The Order Effect in Self-Other Predictions: Considering Target as a Moderator

Two factors known to affect the use of self in social prediction, target similarity and order of predictions, are considered in concert to understand how the use of self varies across the prediction of different targets. Replicating earlier studies, we predicted and found that people use the self more when predicting similar others than when predicting dissimilar others. Extending existing studies, we predicted and found order effects for similar others. As predicted no order effects emerged for predictions for dissimilar targets. Because the self is more accessible during the prediction of similar others, it matters whether self‐predictions precede or follow other‐predictions. Feature‐matching theory is proposed as a possible explanation for the emergence of order effects in predictions of similar targets

Propagation of social representations

Based on a minimal formalism of social representations as a set of associated cognems, a simple model of propagation of representations is presented. Assuming that subjects share the constitutive cognems, the model proposes that mere focused attention on the set of cognems in the field of common conscience may replicate the pattern of representation from context into subjects, or, from subject to subject, through actualization by language, where cognems are represented by verbal signs. Limits of the model are discussed, and evolutionist perspectives are presented with the support of field data

The boundaries of reciprocal cooperation

Bohner G, Frank E, Erb H-P. Heuristic processing of distinctiveness information in minority and majority influence. European Journal of Social Psychology. 1998;28(5):855-860

When group members admit to being conformist: the role of relative intragroup status in conformity self-reports

Authors' draft; final version published in Personality and Social Psychology BulletinFive studies examined the hypothesis that people will strategically portray the self as being more group influenced the more junior they feel within the group. Among social psychologists (Study 1), ratings of self-conformity by group members were greater when the status of the participant was low than when it was high. These effects were replicated in Studies 2, 3, and 4 in which relative intragroup status was manipulated. In Study 3, the authors found junior group members described themselves as more conformist than senior members when they were addressing an ingroup audience, but when they were addressing an outgroup audience the effect disappeared. Furthermore, junior members (but not senior members) rated themselves as more conformist when they were led to believe their responses were public than when responses were private (Study 5). The discussion focuses on the strategic processes underlying low-status group members’ self-reports of group influence and the functional role of conformity in groups

Reward-driven enhancements in motor control are robust to TMS manipulation

A wealth of evidence describes the strong positive impact that reward has on motor control at the behavioural level. However, surprisingly little is known regarding the neural mechanisms which underpin these effects, beyond a reliance on the dopaminergic system. In recent work, we developed a task that enabled the dissociation of the selection and execution components of an upper limb reaching movement. Our results demonstrated that both selection and execution are concommitently enhanced by immediate reward availability. Here, we investigate what the neural underpinnings of each component may be. To this end, we aimed to alter the cortical excitability of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and supplementary motor area using continuous theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) in a within-participant design (N = 23). Both cortical areas are involved in determining an individual’s sensitivity to reward and physical effort, and we hypothesised that a change in excitability would result in the reward-driven effects on action selection and execution to be altered, respectively. To increase statistical power, participants were pre-selected based on their sensitivity to reward in the reaching task. While reward did lead to enhanced performance during the cTBS sessions and a control sham session, cTBS was ineffective in altering these effects. These results may provide evidence that other areas, such as the primary motor cortex or the premotor area, may drive the reward-based enhancements of motor performance

The effect of reward on motor adaptation and motor control

The prospect for rewarding outcomes has long been known for its impact on human behaviour, and motor control is no exception to this. Recent years were marked by widespread interest in how reward alters motor learning and motor control in humans, and subsequent efforts produced a wealth of descriptive reports underlining which behaviours are shaped by it. More recently, the focus is shifting toward asking which underlying mechanisms drive these alterations and this work adheres to this effort. This thesis is divided into two main parts. First, investigating what underlying mechanisms drive enhancement of motor learning with reward, we see that explicit control is tightly coupled with reward processing in motor adaptation. Extending these findings, we explore which individual characteristics predict sensitivity to reward during motor learning, and observe that working memory, rather than genetic profile, shapes this variability. In the second part, we turn to motor control, and see that enhanced control during reaching is driven by regulation of arm stiffness, in addition to other proposed mechanisms such as feedback control. Finally, in an attempt to manipulate reward-based effects using transcranial magnetic stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and supplementary motor area, no alteration of behavioural enhancements was observed

The contribution of explicit processes to reinforcement-based motor learning

Despite increasing interest in the role of reward in motor learning, the underlying mechanisms remain ill defined. In particular, the contribution of explicit processes to reward-based motor learning is unclear. To address this, we examined subjects’ ( n = 30) ability to learn to compensate for a gradually introduced 25° visuomotor rotation with only reward-based feedback (binary success/failure). Only two-thirds of subjects ( n = 20) were successful at the maximum angle. The remaining subjects initially followed the rotation but after a variable number of trials began to reach at an insufficiently large angle and subsequently returned to near-baseline performance ( n = 10). Furthermore, those who were successful accomplished this via a large explicit component, evidenced by a reduction in reach angle when they were asked to remove any strategy they employed. However, both groups displayed a small degree of remaining retention even after the removal of this explicit component. All subjects made greater and more variable changes in reach angle after incorrect (unrewarded) trials. However, subjects who failed to learn showed decreased sensitivity to errors, even in the initial period in which they followed the rotation, a pattern previously found in parkinsonian patients. In a second experiment, the addition of a secondary mental rotation task completely abolished learning ( n = 10), while a control group replicated the results of the first experiment ( n = 10). These results emphasize a pivotal role of explicit processes during reinforcement-based motor learning, and the susceptibility of this form of learning to disruption has important implications for its potential therapeutic benefits. NEW &amp; NOTEWORTHY We demonstrate that learning a visuomotor rotation with only reward-based feedback is principally accomplished via the development of a large explicit component. Furthermore, this form of learning is susceptible to disruption with a secondary task. The results suggest that future experiments utilizing reward-based feedback should aim to dissect the roles of implicit and explicit reinforcement learning systems. Therapeutic motor learning approaches based on reward should be aware of the sensitivity to disruption. </jats:p

Qualitative questionnaire for the identification of cognems (Qualiquic): an exploratory technique to identify social representation contents and relations

While the investigation of social representation contents through the analysis of word associations is convenient, it does not directly inform about the nature of relationships that representation elements maintain with the social object. This paper presents a qualitative technique, Qualiquic, that is easy and simple to administer. Qualiquic has the advantage of gathering representation contents characterized by their relationships with the representation object, based on a simplified list of descriptive, practical, and evaluative connectors of the basic cognitive schemes model. The underlying theoretical principles are explained, and empirical guidelines are provided, as well as an empirical example of use