12 research outputs found

    Individual differences in autistic traits predict the perception of direct gaze for males, but not for females

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    Despite the emphasis of autism spectrum disorders as a continuum of atypical social behaviors and the sexual heterogeneity of phenotypic manifestations, whether gaze processing constitutes an autistic endophenotype in both sexes remains unclear. Using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient and a psychophysical approach in a normal population (N = 128), here we demonstrated that individual differences in autistic traits predicted direct-gaze perception for males, but not for females. Our findings suggest that direct-gaze perception may not constitute an autistic endophenotype in both sexes, and highlight the importance of sex differences when considering relationships between autistic traits and behaviors

    Differential Roles for Parietal and Occipital Cortices in Visual Working Memory

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    Visual working memory (VWM) is known as a highly capacity-limited cognitive system that can hold 3–4 items. Recent studies have demonstrated that activity in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and occipital cortices correlates with the number of representations held in VWM. However, differences among those regions are poorly understood, particularly when task-irrelevant items are to be ignored. The present fMRI-based study investigated whether memory load-sensitive regions such as the IPS and occipital cortices respond differently to task-relevant information. Using a change detection task in which participants are required to remember pre-specified targets, here we show that while the IPS exhibited comparable responses to both targets and distractors, the dorsal occipital cortex manifested significantly weaker responses to an array containing distractors than to an array containing only targets, despite that the number of objects presented was the same for the two arrays. These results suggest that parietal and occipital cortices engage differently in distractor processing and that the dorsal occipital, rather than parietal, activity appears to reflect output of stimulus filtering and selection based on behavioral relevance

    Explicit and implicit effects of gaming content on social media on the behavior of young adults

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    Excessive gameplay can have negative effects on both mental and physical health, especially among young people. Nowadays, social media platforms are bombarding users with gaming-related content daily. Understanding the effect of this content on people’s behavior is essential to gain insight into problematic gaming habits. However, this issue is yet to be studied extensively. In this study, we examined how gaming-related content on social media affects young adults explicitly and implicitly. We studied 25 healthy young adults (average age 21.5 ± 2.2) who played online games casually and asked them to report their gaming desire. We also conducted an implicit association test (IAT) to measure their implicit attitudes toward gaming-related content. We also investigated the relationship between these measures and various psychological factors, such as personality traits, self-efficacy, impulsiveness, and cognitive flexibility. The results revealed that participants had a higher explicit gaming desire when exposed to gaming-related cues on social media than neutral cues. They also had a robust positive implicit attitude toward gaming-related content on social media. Explicit gaming desire was positively correlated with neuroticism levels. Furthermore, the IAT effect was negatively correlated with self-efficacy and cognitive flexibility levels. However, there were no significant correlations between explicit gaming desire/IAT effect and impulsiveness levels. These findings suggest that gaming-related content on social media can affect young adults’ behavior both explicitly and implicitly, highlighting the need for further research to prevent gaming addiction in vulnerable individuals

    Color harmony represented by activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala

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    Observing paired colors with a different hue (in terms of chroma and lightness) engenders pleasantness from such harmonious combinations; however, negative reactions can emerge from disharmonious combinations. Currently, neural mechanisms underlying the esthetic and emotional aspects of color perception remain unknown. The current study reports evidence regarding the neural correlates of color harmony and disharmony. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess brain regions activated by harmonious or disharmonious color combinations in comparison to other stimuli. Results showed that the left medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) and left amygdala were activated when participants observed harmonious and disharmonious stimuli, respectively. Taken together, these findings suggest that color disharmony may depend on stimulus properties and more automatic neural processes mediated by the amygdala, whereas color harmony is harder to discriminate based on color characteristics and is reflected by the esthetic value represented in the mOFC. This study has a limitation that we could not exclude the effect of preference for color combination, which has a strong positive correlation with color harmony

    Overlapping yet dissociable contributions of superiority illusion features to Ponzo illusion strength and metacognitive performance

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    Abstract Humans are typically inept at evaluating their abilities and predispositions. People dismiss such a lack of metacognitive insight into their capacities while even enhancing (albeit illusorily) self-evaluation such that they should have more desirable traits than an average peer. This superiority illusion helps maintain a healthy mental state. However, the scope and range of its influence on broader human behavior, especially perceptual tasks, remain elusive. As belief shapes the way people perceive and recognize, the illusory self-superiority belief potentially regulates our perceptual and metacognitive performance. In this study, we used hierarchical Bayesian estimation and machine learning of signal detection theoretic measures to understand how the superiority illusion influences visual perception and metacognition for the Ponzo illusion. Our results demonstrated that the superiority illusion correlated with the Ponzo illusion magnitude and metacognitive performance. Next, we combined principal component analysis and cross-validated regularized regression (relaxed elastic net) to identify which superiority components contributed to the correlations. We revealed that the “extraversion” superiority dimension tapped into the Ponzo illusion magnitude and metacognitive ability. In contrast, the “honesty-humility” and “neuroticism” dimensions only predicted Ponzo illusion magnitude and metacognitive ability, respectively. These results suggest common and distinct influences of superiority features on perceptual sensitivity and metacognition. Our findings contribute to the accumulating body of evidence indicating that the leverage of superiority illusion is far-reaching, even to visual perception

    Experimental protocol and behavioral results.

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    <p><b><i>A.</i></b> An example trial. A trial type with two targets and two distractors (distractor condition) is shown. Participants had to indicate whether a red rectangle changed its orientation, while ignoring blue rectangles as distractors. Stimuli are not drawn to scale. <b><i>B.</i></b> Behavioral results. The behavioral VWM estimate <i>K</i> (open circles) and accuracy (filled circles) are shown as a function of trial types. Error bars reflect ±1 SEM.</p

    Data_Sheet_1_Explicit and implicit effects of gaming content on social media on the behavior of young adults.docx

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    Excessive gameplay can have negative effects on both mental and physical health, especially among young people. Nowadays, social media platforms are bombarding users with gaming-related content daily. Understanding the effect of this content on people’s behavior is essential to gain insight into problematic gaming habits. However, this issue is yet to be studied extensively. In this study, we examined how gaming-related content on social media affects young adults explicitly and implicitly. We studied 25 healthy young adults (average age 21.5 ± 2.2) who played online games casually and asked them to report their gaming desire. We also conducted an implicit association test (IAT) to measure their implicit attitudes toward gaming-related content. We also investigated the relationship between these measures and various psychological factors, such as personality traits, self-efficacy, impulsiveness, and cognitive flexibility. The results revealed that participants had a higher explicit gaming desire when exposed to gaming-related cues on social media than neutral cues. They also had a robust positive implicit attitude toward gaming-related content on social media. Explicit gaming desire was positively correlated with neuroticism levels. Furthermore, the IAT effect was negatively correlated with self-efficacy and cognitive flexibility levels. However, there were no significant correlations between explicit gaming desire/IAT effect and impulsiveness levels. These findings suggest that gaming-related content on social media can affect young adults’ behavior both explicitly and implicitly, highlighting the need for further research to prevent gaming addiction in vulnerable individuals.</p
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