A neuroscientific evaluation of driver rehabilitation:Functional neuroimaging demonstrates the effectiveness of empathy induction in altering brain responses during social information processing

An alarming number of traffic-related deaths occur each year on European roads alone. Figures reveal that the vast majority of road-traffic accidents are caused by drivers themselves, and so further improvements in road safety require developments in driver training and rehabilitation. This study evaluated a novel approach to driver rehabilitation-specifically, empathy induction as a means of changing attitudes towards risky driving. To assess the effectiveness of this method, the present study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain function before and after a short program of empathy induction in 27 drivers whose licenses had been revoked after serious traffic offences (rehabilitated drivers [RDs]). In an extension of our previous research, we first assessed whether neural responses to empathy-eliciting social stimuli changed in these RDs. In order to isolate the neurophysiological effects of empathy induction from any other potential influences, we compared these RDs to a sample of 27 age-, handedness- and driving experience-matched control drivers (CDs) who had no exposure to the program. We then performed dual-fMRI "hyperscanning" to evaluate whether empathy induction changed brain responses during real-world social interactions among drivers; namely, during co-operative and/or competitive exchanges. Our data reveal that RDs exhibited weaker brain responses to socio-emotional stimuli compared with CDs prior to the program, but this difference was reversed after empathy induction. Moreover, we observed differences between pre- and post-program assessments in patterns of brain responses in RDs elicited during competitive social exchanges, which we interpret to reflect a change in their proclivity to react to the perceived wrong-doing of other road users. Together, these findings suggest that empathy induction is an effective form of driver rehabilitation, and the utility of neuroscientific techniques for evaluating and improving rehabilitation programs

Imitation or Polarity Correspondence?:Behavioural and Neurophysiological Evidence for the Confounding Influence of Orthogonal Spatial Compatibility on Measures of Automatic Imitation

During social interactions, humans tend to imitate one another involuntarily. To investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms driving this tendency, researchers often employ stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) tasks to assess the influence that action observation has on action execution. This is referred to as automatic imitation (AI). The stimuli used frequently in SRC procedures to elicit AI often confound action-related with other nonsocial influences on behaviour; however, in response to the rotated hand-action stimuli employed increasingly, AI partly reflects unspecific up-right/down-left biases in stimulus-response mapping. Despite an emerging awareness of this confounding orthogonal spatial-compatibility effect, psychological and neuroscientific research into social behaviour continues to employ these stimuli to investigate AI. To increase recognition of this methodological issue, the present study measured the systematic influence of orthogonal spatial effects on behavioural and neurophysiological measures of AI acquired with rotated hand-action stimuli in SRC tasks. In Experiment 1, behavioural data from a large sample revealed that complex orthogonal spatial effects exert an influence on AI over and above any topographical similarity between observed and executed actions. Experiment 2 reproduced this finding in a more systematic, within-subject design, and high-density electroencephalography revealed that electrocortical expressions of AI elicited also are modulated by orthogonal spatial compatibility. Finally, source localisations identified a collection of cortical areas sensitive to this spatial confound, including nodes of the multiple-demand and semantic-control networks. These results indicate that AI measured on SRC procedures with the rotated hand stimuli used commonly might reflect neurocognitive mechanisms associated with spatial associations rather than imitative tendencies

A high‐density EEG investigation into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying differences between personality profiles in social information processing

This study investigated whether differences between personality styles in the processing of social stimuli reflect variability in underlying general-purpose or social-specific neurocognitive mechanisms. Sixty-five individuals classified previously into two distinct personality profiles underwent high-density electroencephalography whilst performing tasks that tap into both aspects of cognitive processing – namely, two distinct facets of general-purpose response inhibition (interference resolution and action withholding) during social information processing. To determine the stage of processing at which personality differences manifest, we assessed event-related components associated with the early visual discrimination of social stimuli (N170, N190) and later more general conflict-related processes (N2, P3). Although a performance index of interference resolution was comparable between the personality profiles, differences were detected in action withholding. Specifically, individuals expressing a wider repertoire of personality styles and more adaptive emotion regulation performed significantly better at withholding inappropriate actions to neutral faces presented in emotional contexts compared with those exhibiting stronger preferences for fewer and less adaptive personality styles and more ruminative affective tendencies. At the neurophysiological level, however, difference between the profiles was observed in brain responses elicited to the same stimuli within the N170. These results indicate that neural processes related to early visual discrimination might contribute to differences in the suppression of inappropriate responses towards social stimuli in populations with different personality dispositions