Effects of being watched on self-referential processing, self-awareness and prosocial behaviour

Reputation management theory suggests that our behaviour changes in the presence of others to signal good reputation (audience effect). However, the specific cognitive mechanisms by which being watched triggers these changes are poorly understood. Here we test the hypothesis that these changes happen because the belief in being watched increases self-referential processing. We used a novel deceptive video-conference paradigm, where participants believe a video-clip is (or is not) a live feed of a confederate watching them. Participants completed four tasks measuring self-referential processing, prosocial behaviour and self-awareness under these two belief settings. Although the belief manipulation and self-referential effect task were effective, there were no changes on self-referential processing between the two settings, nor on prosocial behaviour and self-awareness. Based on previous evidence and these findings, we propose that further research on the role of the self, social context and personality traits will help elucidating the mechanisms underlying audience effects

Effects of being watched on eye gaze and facial displays of typical and autistic individuals during conversation

Communication with others relies on coordinated exchanges of social signals, such as eye gaze and facial displays. However, this can only happen when partners are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in planning eye gaze and making facial displays during conversation, evidence from real-life dyadic tasks is scarce and mixed. Across two studies, here we investigate how eye gaze and facial displays of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen and potential to show true gaze direction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video, video-call and face-to-face. Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and produced more facial displays when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial motion patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial displays as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies

Being watched: Effects of an audience on eye gaze and prosocial behaviour

When someone is watching you, you may change your behaviour in various ways: this is called the ‘audience effect’. Social behaviours such as acting prosocially or changing gaze patterns may be used as signals of reputation and thus may be particularly prone to audience effects. The present paper aims to test the relationship between prosocial choices, gaze patterns and the feeling of being watched within a novel ecologically valid paradigm, where participants communicate with a video-clip of a confederate and believe she is (or is not) a live feed of a confederate who can see them back. Results show that when participants believe they are watched, they tend to make more prosocial choices and they gaze less to the confederate. We also find that the increase in prosocial behaviour when being watched correlates with social anxiety traits. Moreover, we show for the first time that prosocial choices influence subsequent gaze patterns of participants, although this is true for both live and pre-recorded interactions. Overall, these findings suggest that the opportunity to signal a good reputation to other people is a key modulator of prosocial decisions and eye gaze in live communicative contexts. They further indicate that gaze should be considered as an interactive and dynamic signal

Do Beliefs About Whether Others Can See Modulate Social Seeking in Autism?

Autistic people process gaze differently than typical people, but it is not yet clear if these differences lie in the processing of eye-shapes or the belief in whether others can see (perceptual mentalizing). We aimed to investigate whether these two models of gaze processing modulate social seeking in typical and autistic adults. We measured preferences of participants to view videos of an actress with visible or hidden eyes, who can or cannot see out. While typical participants preferred videos where the actress can see through and has visible eyes, autistic people showed no preference for these videos. These findings are discussed in the context of perceptual mentalizing and the social motivation theory of autism

Intra-individual variability adaptively increases following inhibition training during middle childhood

There is ongoing debate on the relationship between intra-individual variability (IIV) of cognitive processes and task performance. While psychological research has traditionally assumed that lower intra-individual variability (IIV) aids consistent task performance, some studies suggest that greater IIV can also be adaptive, especially when flexible responding is required. Here we selectively manipulate inhibitory control (Stopping) and response speed (Going) by means of a training paradigm to 1) assess how this manipulation impacts Stopping IIV and its relationship to task performance, and 2) replicate previous findings showing that reductions in Going IIV are adaptive. A group of 208 6-13-year-old children were randomly allocated to an 8-week training targeting Stopping (experimental group) or Going (control group). The stop signal task was administered before and after training. Training Stopping led to adaptive increases in Stopping IIV, where greater flexibility in cognitive processing may be required to meet higher task demands. In line with previous studies, training Going led to adaptive reductions in Going IIV, which allows more consistent and efficient Going performance. These findings provide systematic and causal evidence of the process-dependent relationship of IIV and task performance in the context of Stopping and Going, suggesting a more nuanced perspective on IIV with implications for developmental, ageing and intervention studies

Alpha oscillatory activity during attentional control in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and ASD+ADHD

BACKGROUND: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) share impairments in top-down and bottom-up modulation of attention. However, it is not yet well understood if co-occurrence of ASD and ADHD reflects a distinct or additive profile of attention deficits. We aimed to characterise alpha oscillatory activity (stimulus-locked alpha desynchronisation and prestimulus alpha) as an index of integration of top-down and bottom-up attentional processes in ASD and ADHD. METHODS: Children with ASD, ADHD, comorbid ASD+ADHD, and typically-developing children completed a fixed-choice reaction-time task (‘Fast task’) while neurophysiological activity was recorded. Outcome measures were derived from source-decomposed neurophysiological data. Main measures of interest were prestimulus alpha power and alpha desynchronisation (difference between poststimulus and prestimulus alpha). Poststimulus activity linked to attention allocation (P1, P3), attentional control (N2), and cognitive control (theta synchronisation, 100–600 ms) was also examined. ANOVA was used to test differences across diagnostics groups on these measures. Spearman’s correlations were used to investigate the relationship between attentional control processes (alpha oscillations), central executive functions (theta synchronisation), early visual processing (P1), and behavioural performance. RESULTS: Children with ADHD (ADHD and ASD+ADHD) showed attenuated alpha desynchronisation, indicating poor integration of top-down and bottom-up attentional processes. Children with ADHD showed reduced N2 and P3 amplitudes, while children with ASD (ASD and ASD+ADHD) showed greater N2 amplitude, indicating atypical attentional control and attention allocation across ASD and ADHD. In the ASD group, prestimulus alpha and theta synchronisation were negatively correlated, and alpha desynchronisation and theta synchronisation were positively correlated, suggesting an atypical association between attentional control processes and executive functions. CONCLUSIONS: ASD and ADHD are associated with disorder-specific impairments, while children with ASD+ADHD overall presented an additive profile with attentional deficits of both disorders. Importantly, these findings may inform the improvement of transdiagnostic procedures and optimisation of personalised intervention approaches

Neurocognitive basis of model-based decision making and its metacontrol in childhood

Human behavior is supported by both goal-directed (model-based) and habitual (model-free) decision-making, each differing in its flexibility, accuracy, and computational cost. The arbitration between habitual and goal-directed systems is thought to be regulated by a process known as metacontrol. However, how these systems emerge and develop remains poorly understood. Recently, we found that while children between 5 and 11 years displayed robust signatures of model-based decision-making, which increased during this developmental period, there were substantial individual differences in the display of metacontrol. Here, we inspect the neurocognitive basis of model-based decision-making and metacontrol in childhood and focus this investigation on executive functions, fluid reasoning, and brain structure. A total of 69 participants between the ages of 6-13 completed a two-step decision-making task and an extensive behavioral test battery. A subset of 44 participants also completed a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan. We find that individual differences in metacontrol are specifically associated with performance on an inhibition task and individual differences in thickness of dorsolateral prefrontal, temporal, and superior-parietal cortices. These brain regions likely reflect the involvement of cognitive processes crucial to metacontrol, such as cognitive control and contextual processing

Estimation of the interfacial shears strength, orientation factor and mean equivalent intrinsic tensile strength in old newspaper fiber/polypropylene composites

The present paper investigates the suitability of old newspapers (ONPs) as a source of reinforcing fibers for composite materials. Different percentages of ONP fibers were compounded with polypropylene (PP). A coupling agent was added to the compound to improve the interface between matrix and reinforcing fibers. Tensile test were performed to obtain the mechanical properties of the composite materials. Micromechanics of the fibers were obtained using Hirsch model, Bowyer Bader methodology and Kelly-Tyson equations. Due to the presence of a percentage of calcium carbonate in the obtained fibers (10%), the computed intrinsic characteristics were addressed as equivalent. The most important results were the mean equivalent intrinsic tensile strength of the ONP fibers, the mean orientation angle and the mean interfacial shear strength. The contributions of the matrix, the subcritical and the supercritical fibers to the tensile strength of the composite material were also computed. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Serrano, A.; Espinach, FX.; Julian, F.; Rey Tormos, RMD.; Mendez, JA.; Mutje, P. (2013). Estimation of the interfacial shears strength, orientation factor and mean equivalent intrinsic tensile strength in old newspaper fiber/polypropylene composites. Composites Part B: Engineering. 50:232-238. doi:10.1016/j.compositesb.2013.02.018S2322385

Facial and neural mechanisms during interactive disclosure of biographical information

Pairs of participants mutually communicated (or not) biographical information to each other. By combining simultaneous eye-tracking, face-tracking and functional near-infrared spectroscopy, we examined how this mutual sharing of information modulates social signalling and brain activity. When biographical information was disclosed, participants directed more eye gaze to the face of the partner and presented more facial displays. We also found that spontaneous production and observation of facial displays was associated with activity in the left SMG and right dlPFC/IFG, respectively. Moreover, mutual information-sharing increased activity in bilateral TPJ and left dlPFC, as well as cross-brain synchrony between right TPJ and left dlPFC. This suggests that a complex long-range mechanism is recruited during information-sharing. These multimodal findings support the second-person neuroscience hypothesis, which postulates that communicative interactions activate additional neurocognitive mechanisms to those engaged in non-interactive situations. They further advance our understanding of which neurocognitive mechanisms underlie communicative interactions