Social working memory: neurocognitive networks and directions for future research.

Navigating the social world requires the ability to maintain and manipulate information about people's beliefs, traits, and mental states. We characterize this capacity as social working memory (SWM). To date, very little research has explored this phenomenon, in part because of the assumption that general working memory systems would support working memory for social information. Various lines of research, however, suggest that social cognitive processing relies on a neurocognitive network (i.e., the "mentalizing network") that is functionally distinct from, and considered antagonistic with, the canonical working memory network. Here, we review evidence suggesting that demanding social cognition requires SWM and that both the mentalizing and canonical working memory neurocognitive networks support SWM. The neural data run counter to the common finding of parametric decreases in mentalizing regions as a function of working memory demand and suggest that the mentalizing network can support demanding cognition, when it is demanding social cognition. Implications for individual differences in social cognition and pathologies of social cognition are discussed

Enlivening The Machinist Perspective: Humanising The Information Processing Theory With Social And Cultural Influences

AbstractThe information processing theory has been a prevalent framework for understanding cognitive function for over five decades. Theory which explains human cognitive processing similar to computer processing has limitations however, as contemporary literature continues to illuminate. The first section of this paper is organised according to features of the information processing model including sensory input, sensory memory, attention, pattern recognition, working memory, encoding, retrieval, and long term memory, with a brief description of each component followed by compelling, recent literature describing social and cultural influences on the component. In the second section, the information processing model is redefined to incorporate social and cultural influences on cognition, reflecting the significance of social and cultural influences on human cognitive function. The third section includes implications for teaching and learning, highlighting the relevance of helping learners to make connections

Editorial: Selected Papers from IFIP Working Group 9.4, Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Assessing the Contribution of ICT to Development Goals

The guest editors of this issue are the organizers of the 10th International Conference of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) 9.4 working group on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries. This special issue of Information Technologies \u26 International Development presents selected papers from the conference

Acute tryptophan depletion attenuates conscious appraisal of social emotional signals in healthy female volunteers

Rationale: Acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) decreases levels of central serotonin. ATD thus enables the cognitive effects of serotonin to be studied, with implications for the understanding of psychiatric conditions, including depression. Objective: To determine the role of serotonin in conscious (explicit) and unconscious/incidental processing of emotional information. Materials and methods: A randomized, double-blind, cross-over design was used with 15 healthy female participants. Subjective mood was recorded at baseline and after 4 h, when participants performed an explicit emotional face processing task, and a task eliciting unconscious processing of emotionally aversive and neutral images presented subliminally using backward masking. Results: ATD was associated with a robust reduction in plasma tryptophan at 4 h but had no effect on mood or autonomic physiology. ATD was associated with significantly lower attractiveness ratings for happy faces and attenuation of intensity/arousal ratings of angry faces. ATD also reduced overall reaction times on the unconscious perception task, but there was no interaction with emotional content of masked stimuli. ATD did not affect breakthrough perception (accuracy in identification) of masked images. Conclusions: ATD attenuates the attractiveness of positive faces and the negative intensity of threatening faces, suggesting that serotonin contributes specifically to the appraisal of the social salience of both positive and negative salient social emotional cues. We found no evidence that serotonin affects unconscious processing of negative emotional stimuli. These novel findings implicate serotonin in conscious aspects of active social and behavioural engagement and extend knowledge regarding the effects of ATD on emotional perception

The Role of Social Media in Collaborative Learning: A Coordination Perspective

As social media is widely adopted in collaborative learning that make team virtual, it is critical for teams to identify and leverage knowledge of team members. Yet little is known how social media influence teams to coordinate their knowledge and collaborate effectively. In this study, we investigate the roles of two kinds of social media activity—information processing and social connection in teamwork by applying communication and transactive memory systems (TMS) as the mechanisms of explicit and implicit coordination respectively. Drawing on the data from a study that involves 40 teams of graduate students performing a complex research report over 8 weeks, we find that both TMS and communication can significantly improve teamwork outcomes. As to social media activities, the results reveal that both information processing and social connection can enhance the level of TMS, however, only social connection is positively related to communication, unfortunately, information processing can’t significantly strengthen communication quality. Possible reasons are discussed and some theoretical and practical implications are also put forward

OBJECTIVE AND SOCIAL FACTORS AS DETERMINANTS OF TASK PERCEPTIONS AND RESPONSES: AN INTEGRATED PERSPECTIVE AND EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION.

The purpose of this study was to test the merits of an integrated perspective derived from the job characteristics and social information processing models of task design. We conducted a complex laboratory study, manipulating objective properties of a task, social information, and changes in both. Results suggested strong support for the integrated perspective. Implications for future theory and research are discussed

Making informed choices in social care: the importance of accessible information

The current policy trend is to encourage greater choice in the use of welfare services. To make informed choices, people need information. The process of finding and using information has costs for individuals in terms of effort, time and material resources. These costs are different for different people and impact on their use of information in different ways. Thus, the accessibility of information is important in ensuring those people who need to make choices can do so in an informed way. This paper discusses the importance of information in making informed choices about social support by drawing on the findings of a scoping review of government research and development activity on the accessibility of information about adult social care services. The scoping review was carried out in spring 2006. Details of recent, current and planned projects were obtained through discussions with staff in government departments, government agencies and other related organisations identified using a snowballing technique. Forty-two contacts were made. Eleven research and 36 development projects were identified that aimed to investigate or improve the accessibility of information about social care services. A limited literature search was undertaken on information needs in areas not already under investigation by government. Eighteen articles were identified. Information and helpline staff from six voluntary organisations gave their views on the accessibility of information about social care services. Our findings show that there is no government-related or other recent research evidence on the specific information access needs for some user groups and services, for example, people from ethnic minority groups. For other user groups, such as people with chaotic lifestyles, there is evidence on information needs but no current or planned development projects to address these needs. The implications for the costs of finding and processing information to aid informed choices are discussed

Do Positive Schizotypal Symptoms Predict False Perceptual Experiences in Nonclinical Populations?

We examined whether positive schizotypy (i.e., reports of hallucinatory and delusional-like experiences) in nonclinical participants could predict false perceptual experiences during detection of fast-moving words beyond a possible response bias. The participants (N = 160) were assigned to one of two conditions: they were asked either to make presence/absence judgments (loose criterion) or to read aloud every detected word (strict criterion). Regression analysis showed that high levels of positive schizotypy predicted false alarms in the loose condition and false perceptions of words in the strict condition. The obtained effects were independent of detection accuracy, task order, impulsivity, and social desirability. We discuss the results in the context of information processing biases linked to the positive symptomatology of schizophrenia. Clinical and theoretical implications are also considered

Distributed Data Processing: A Timely Approach for Social Welfare Agencies

Centralized management oriented information systems in state social welfare systems are evolving. Due to decreasing computer hardware costs, computing power can now be distributed throughout a social welfare system to locations where it meets worker and manager data processing needs most efficiently and effectively. To distribute computing power yet maintain one integrated organizational computing system requires an understanding of distributed data processing (DDP) and its implications for an organization. This article explains the DDP concept through its historical development, illustrates the types of DDP available to an agency, and discusses the major pitfalls in moving into a DDP environment. It also provides guides for implementing and managing DOP systems and discusses the implications of DDP for social welfare workers and managers

Ethnic-Racial Identity and Social Outcomes in Childhood: A Research Review

Ethnic-Racial Identity and Social Outcomes in Childhood: A Research Review Grace Bryan, Dept. of Sculpture, Keyri Hernandez, and Chloe Walker and Eryn DeLaney, Dept. of Psychology Graduate Students, with Dr. Chelsea Williams, Dept. of Psychology Ethnic-racial Identity (ERI) is the labeling, identification, and processing regarding ethnicity-race that takes place during childhood (Umana-Taylor, 2014). Development of ERI begins as early as 4 years (Derlan et al., 2017), and may have implications for social outcomes, such as prosocial and externalizing behaviors. The aim of the current narrative review was to review research that has tested how ERI is associated with social outcomes, and identify gaps in this field. The results of the narrative review suggest that, in adolescence, higher ERI is associated with better social outcomes, such as prosocial behaviors (Armenta et al 2011:Streit et al 2020). Further, findings of the review indicated that limited work has included individuals younger than adolescents; one study that did found that lower ERI was linked with more externalizing problem behaviors (Smith et al., 2009). The review also highlighted various gaps in this literature, such as that an operational definition of prosocial behavior in the context of ERI needs to be established, and there is a lack of research that includes multiracial individuals, and individuals younger than adolescents. Future research should investigate ERI and social outcomes in childhood with diverse samples, as such research may provide important information to school systems, counselors, and caregivers about the development of ERI and its implications for development.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1299/thumbnail.jp