Improving Relationships by Elevating Positive Illusion and the Underlying Psychological and Neural Mechanisms

Romantic relationships are difficult to maintain novel and exciting for long periods of time, and individuals in love are known to engage in a variety of efforts to protect and maintain their romantic relationship. How to protect and maintain these relationships more effectively has, however, plagued people, psychologists, and therapists. Intimate partners typically perceive their relationship and their partners in a positive light or bias, a phenomenon called positive illusion. Interestingly, higher levels of positive illusion between partners have been associated with a decreased risk for relationship dissolution, as well as higher satisfaction, and less conflict or doubt in relationships. These findings indicate that elevating positive illusion amongst romantic partners may be of benefit and improve romantic relationships. In the present article, we discuss solving the paradox of positive illusion. As positive illusion may have relationship-enhancing attributes, we discuss the psychological and neural mechanisms that may underlie positive illusion. By elucidating the mechanisms underlying positive illusion, we shine a spotlight on potential future directions for research that aims to improve positive illusion and thus enhance the satisfaction and longevity of romantic relationships

How far is brain-inspired artificial intelligence away from brain?

Fueled by the development of neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI), recent advances in the brain-inspired AI have manifested a tipping-point in the collaboration of the two fields. AI began with the inspiration of neuroscience, but has evolved to achieve a remarkable performance with little dependence upon neuroscience. However, in a recent collaboration, research into neurobiological explainability of AI models found that these highly accurate models may resemble the neurobiological representation of the same computational processes in the brain, although these models have been developed in the absence of such neuroscientific references. In this perspective, we review the cooperation and separation between neuroscience and AI, and emphasize on the current advance, that is, a new cooperation, the neurobiological explainability of AI. Under the intertwined development of the two fields, we propose a practical framework to evaluate the brain-likeness of AI models, paving the way for their further improvements

Social Interaction Patterns of the Disabled People in Asymmetric Social Dilemmas

The social participation of the disabled people is unsatisfactory and low, one of the reasons often overlooked but of great importance may lie in the disparate patterns of social interaction between the disabled people and the abled people. The current study respectively recruited 41 and 80 disabled people in two experiments and adopted give-some games and public good dilemma to explore social interaction patterns between the disabled abled people. The results were as follows: (1) the disabled people preferred to interact with the disabled people and the abled people preferred to interact with the abled people. (2) The disabled abled people had higher cooperation, satisfaction and sense of justice when interacting with the disabled people than interacting with the abled people. (3) Advantage in the number of the disabled people could reverse their disadvantage in the identity. These results are of important practical value, which provides related theoretical support for the disabled people’s federation and communities when carrying out activities for the disabled people

Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) to Improve Romantic Relationships Can Be a Promising Approach

The romantic relationship refers to the specific relationship in which partners are dependent upon each other to obtain satisfactory outcomes and facilitate the pursuit of their most important needs and goals. Satisfying romantic relationships is a strong predictor of better psychological well-being, better physical health, and longer life expectancy. However, romantic relationships are not all smooth-sailing and lovers are often confronted with a variety of unavoidable issues that constantly challenge the stability of their romantic relationships. Dissatisfying romantic relationships are harmful and even destructive. Dyads of lovers engage in a variety of efforts to protect and maintain their romantic relationships based on qualitative research methods including theories- and psychological consultation-based approaches. Unfortunately, those existing approaches do not seem to effectively improve romantic relationships. Thus, it is necessary to seek an efficient approach regulating dyads of lovers in romantic relationships simultaneously. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) with advantages over existing approaches satisfies this purpose. We discuss the practicability of tACS in detail, as well as why and how tACS can be utilized to improve romantic relationships. In summary, this review firstly introduced the concept of romantic relationship and the necessity of enhancing it. Then, it discussed methods to improve romantic relationships including some existing approaches. This review next discussed the practicability of using tACS to improve romantic relationships. Finally, it shone a spotlight on potential future directions for researches aiming to improve romantic relationships

Low-Theta Electroencephalography Coherence Predicts Cigarette Craving in Nicotine Addiction

Addicts are often vulnerable to drug use in the presence of drug cues, which elicit significant drug cue reactivity. Mounting neuroimaging evidence suggests an association between functional magnetic resonance imaging connectivity networks and smoking cue reactivity; however, there is still little understanding of the electroencephalography (EEG) coherence basis of smoking cue reactivity. We therefore designed two independent experiments wherein nicotine-dependent smokers performed a smoking cue reactivity task during EEG recording. Experiment I showed that a low-theta EEG coherence network occurring 400–600 ms after onset during long-range (mainly between frontal and parieto-occipital) scalp regions, which was involved in smoking cue reactivity. Moreover, the average coherence of this network was significantly correlated with participants’ level of cigarette craving. In experiment II, we tested an independent group of smokers and demonstrated that the low-theta coherence network significantly predicted changes in individuals’ cigarette craving. Thus, the low-theta EEG coherence in smokers’ brains might be a biomarker of smoking cue reactivity and can predict addiction behavior

The Effect of the Irreversible Inequality on Pro-social Behaviors of People With Disabilities

Inequalities have always been central to psychology, sociology and related fields such as social policy, gender studies, critical race studies, and human geography. Although inequality affects pro-social behaviors, there are still some controversies over this issue among people with disabilities. The current study aimed to investigate pro-social behaviors of people with disabilities and the effect of the irreversible inequality on pro-social behaviors. A dictator game was used to explore the difference of pro-social behaviors between people with disabilities and people without disabilities, when facing intra- or inter-group members. The results showed that compared to people with disabilities, people without disabilities were likely to show more pro-social behaviors. People with disabilities preferred intra-group cooperation, while people without disabilities preferred inter-group cooperation. Indeed, the intra-group cooperation was significantly greater than the expected cooperation of the intra-group members for people with disabilities. When facing the inter-group members, people without disabilities showed more than expected, that others would cooperate with them. These findings indicated that social avoidance was a common phenomenon for people with disabilities in China, but the situation would be different when they faced different groups. In addition, irreversible inequality could influence individuals’ cooperative strategies when facing individuals in a different status

Neuroimaging Studies Reveal the Subtle Difference Among Social Network Size Measurements and Shed Light on New Directions

Social network size is a key feature when we explore the constructions of human social networks. Despite the disparate understanding of individuals’ social networks, researchers have reached a consensus that human’s social networks are hierarchically organized with different layers, which represent emotional bonds and interaction frequency. Social brain hypothesis emphasizes the significance of complex and demanding social interaction environments and assumes that the cognitive constraints may have an impact on the social network size. This paper reviews neuroimaging studies on social networks that explored the connection between individuals’ social network size and neural mechanisms and finds that Social Network Index (SNI) and Social Network Questionnaires (SNQs) are the mostly-adopted measurements of one’s social network size. The two assessments have subtle difference in essence as they measure the different sublayers of one’s social network. The former measures the relatively outer sub-layer of one’s stable social relationship, similar to the sympathy group, while the latter assesses the innermost layer—the core of one’s social network, often referred to as support clique. This subtle difference is also corroborated by neuroimaging studies, as SNI-measured social network size is largely correlated with the amygdala, while SNQ-assessed social network size is closely related to both the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex. The two brain regions respond to disparate degrees of social closeness, respectively. Finally, it proposes a careful choice among the measurements for specific purposes and some new approaches to assess individuals’ social network size