Social perception is dynamic and ambiguous. Whilst previous research favoured bottom-up views where observed actions are matched to higher level (or motor) representations, recent accounts suggest top-down processes where prior knowledge guides perception of others’ actions, in a predictive manner. This thesis investigated how person-specific models of others’ typical behaviour in different situations are reactivated when they are re-encountered and predict their actions, using strictly controlled computer-based action identification tasks, event-related potentials (ERPs), as well as recording participants’ actions via motion tracking (using the Microsoft Kinect Sensor). The findings provided evidence that knowledge about seen actor’s typical behaviour is used in action observation. It was found, first, that actions are identified faster when performed by an actor that typically performed these actions compared to another actor who only performed them rarely (Chapters Two and Three). These effects were specific to meaningful actions with objects, not withdrawals from them, and went along with action-related ERP responses (oERN, observer related error negativity). Moreover, they occurred despite current actor identity not being relevant to the task, and were largely independent of the participants’ ability to report the individual’s behaviour. Second, the findings suggested that these predictive person models are embodied such that they influenced the observers own motor systems, even when the relevant actors were not seen acting (Chapter Four). Finally, evidence for theses person-models were found when naturalistic responding was required when participants had to use their feet to ‘block’ an incoming ball (measured by the Microsoft Kinect Sensor), where they made earlier and more pronounced movements when the observed actor behaved according to their usual action patterns (Chapter Five). The findings are discussed with respect to recent predictive coding theories of social perception, and a new model is proposed that integrates the findings.

Thesis advisor: Liane L. Young / Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger / Theory of mind refers to the process of representing others’ mental states. This process consistently elicits activity in a network of brain regions: the theory of mind network (ToMN). Typically, theory of mind has been understood in terms of content, i.e. representing the semantic content of someone’s beliefs. However, recent work has proposed that ToMN activity could be better understood in the context of social prediction; or, more specifically, prediction error—the difference between observed and predicted information. Social predictions can be represented in multiple forms—e.g. dispositional predictions about who a person is, prescriptive norms about what people should do, and descriptive norms about what people frequently do. Part 1 examined the relationship between social prediction error and ToMN activity, finding that the activity in the ToMN was related to both dispositional, and prescriptive predictions. Part 2 examined the semantic content represented by moral claims. Prior work has suggested that morals are generally represented and understood as objective, i.e. akin to facts. Instead, we found that moral claims are represented as far more social than prior work had anticipated, eliciting a great deal of activity across the ToMN. Part 3 examined the relationship between ToMN activity and metaethical status, i.e. the extent that morals were perceived as objective or subjective. Objective moral claims elicited less ToMN activity, whereas subjective moral claimed elicited more. We argue that this relationship is best understood in the context of prediction, where objective moral claims represent strong social priors about what most people will believe. Finally, I expand on this finding and argue that a theoretical approach incorporating social prediction has serious implications for morality, or more specifically, for the motivations underlying normative compliance. People may be compelled to observe moral rules because doing so maintains a predictable social environment. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

Eye contact is a fundamental means of social interaction among primates. In both humans and non-human primate societies, eye contact precedes and signals aggression or prosocial behaviors. Initiating and maintaining short periods of eye contact is essential during social interactions that build trust and promote cooperation. How the brain detects and orchestrates social exchanges mediated by eye contact remains an open question in neuroscience. Theories of social neuroscience speculate that the social brain in primates contains neurons specialized to detect and respond to eye-contact. This dissertation reports the discovery and characterization of a class of neurons, located in the amygdala of monkeys, that is activated selectively during eye contact. The discovery of these cells was facilitated by (1) characterization of the response properties of neurons in the amygdala during a canonical image-viewing task and (2) development of a reliable and quantifiable method for eliciting naturalistic eye contact between monkeys in the laboratory setting. The functional role of eye contact cells remains to be determined. The data presented in this dissertation confirm the role of the amygdala in social behaviors and allows for the formulation of new hypotheses about the cellular mechanisms within the amygdala that support complex social interactions among primates.

Aggressive behaviour can be defined as actions that are believed and intended to cause harm to another individual that does not desire to be the target of such actions. Different situations can warrant aggressive behaviour, such as when an individual is posed with a threat. Aggressive behaviour is one of the ways individuals can deal with threats arising from their environments, and furthermore, aggressive behaviour can also be used to deal with social threats that arise from the interaction between two members of the same species. Aggressive behaviour is correlated with higher emotional arousal, and individuals that illustrate aggressive tendencies should be more sensitive to arousal when confronted with a social threat. This thesis acts upon this notion by hypothesizing that individuals who score higher on a tendency for aggression measurements should exhibit higher emotional arousal when exposed to a cue of social threat. Cues of social threats are thought to be induced by exposing the participant to either an angry face or a face with a high facial width to height ratio. The emotional response is measured with electroencephalography, more specifically looking at the late positive potential. No support for the hypothesis was found between high and low aggression groups. The facial width to height ratios proposed nature of being a cue of social threat becomes contested as the results were conflicting regarding the robustness of the facial width to height ratio’s effect. Even if there were no statistically significant differences found between the two groups, it might not be subject for dismissal as the sample population could be considered a low aggression population overall.

Decisions made under risk have been primarily studied within economic contexts (Platt & Huettel, 2008). This has led to the development of sound methods and models for studying risky choice behavior (Rangel, Camerer & Montague, 2008). In particular, these models are helpful for estimating how much risk an individual is willing to tolerate. However, there may be a limit in the extent to which we can generalize these estimations, in that economic models do not take into account the underlying social preferences that often guide decision makers (Fehr & Camerer, 2007; Fehr & Schmidt, 2004). This suggests that an individual's propensity for risk may be different depending on social or non-social information present within the environment (Bohnet, Greig, Herrmann & Zeckhauser, 2008). The present study aimed to: (i) assess how risk preferences may differ across social and non-social contexts; (ii) identify common and distinct neural correlates of social and non-social risk; and (iii) determine neural characteristics associated with individual sensitivities to social and non-social risk. Subjects (N=30) played an adaptation of the Trust Game while their blood-oxygen-level-dependent response was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Differences in risk preferences across social and non-social conditions as well as neuroimaging correlates of social and non-social risk will be discussed. / Master of Science

Interpersonal power, defined as the asymmetrical control over valued outcomes, has important effects on the way cognitive processing unfolds. This work explores the effect of power on basic cognitive processes, in addition to broader processes that appear at the level of social behaviour. I begin this thesis with an introductory chapter, followed by a chapter describing the theory and practice behind electro-encephalogram recordings. In Chapter 3, I explore the effect of power on attention selection using a task that requires the ability to focus or divide attention in space, while varying the amount of distractors. The results suggest that low-power participants (subordinates) are more susceptible to the presence of distractors, regardless of whether the task necessitates focused or divided attention. In this context, inhibition accounts for the results to a greater extent than spatial orienting. In Chapter 4, I explore the effect of power on early inhibition processes in the context of executive control, in a task which allows participants to allegedly observe each others’ performance and receive feedback. The results show that high power is associated with reduced behavioural accuracy on trials that require executive control. Event-related potential analyses show that power-holders devote reduced motivational resources to their targets compared to subordinates, but do not differ at the level of early conflict detection. Their feedback potential results show a greater expectation of rewards, but reduced subjective magnitude attributed to losses. Subordinates, on the other hand, are asymmetrically sensitive to power-holders’ targets. They expect fewer rewards, but attribute greater significance to losses. In Chapter 5, I show that subordinates are asymmetrically competent at remembering diagnostic choices made by power-holders. In a final general discussion chapter, I integrate the findings of the experiments, which point to multi-layered effects of power, conferring those who possess it and those who lack it with distinct cognitive processing styles that suit their adaptive needs. The results are consistent with a hypothesized link between subordination and up-regulation of vigilance and environmental sensitivity. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Research is beginning to find a positive and significant relationship between marriage and health. Even though the current literature shows that separation and divorce have strong negative consequences for the mental and physical health of both spouses (Dush & Amato, 2005), the answer to why and how this occurs has yet to be solved. A comprehensive perspective that could greatly benefit the analysis of this connection is the use of social neuroscientific methods in a biopsychosocial model. By including biological factors, social elements, and psychological variables in analyzing marriages, researchers would be able to further understand both the intra- and interpersonal elements of a relationship and their subsequent influence on marital stability. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to use social neuroscientific techniques to provide a comprehensive biological, psychological, and social assessments of couples, and compare that comprehension with marital satisfaction. This was accomplished by performing three studies focused on each section of the model: heart and brain reactions for biological, familial influence for social, and personal definition of love for psychological. The sample used for the first study involved 20 married couples that were recruited through flyers on the University’s campus and through announcements on a website (i.e., Craigslist). The participants came into the Family Interaction Resource Lab located on campus and were instructed to engage in a conflict interaction while being connected to a device used to measure heart and brain waves. The sample used for studies two and three included 635 participants that were recruited through mailouts, emails, and recruitment on a website (i.e., Facebook). These participants completed an online questionnaire using Qualtrics software and were all currently married. The insights provided by the results helped to (1) advance current knowledge surrounding interpersonal relationships, (2) elucidate on marital conflict for therapists and educators working with couples, (3) expand upon a rarely used research procedure for analyzing relationships, and (4) build upon the extant literature across numerous disciplines.

Pitting long-term goals against short-term desires is among the most difficult tasks in human decision-making. According to behavioural and neuroeconomic theories of self-regulation, these decisions involve a competition between “hot” reward-focused impulses and “cool” cognitive control mechanisms. The current dissertation examines this topic from the perspective of social and personality neuroscience, exploring the cognitive and affective dynamics underlying the self-regulatory process. Chapters 1 and 2 explore how the “hot” system is dispositionally expressed in the personality trait of Extraversion, and the implications of this finding for decision-making behaviour. Turning to the “cool” system, Chapter 3 examines the role of effective performance monitoring in predicting real-world self-regulatory outcomes. Finally, Chapter 4 addresses the question of whether self-regulatory performance can be improved, reporting the effects of a goal-setting intervention on long-term decision-making. Results across the studies are discussed within an integrative model of self-regulation, situated within a social-personality neuroscience framework.

Pitting long-term goals against short-term desires is among the most difficult tasks in human decision-making. According to behavioural and neuroeconomic theories of self-regulation, these decisions involve a competition between “hot” reward-focused impulses and “cool” cognitive control mechanisms. The current dissertation examines this topic from the perspective of social and personality neuroscience, exploring the cognitive and affective dynamics underlying the self-regulatory process. Chapters 1 and 2 explore how the “hot” system is dispositionally expressed in the personality trait of Extraversion, and the implications of this finding for decision-making behaviour. Turning to the “cool” system, Chapter 3 examines the role of effective performance monitoring in predicting real-world self-regulatory outcomes. Finally, Chapter 4 addresses the question of whether self-regulatory performance can be improved, reporting the effects of a goal-setting intervention on long-term decision-making. Results across the studies are discussed within an integrative model of self-regulation, situated within a social-personality neuroscience framework.

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how the human brain processes information about social groups in three domains. Study 1: Semantic knowledge. Participants were scanned while they answered questions about their knowledge of both social categories and non-social categories like object groups and species of nonhuman animals. Brain regions previously identified in processing semantic information are more robustly engaged by nonsocial semantics than stereotypes. In contrast, stereotypes elicit greater activity in brain regions implicated in social cognition. These results suggest that stereotypes should be considered distinct from other forms of semantic knowledge. Study 2: Theory of mind. Participants were scanned while they answered questions about the mental states and physical attributes of individual people and groups. Regions previously associated with mentalizing about individuals were also robustly responsive to judgments of groups. However, multivariate searchlight analysis revealed that several of these regions showed distinct multivoxel patterns of response to groups and individual people. These findings suggest that perceivers mentalize about groups in a manner qualitatively similar to mentalizing about individual people, but that the brain nevertheless maintains important distinctions between the representations of such entities. Study 3: Social categorization. Participants were scanned while they categorized the sex and race of unfamiliar Black men, Black women, White men, and White women. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed that multivoxel patterns in FFA--but not other face-selective brain regions, other category-selective brain regions, or early visual cortex--differentiated faces by sex and race. Specifically, patterns of voxel-based responses were more similar between individuals of the same sex than between men and women, and between individuals of the same race than between Black and White individuals. These results suggest that FFA represents the sex and race of faces. Together, these three studies contribute to a growing cognitive neuroscience of social groups. / Psychology