competing with a romantic partner, women's focus decreases, their willingness to compete decreases, and the synchrony of brain functional connectivity decreases. This study suggests that intimate relationship weakens women's competitiveness, which is of significant importance for understanding high-quality intimate relationship and promoting the development of healthy competition.

Friend or foe: classifying collaborative interactions using fNIRS

To succeed, effective teams depend on both cooperative and competitive interactions between individual teammates. Depending on the context, cooperation and competition can amplify or neutralize a team's problem solving ability. Therefore, to assess successful collaborative problem solving, it is first crucial to distinguish competitive from cooperative interactions. We investigate the feasibility of using lightweight brain sensors to distinguish cooperative from competitive interactions in pairs of participants (N=84) playing a decision-making game involving uncertain outcomes. We measured brain activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) from social, motor, and executive areas during game play alone and in competition or cooperation with another participant. To distinguish competitive, cooperative, and alone conditions, we then trained support vector classifiers using combinations of features extracted from fNIRS data. We find that features from social areas of the brain outperform other features for discriminating competitive, cooperative, and alone conditions in cross-validation. Comparing the competitive and alone conditions, social features yield a 5% improvement over motor and executive features. Social features show promise as means of distinguishing competitive and cooperative environments in problem solving settings. Using fNIRS data provides a real-time measure of subjective experience in an ecologically valid environment. These results have the potential to inform intelligent team monitoring to provide better real-time feedback and improve team outcomes in naturalistic settings.

A Literature Review on the Effects of Exergames on Executive Function in Youth

Exergames (video games that promote cognitive and physical activity simultaneously) benefit executive function in elderly populations. It has been suggested that exergames may induce larger effects than cognitive or exercise training alone, but few reviews have synthesized the causal factors of exergames on executive function from experimental research with youth. This review investigates (1) the various types of exergames and associated comparison conditions (2) the executive function outcome assessments commonly utilized in exergame research with youth (3) the efficacy of exergames by evaluating experimental studies that compared exergaming to cognitive, exercise, and passive control conditions inclusive of effect sizes and (4) the potential mechanisms underlying the changes in executive function induced from exergames. Eligible outcome data were available from 607 participants across ten studies, with the age of participants ranging from 4-21 (M age = 10.46 ). The findings indicate that exergames improve aspects of executive function from both acute and chronic studies. Despite the high variability of exergame contexts, dosage, populations, and outcome assessments, improvements in executive function comparing exergaming to passive control conditions were exhibited across all studies. While there is evidence of exergaming demonstrating advantages over passive control conditions, evidence is mixed when comparing exergaming to sedentary cognitive and exercise comparison conditions. Potential sources of these mixed results and future directions to address current gaps in the field are identified. As video game and technology use grows exponentially and concerns of childhood sedentary behavior and play deprivation increase, evidence-based practices that promote both physical and cognitive activity are needed.

The orbitofrontal cortex: A goal-directed cognitive map framework for social and non-social behaviors

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is regarded as one of the core brain areas in a variety of value-based behaviors. Over the past two decades, tremendous knowledge about the OFC function was gained from studying the behaviors of single subjects. As a result, our previous understanding of the OFC's function of encoding decision variables, such as the value and identity of choices, has evolved to the idea that the OFC encodes a more complex representation of the task space as a cognitive map. Accumulating evidence also indicates that the OFC importantly contributes to behaviors in social contexts, especially those involved in cooperative interactions. However, it remains elusive how exactly OFC neurons contribute to social functions and how non-social and social behaviors are related to one another in the computations performed by OFC neurons. In this review, we aim to provide an integrated view of the OFC function across both social and non-social behavioral contexts. We propose that seemingly complex functions of the OFC may be explained by its role in providing a goal-directed cognitive map to guide a wide array of adaptive reward-based behaviors in both social and non-social domains.

The role of dominance in sibling relationships: differences in interactive cooperative and competitive behavior

Siblings strongly influence each other in their social development and are a major source of support and conflict. Yet, studies are mostly observational, and little is known about how adult sibling relationships influence social behavior. Previous tasks exploring dynamically adjusting social interactions have limitations in the level of interactivity and naturalism of the interaction. To address these limitations, we created a cooperative tetris puzzle-solving task and an interactive version of the chicken game task. We validated these two tasks to study cooperative and competitive behavior in real-time interactions (N = 56). Based on a dominance questionnaire (DoPL), sibling pairs were clustered into pairs that were both low in dominance (n = 7), both high in dominance (n = 8), or one low and one high in dominance (n = 13). Consistent with our hypothesis, there were significantly more mutual defections, less use of turn-taking strategies, and a non-significant trend for reduced success in solving tetris puzzles together among high dominance pairs compared to both other pair types. High dominant pairs also had higher Machiavellian and hypercompetitiveness traits and more apathetic sibling relationships. Both tasks constitute powerful and reliable tools to study personality and relationship influences on real and natural social interactions by demonstrating the different cooperative and competitive dynamics between siblings.

Children with autism spectrum disorder perform comparably to their peers in a parent-child cooperation task

This study investigates whether and how parent's cooperation affects child's cooperation, and whether that differs between children with/without autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The experiment involved a cooperative key-pressing task completed first by parent-parent dyads and then by parent-child dyads, meanwhile brain activity in the right frontal-parietal cortex of dyad partners was measured synchronously. The results showed the following: ASD children exhibited performance comparable to those of their peers, as was the level of brain synchronization with their parents, which was mainly due to parents with ASD children tending to adjust their own response patterns to match those of their children. These findings suggest that parents can somewhat actively mitigate the lower interpersonal synchronization ability of ASD children, in behavioral or/and neural level.

The neuroscience of social comparison and competition

The study of competition from a social comparison perspective offers valuable insights into the neuroscience of social judgment and decision making under uncertainty. When engaging in social comparison, individuals seek and assess information about similarities or differences between others and themselves, in large part to improve their self-evaluation. By providing information about one's relative position, abilities, outcomes, and more, social comparisons can inform competitive judgments and decisions. People reasonably turn to social comparisons to reduce uncertainty before, during, and after competition. However, the extent to which they do so and the behavioral consequences of social comparisons often fail to match the potential benefits of improved self-evaluation. An examination of the developing neuroscience of social comparison and competition in light of the behavioral evidence reveals numerous questions that merit further investigation.

Interpersonal Competition in Elderly Couples: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Hyperscanning Study

Elderly people tend not to compete with others, and if they do, the mechanism behind the competition is not clear. In this study, groups of elderly couples and matched cross-sex controls were recruited to perform a competitive button-pressing task, while their brain signals were simultaneously collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. Several fundamental observations were made. First, controls showed attenuated interpersonal competition across task processes, but couples held the competition with each other. Second, couples demonstrated increased inter-brain synchronization (IBS) between the middle temporal cortex and the temporoparietal junction across task processes. Third, Granger causality analysis in couples revealed significant differences between the directions (i.e., from men to women, and from women to men) in the first half of the competitive task, whereas there was no significant difference in the second half. Finally, the groups of couples and controls could be successfully discriminated against based on IBS by using a machine-learning approach. In sum, these findings indicate that elderly couples can maintain interpersonal competition, and such maintenance might be associated with changes in the IBS of the mentalizing system. It suggests the possible positive impact of long-term spouse relationships on interpersonal interactions, both behaviorally and neurally, in terms of competition.

Social network position, trust behavior, and neural activity in young adolescents

Our social interactions take place within numerous social networks, in which our relationships with others define our position within these networks. In this study, we examined how the centrality of positions within social networks was associated with trust behavior and neural activity in 49 adolescents (M_age = 12.8 years, SD_age = 0.4 years). The participants played a trust game with a cartoon animation as a partner, which showed adaptive behavior in response to the participant and was generally untrustworthy. Social network positions were obtained in secondary school classrooms where the participants and their classmates reported on who their friends were. Using social network analysis, a score was calculated that indicated the centrality of everyone's position within the friendship network. The results showed that more central social network positions were associated with higher levels of initial trust behavior, although no evidence was found for a relationship between network position and the adaptation of trust behavior. The results of the functional MRI analyses showed that the centrality of the network positions was positively associated with caudate activity when making trust decisions. Furthermore, the adolescents with more central network positions also showed stronger increases of caudate activity when the partner's return was processed compared to the adolescents with less central network positions. The current study provides initial evidence that social network positions in friendship networks relate to socio-cognitive behavior and neural activity in adolescents.

The development of adolescent trust behavior

Interpersonal trust shows developmental changes during adolescence. The current study used a longitudinal design to examine the development of trust behavior, the presence of gender differences in these developmental trajectories, and the association between individual differences in these developmental trajectories and perspective-taking abilities. The participants played a trust game with a hypothetical trustworthy partner and a trust game with a hypothetical untrustworthy partner in 3 consecutive years (M_age = 12.55 years, M_age = 13.54 years, and M_age = 14.54 years). Concerning the development of trust behavior, the results showed an age-related increase in initial trust behavior and indicated increasingly adaptive trust behavior with age during untrustworthy interactions, whereas no evidence was found for age-related changes in the adaptation of trust during trustworthy interactions. Gender differences were found for the development of initial trust behavior (with boys showing a stronger increase with age than girls), whereas no support was found for the presence of gender differences in the developmental trajectories of adaptive trust behavior during trustworthy and untrustworthy interactions. Furthermore, no evidence was found for perspective-taking abilities to explain individual differences in the development of initial trust behavior or in the development of adaptive trust behavior during trustworthy and untrustworthy interactions. The results provide evidence that, during adolescence initial trust behavior increased with age, more for boys than for girls, and that both boys and girls showed a stronger adaptive response to the untrustworthy partner but not to the trustworthy partner.

Neural bases of loss aversion when choosing for oneself versus known or unknown others

Despite the ubiquitous interdependence between one's own decisions and others' welfare, and the controversial evidence on the behavioral effect of choosing for others, the neural bases of making decisions for another versus oneself remain unexplored. We investigated whether loss aversion (LA; the tendency to avoid losses over approaching equivalent gains) is modulated by (i) choosing for oneself, other individuals, or both; (ii) knowing or not knowing the other recipients; or (iii) an interaction between these factors. We used fMRI to assess the brain activations associated with choosing whether to accept or reject mixed gambles, either for oneself, for another player, or both, in 2 groups of 28 participants who had or had not briefly interacted with the other players before scanning. Participants displayed higher LA for choices involving their payoff compared with those affecting only the payoff of other, known, players. This "social" modulation of decision-making was found to engage the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and its inhibitory connectivity to the middle cingulate cortex. This pattern might underpin decision-making for known others via self-other distinction processes associated with dorsomedial prefrontal areas, with this in turn promoting the inhibition of socially oriented responses through the downregulation of the midcingulate node of the empathy network.

Associations between Sedentary Duration and Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Longitudinal Study with 2-Year Follow-Up

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate the association between different forms of sedentary behavior and cognitive function in Chinese community-dwelling older adults.

DESIGN

A longitudinal study with a 2-year follow-up.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

Data from 5356 participants at baseline and 956 participants at the follow-up of the Anhui Healthy Longevity Survey (AHLS) were analysed.

MEASUREMENTS

Cognitive function was evaluated by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was classified according to education-specific criteria. Self-report questionnaires were used to assess the sedentary behavior of the participants.

RESULTS

The participants who reported longer screen-watching sedentary duration had higher MMSE scores (1-2 hours: β=0.758, 95% CI: 0.450, 1.066; > 2 hours: β=1.240, 95% CI: 0.917, 1.562) and lower likelihoods of MCI (1-2 hours: OR= 0.787, 95% CI: 0.677, 0.914; >2 hours: OR=0.617, 95% CI: 0.524, 0.726). The participants who had played cards (or mahjong) sedentary had higher MMSE scores (β= 1.132, 95% CI: 0.788, 1.476) and lower likelihoods of MCI (OR=0.572, 95% CI: 0.476, 0.687). However, the participants who reported longer other forms of sedentary duration had lower MMSE scores (1-2 hours: β=-0.409, 95% CI: -0.735, -0.082; > 2 hours: β=-1.391, 95% CI: -1.696, -1.087) and higher likelihoods of MCI (1-2 hours: OR=1.271, 95% CI: 1.081, 1.496; > 2 hours: OR=1.632, 95% CI: 1.409, 1.889). No significant association was detected between sedentary duration and MCI incidence.

CONCLUSION

Variations in the impact of diverse sedentary behaviors on the cognitive function were detected in Chinese older adults. However, such associations were cross-sectional and longitudinal associations were not found in the current study.

Moral Emotions and Their Brain Structural Correlates Across Neurodegenerative Disorders

BACKGROUND

Although social cognition is compromised in patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), research on moral emotions and their neural correlates in these populations is scarce. No previous study has explored the utility of moral emotions, compared to and in combination with classical general cognitive state tools, to discriminate bvFTD from AD patients.

OBJECTIVE

To examine self-conscious (guilt and embarrassment) and other-oriented (pity and indignation) moral emotions, their subjective experience, and their structural brain underpinnings in bvFTD (n = 31) and AD (n = 30) patients, compared to healthy controls (n = 37). We also explored the potential utility of moral emotions measures to discriminate bvFTD from AD.

METHODS

We used a modified version of the Moral Sentiment Task measuring the participants' accuracy scores and their emotional subjective experiences.

RESULTS

bvFTD patients exhibited greater impairments in self-conscious and other-oriented moral emotions as compared with AD patients and healthy controls. Moral emotions combined with general cognitive state tools emerged as useful measures to discriminate bvFTD from AD patients. In bvFTD patients, lower moral emotions scores were associated with lower gray matter volumes in caudate nucleus and inferior and middle temporal gyri. In AD, these scores were associated with lower gray matter volumes in superior and middle frontal gyri, middle temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule and supramarginal gyrus.

CONCLUSION

These findings contribute to a better understanding of moral emotion deficits across neurodegenerative disorders, highlighting the potential benefits of integrating this domain into the clinical assessment.

On the relationship between the social brain, social connectedness, and wellbeing

The emergence of social neuroscience in the past two decades has offered a useful neurocognitive framework for understanding human social behavior. Of importance, social neuroscience research aimed to provide mechanistic explanations for the established link between wellbeing and social behavioral phenomena-particularly those reflective of social connectedness. Here, we provide an overview of the relevant literature focusing on recent work using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In general, fMRI research demonstrated that aspects of social connectedness that are known to either positively (e.g., social acceptance) or negatively (e.g., social isolation) impact wellbeing also modulated the activity of subcortical reward system accordingly. Similar modulatory influence was found for the activity of other brain regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, which are typically regarded as components of the "social brain" that support a wide range of functions related to social cognition and behavior. Elucidating such individual differences in brain activity may shed light onto the neural underpinnings of the link between social connectedness and wellbeing.

Neural implementation of computational mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition

Social interactions evolve continuously. Sometimes we cooperate, sometimes we compete, while at other times we strategically position ourselves somewhere in between to account for the ever-changing social contexts around us. Research on social interactions often focuses on a binary dichotomy between competition and cooperation, ignoring people's evolving shifts along a continuum. Here, we develop an economic game - the Space Dilemma - where two players change their degree of cooperativeness over time in cooperative and competitive contexts. Using computational modelling we show how social contexts bias choices and characterise how inferences about others' intentions modulate cooperativeness. Consistent with the modelling predictions, brain regions previously linked to social cognition, including the temporo-parietal junction, dorso-medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate gyrus, encode social prediction errors and context-dependent signals, correlating with shifts along a cooperation-competition continuum. These results provide a comprehensive account of the computational and neural mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition.

A human learning optimization algorithm with competitive and cooperative learning

Human learning optimization (HLO) is a simple yet powerful metaheuristic developed based on a simplified human learning model. Competition and cooperation, as two basic modes of social cognition, can motivate individuals to learn more efficiently and improve their efficiency in solving problems by stimulating their competitive instincts and increasing interaction with each other. Inspired by this fact, this paper presents a novel human learning optimization algorithm with competitive and cooperative learning (HLOCC), in which a competitive and cooperative learning operator (CCLO) is developed to mimic competition and cooperation in social interaction for enhancing learning efficiency. The HLOCC can efficiently maintain the diversity of the algorithm as well as achieve the optimal values, demonstrating that the proposed CCLO can effectively improve algorithm performance. HLOCC has been compared with other heuristic algorithms on CEC2017 functions. In the second study, the uncapacitated facility location problems (UFLPs) which are one of the pure binary optimization problems are solved with HLOCC. The experimental results show that the developed HLOCC is superior to previous HLO variants and other metaheuristics with its improved exploitation and exploration abilities.

Close spatial distance and direct gaze bring better communication outcomes and more intertwined neural networks

Non-verbal cues tone our communication. Previous studies found that non-verbal factors, such as spatial distance and gaze direction, significantly impact interpersonal communication. However, little is known about the behind multi-brain neural correlates and whether it could affect high-level creative group communication. Here, we provided a new, scalable, and neuro-based approach to explore the effects of non-verbal factors on different communication tasks, and revealed the underlying multi-brain neural correlates using fNIRS-based hyperscanning technique. Across two experiments, we found that closer spatial distance and more direct gaze angle could promote collaborative behaviors, improve both creative and non-creative communication outcomes, and enhance inter-brain neural synchronization. Moreover, compared to the non-creative communication task, participants' inter-brain network was more intertwined when performing the creative communication task. These findings suggest that close spatial distance and direct gaze serve as positive social cues, bringing interacting brains into alignment and optimizing inter-brain information transfer, thus improving communication outcomes.

Neural signals implicated in the processing of appetitive and aversive events in social and non-social contexts

In 2014, we participated in a special issue of Frontiers examining the neural processing of appetitive and aversive events. Specifically, we reviewed brain areas that contribute to the encoding of prediction errors and value versus salience, attention and motivation. Further, we described how we disambiguated these cognitive processes and their neural substrates by using paradigms that incorporate both appetitive and aversive stimuli. We described a circuit in which the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) signals expected value and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) encodes the salience and valence of both appetitive and aversive events. This information is integrated by the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and dopaminergic (DA) signaling in order to generate prediction and prediction error signals, which guide decision-making and learning via the dorsal striatum (DS). Lastly, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is monitoring actions and outcomes, and signals the need to engage attentional control in order to optimize behavioral output. Here, we expand upon this framework, and review our recent work in which within-task manipulations of both appetitive and aversive stimuli allow us to uncover the neural processes that contribute to the detection of outcomes delivered to a conspecific and behaviors in social contexts. Specifically, we discuss the involvement of single-unit firing in the ACC and DA signals in the NAc during the processing of appetitive and aversive events in both social and non-social contexts.

Winners and losers in brain computer interface competitive gaming: Directional connectivity analysis

OBJECTIVE

to characterize the direction within and between brain connectivity in winning and losing players in a competitive brain-computer interface game.

APPROACH

ten dyads (26.9 ± 4.7 years old, eight females and 12 males) participated in the study. In a competitive game based on neurofeedback, they used their relative alpha (RA) band power from the electrode location Pz, to control a virtual seesaw. The players in each pair were separated into winners (W) and losers (L) based on their scores. Intrabrain connectivity was analyzed using multivariate Granger Causality (GC) and Directed Transfer Function, while interbrain connectivity was analyzed using bivariate GC.

RESULTS

linear regression analysis revealed a significant relationship (p<0.05) between RA and individual scores. During the game, W players maintained a higher RA than L players, although it was not higher than their baseline RA. The analysis of intrabrain GC indicated that both groups engaged in general social interactions, but only the W group succeeded in controlling their brain activity at Pz. Group L applied an inappropriate metal strategy, characterized by strong activity in the left frontal cortex, indicative of collaborative gaming. Interbrain GC showed a larger flow of information from the L to the W group, suggesting a higher capability of the W group to monitor the activity of their opponent.

SIGNIFICANCE

both innate neurological indices and gaming mental strategies contribute to game outcomes. Future studies should investigate whether there is a causal relationship between these two factors.

Collective Attention and Collective Intelligence: The Role of Hierarchy and Team Gender Composition

Collective intelligence (CI) captures a team’s ability to work together across a wide range of tasks and can vary significantly between teams. Extant work demonstrates that the level of collective attention a team develops has an important influence on its level of CI. An important question, then, is what enhances collective attention? Prior work demonstrates an association with team composition; here, we additionally examine the influence of team hierarchy and its interaction with team gender composition. To do so, we conduct an experiment with 584 individuals working in 146 teams in which we randomly assign each team to work in a stable, unstable, or unspecified hierarchical team structure and vary team gender composition. We examine how team structure leads to different behavioral manifestations of collective attention as evidenced in team speaking patterns. We find that a stable hierarchical structure increases more cooperative, synchronous speaking patterns but that unstable hierarchical structure and a lack of specified hierarchical structure both increase competitive, interruptive speaking patterns. Moreover, the effect of cooperative versus competitive speaking patterns on collective intelligence is moderated by the teams’ gender composition; majority female teams exhibit higher CI when their speaking patterns are more cooperative and synchronous, whereas all male teams exhibit higher CI when their speaking involves more competitive interruptions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for enhancing collective intelligence in organizational teams.

Dynamic Inter-Brain Networks Correspond With Specific Communication Behaviors: Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Hyperscanning During Creative and Non-creative Communication

Social interaction is a dynamic and variable process. However, most hyperscanning studies implicitly assume that inter-brain synchrony (IBS) is constant and rarely investigate the temporal variability of the multi-brain networks. In this study, we used sliding windows and k-mean clustering to obtain a set of representative inter-brain network states during different group communication tasks. By calculating the network parameters and temporal occurrence of the inter-brain states, we found that dense efficient interbrain states and sparse inefficient interbrain states appeared alternately and periodically, and the occurrence of efficient interbrain states was positively correlated with collaborative behaviors and group performance. Moreover, compared to common communication, the occurrence of efficient interbrain states and state transitions were significantly higher during creative communication, indicating a more active and intertwined neural network. These findings may indicate that there is a close correspondence between inter-brain network states and social behaviors, contributing to the flourishing literature on group communication.

Humans utilize sensory evidence of others' intended action to make online decisions

We often acquire sensory information from another person's actions to make decisions on how to move, such as when walking through a crowded hallway. Past interactive decision-making research has focused on cognitive tasks that did not allow for sensory information exchange between humans prior to a decision. Here, we test the idea that humans accumulate sensory evidence of another person's intended action to decide their own movement. In a competitive sensorimotor task, we show that humans exploit time to accumulate sensory evidence of another's intended action and utilize this information to decide how to move. We captured this continuous interactive decision-making behaviour with a drift-diffusion model. Surprisingly, aligned with a 'paralysis-by-analysis' phenomenon, we found that humans often waited too long to accumulate sensory evidence and failed to make a decision. Understanding how humans engage in interactive and online decision-making has broad implications that spans sociology, athletics, interactive technology, and economics.

Social Interaction With an Anonymous Opponent Requires Increased Involvement of the Theory of Mind Neural System: An fMRI Study

An anonymous interaction might facilitate provoking behavior and modify the engagement of theory of mind (TOM) brain mechanisms. However, the effect of anonymity when processing unfair behavior of an opponent remains largely unknown. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study applied the Taylor aggression paradigm, introducing an anonymous opponent to this task. Thirty-nine healthy right-handed subjects were included in the statistical analysis (13 males/26 females, mean age 24.5 ± 3.6 years). A player winning the reaction-time game could subtract money from the opponent during the task. Participants behaved similarly to both introduced and anonymous opponents. However, when an anonymous opponent (when compared to the introduced opponent) subtracted money, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) demonstrated an increased BOLD signal and increased functional connectivity with the left IFG. Further, increased functional connectivity between the right IFG, the right temporal parietal junction and precuneus was observed during the perception of high provocation (subtracting a large amount of money) from the anonymous compared to the introduced opponent. We speculate that the neural changes may underlie different inferences about the opponents’ mental states. The idea that this reorganization of the TOM network reflects the attempt to understand the opponent by “completing” socially relevant details requires further investigation.

Reappraisal and empathic perspective-taking - More alike than meets the eyes

Emotion regulation and empathy represent highly intertwined psychological processes sharing common conceptual ground. Despite the wealth of research in these fields, the joint and distinct functional nature and topological features of these constructs have not yet been investigated using the same experimental approach. This study investigated the common and distinct neural correlates of emotion regulation and empathy using a meta-analytic approach. The regions that were jointly activated were then characterized using meta-analytic connectivity modeling and functional decoding of metadata terms. The results revealed convergent activity within the ventrolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex as well as temporal regions. The functional decoding analysis demonstrated that emotion regulation and empathy were related to highly similar executive and internally oriented processes. This synthesis underlining strong functional and neuronal correspondence between emotion regulation and empathy could (i) facilitate greater integration of these two separate lines of literature, (ii) accelerate progress toward elucidating the neural mechanisms that support social cognition, and (iii) push forward the development of a common theoretical framework for these psychological processes essential to human social interactions.

A probabilistic map of emotional experiences during competitive social interactions

Theories of emotion and decision-making argue that negative, high arousing emotions—such as anger—motivate competitive social choice (e.g., punishing and defecting). However, given the long-standing challenge of quantifying emotion and the narrow framework in which emotion is traditionally examined, it remains unclear which emotions are actually associated with motivating these types of choices. To address this gap, we combine machine learning algorithms with a measure of affect that is agnostic to any specific emotion label. The result is a probabilistic map of emotion that is used to classify the specific emotions experienced by participants in a variety of social interactions (Ultimatum Game, Prisoner’s Dilemma, and Public Goods Game). Our results reveal that punitive and uncooperative choices are linked to a diverse array of negative, neutrally arousing emotions, such as sadness and disappointment, while only weakly linked to anger. These findings stand in contrast to the commonly held assumption that anger drives decisions to punish, defect, and freeride—thus, offering new insight into the role of emotion in motiving social choice.

Emotions motivate decision-making but are difficult to measure. Here the authors use a data driven, machine learning approach to reveal that social choices are linked to a diverse array of emotions, including disappointment and sadness.

Cortical activation during cooperative joint actions and competition in children with and without an autism spectrum condition (ASC): an fNIRS study

Children with an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) have social communication and perceptuomotor difficulties that affect their ability to engage in dyadic play. In this study, we compared spatio-temporal errors and fNIRS-related cortical activation between children with and without an ASC during a Lincoln Log dyadic game requiring them to play leader or follower roles, move in synchrony or while taking turns, and move cooperatively or competitively with an adult partner. Children with an ASC had greater motor, planning, and spatial errors and took longer to complete the building tasks compared to typically developing (TD) children. Children with an ASC had lower superior temporal sulcus (STS) activation during Turn-take and Compete, and greater Inferior Parietal Lobe (IPL) activation during Lead and Turn-take compared to TD children. As dyadic play demands increased, TD children showed greater STS activation during Turn-take (vs. Synchrony) and Compete (vs. Cooperate) whereas children with an ASC showed greater IPL activation during Lead and Compete (vs. Cooperate). Our findings suggest that children with an ASC rely on self-generated action plans (i.e., increased IPL activation) more than relying on their partner’s action cues (i.e., reduced STS activation) when engaging in dyadic play including joint actions and competition.

Multimodal hyperscanning reveals that synchrony of body and mind are distinct in mother-child dyads

Hyperscanning studies have begun to unravel the brain mechanisms underlying social interaction, indicating a functional role for interpersonal neural synchronization (INS), yet the mechanisms that drive INS are poorly understood. The current study, thus, addresses whether INS is functionally-distinct from synchrony in other systems - specifically the autonomic nervous system and motor behavior. To test this, we used concurrent functional near-infrared spectroscopy - electrocardiography recordings, while N = 34 mother-child and stranger-child dyads engaged in cooperative and competitive tasks. Only in the neural domain was a higher synchrony for mother-child compared to stranger-child dyads observed. Further, autonomic nervous system and neural synchrony were positively related during competition but not during cooperation. These results suggest that synchrony in different behavioral and biological systems may reflect distinct processes. Furthermore, they show that increased mother-child INS is unlikely to be explained solely by shared arousal and behavioral similarities, supporting recent theories that postulate that INS is higher in close relationships.