Alle Publikationen
2018
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(2018): Fairness, fast and slow. A review of dual process models of fairness. In: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, S. 49-60. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.02.016
Abstract: Fairness, the notion that people deserve or have rights to certain resources or kinds of treatment, is a fundamental dimension of moral cognition. Drawing on recent evidence from economics, psychology, and neuroscience, we ask whether self-interest is always intuitive, requiring self-control to override with reasoning-based fairness concerns, or whether fairness itself can be intuitive. While we find strong support for rejecting the notion that self-interest is always intuitive, the literature has reached conflicting conclusions about the neurocognitive systems underpinning fairness. We propose that this disagreement can largely be resolved in light of an extended Social Heuristics Hypothesis. Divergent findings may be attributed to the interpretation of behavioral effects of ego depletion or neurostimulation, reverse inference from brain activity to the underlying psychological process, and insensitivity to social context and inter-individual differences. To better dissect the neurobiological basis of fairness, we outline how future research should embrace cross-disciplinary methods that combine psychological manipulations with neuroimaging, and that can probe inter-individual, and cultural heterogeneities.
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(2018): Differences in the Theory of Mind profiles of patients with anorexia nervosa and individuals on the autism spectrum: A meta-analytic review. In: Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 90, S. 146-163. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.04.009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.04.009 Abstract: Background This meta-analytic review examines the theory of mind profiles in both patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and autistic individuals. Methodology The studies examining theory of mind were divided into the following categories: emotional theory of mind, understanding simple social situations, understanding complex social interactions, and implicit social attribution. All included studies investigated differences between healthy control (HCs) individuals and people with AN or autistic people. Differences in theory of mind profile between people with AN and autistic people were explored by conducting moderator analyses. Results People with AN and autistic people showed a similar theory of mind profile, but autistic individuals showed greater difficulties, particularly in emotional theory of mind. Conclusions Although both people with AN and autistic people have significant difficulties in all aspects of theory of mind relative to the HCs, some differences in the underlying profile may be present. However, due to relative paucity of theory of mind research among people with AN, further research is still needed before firm conclusion can be drawn.
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(2018): Brain responses to social norms. Meta-analyses of fMRI studies. In: Human brain mapping 39 (2), S. 955-970. DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23895
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29160930 Abstract: Social norms have a critical role in everyday decision-making, as frequent interaction with others regulates our behavior. Neuroimaging studies show that social-based and fairness-related decision-making activates an inconsistent set of areas, which sometimes includes the anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and others lateral prefrontal cortices. Social-based decision-making is complex and variability in findings may be driven by socio-cognitive activities related to social norms. To distinguish among social-cognitive activities related to social norms, we identified 36 eligible articles in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) literature, which we separate into two categories (a) social norm representation and (b) norm violations. The majority of original articles (>60%) used tasks associated with fairness norms and decision-making, such as ultimatum game, dictator game, or prisoner's dilemma; the rest used tasks associated to violation of moral norms, such as scenarios and sentences of moral depravity ratings. Using quantitative meta-analyses, we report common and distinct brain areas that show concordance as a function of category. Specifically, concordance in ventromedial prefrontal regions is distinct to social norm representation processing, whereas concordance in right insula, dorsolateral prefrontal, and dorsal cingulate cortices is distinct to norm violation processing. We propose a neurocognitive model of social norms for healthy adults, which could help guide future research in social norm compliance and mechanisms of its enforcement.
2017
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(2017): Social distance influences the outcome evaluation of cooperation and conflict. Evidence from event-related potentials. In: Neuroscience letters 647, S. 78-84. DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2017.03.018
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28315726 Abstract: Previous research shows that social distance plays an important role in promoting cooperation and that subtle cues that reduce social distance increase the tendency to cooperate. However, it is unclear how social distance influences our outcome evaluation of cooperative and conflict feedback. The present study investigated the influence of social distance on cooperative and conflict behavior and the evaluation process of the cooperative and conflict outcomes, using the event-related potentials (ERPs) technique. We recorded ERPs from 14 normal adults playing a social game task against a friend and a stranger. The results showed that the FRN (Feedback Related Negativity) and P300 were affected by the opponent's choice to cooperate or aggress; however, only the P300 was affected by social distance. Specifically, when the opponent chose to cooperate, the feedback elicited a smaller FRN and a larger P300 amplitude; and compared with playing against friends, the P300 had a larger amplitude when participants gaming with strangers. Our results indicate that at the early stage of the evaluation of cooperation and conflict outcomes, individuals may initially and quickly encode the valence of outcomes, judging whether an outcome is consistent with their expectations. However, at the late stage, which involves a top-down cognitive appraisal process, some social factors, such as social distance, may moderate processing of attention resource allocation of feedback about outcomes, and of higher-level motivation/affective appraisal. zitiert von 1
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(2017): Who Deserves My Trust? Cue-Elicited Feedback Negativity Tracks Reputation Learning in Repeated Social Interactions. In: Frontiers in human neuroscience 11. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00307 Abstract: Trust and trustworthiness contribute to reciprocal behavior and social relationship development. To make better decisions, people need to evaluate others' trustworthiness. They often assess this kind of reputation by learning through repeated social interactions. The present event-related potential (ERP) study explored the reputation learning process in a repeated trust game where subjects made multi-round decisions of investment to different partners. We found that subjects gradually learned to discriminate trustworthy partners from untrustworthy ones based on how often their partners reciprocated the investment, which was indicated by their own investment decisions. Besides, electrophysiological data showed that the faces of the untrustworthy partners induced larger feedback negativity (FN) amplitude than those of the trustworthy partners, but only in the late phase of the game. The ERP results corresponded with the behavioral pattern and revealed that the learned trustworthiness differentiation was coded by the cue-elicited FN component. Consistent with previous research, our findings suggest that the anterior cue-elicited FN reflects the reputation appraisal and tracks the reputation learning process in social interactions.
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(2017): A lesion model of envy and Schadenfreude. Legal, deservingness and moral dimensions as revealed by neurodegeneration. In: Brain : a journal of neurology 140 (12), S. 3357-3377. DOI: 10.1093/brain/awx269
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29112719 Abstract: The study of moral emotions (i.e. Schadenfreude and envy) is critical to understand the ecological complexity of everyday interactions between cognitive, affective, and social cognition processes. Most previous studies in this area have used correlational imaging techniques and framed Schadenfreude and envy as unified and monolithic emotional domains. Here, we profit from a relevant neurodegeneration model to disentangle the brain regions engaged in three dimensions of Schadenfreude and envy: deservingness, morality, and legality. We tested a group of patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), patients with Alzheimer's disease, as a contrastive neurodegeneration model, and healthy controls on a novel task highlighting each of these dimensions in scenarios eliciting Schadenfreude and envy. Compared with the Alzheimer's disease and control groups, patients with bvFTD obtained significantly higher scores on all dimensions for both emotions. Correlational analyses revealed an association between envy and Schadenfreude scores and greater deficits in social cognition, inhibitory control, and behaviour disturbances in bvFTD patients. Brain anatomy findings (restricted to bvFTD and controls) confirmed the partially dissociable nature of the moral emotions' experiences and highlighted the importance of socio-moral brain areas in processing those emotions. In all subjects, an association emerged between Schadenfreude and the ventral striatum, and between envy and the anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, the results supported an association between scores for moral and legal transgression and the morphology of areas implicated in emotional appraisal, including the amygdala and the parahippocampus. By contrast, bvFTD patients exhibited a negative association between increased Schadenfreude and envy across dimensions and critical regions supporting social-value rewards and social-moral processes (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, angular gyrus and precuneus). Together, this study provides lesion-based evidence for the multidimensional nature of the emotional experiences of envy and Schadenfreude. Our results offer new insights into the mechanisms subsuming complex emotions and moral cognition in neurodegeneration. Moreover, this study presents the exacerbation of envy and Schadenfreude as a new potential hallmark of bvFTD that could impact in diagnosis and progression. zitiert von: 3
Keywords: Aged, Alzheimer’s Disease, Amygdala, BRAIN, Case-Control Studies, Diagnostic Imaging, Emotions, Emotionsforschung, Female, Gyrus Cinguli, Hippocampus, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Moral, Morals, Neurowissenschaften, Parietal Lobe, Physiopathology, Prefrontal Cortex, PSYCHOLOGY, Social Behavior, Ventral Striatum -
(2017): Examining overlap in behavioral and neural representations of morals, facts, and preferences. In: Journal of experimental psychology. General 146 (11), S. 1586-1605. DOI: 10.1037/xge0000350
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28805441 Abstract: Metaethical judgments refer to judgments about the information expressed by moral claims. Moral objectivists generally believe that moral claims are akin to facts, whereas moral subjectivists generally believe that moral claims are more akin to preferences. Evidence from developmental and social psychology has generally favored an objectivist view; however, this work has typically relied on few examples, and analyses have disallowed statistical generalizations beyond these few stimuli. The present work addresses whether morals are represented as fact-like or preference-like, using behavioral and neuroimaging methods, in combination with statistical techniques that can (a) generalize beyond our sample stimuli, and (b) test whether particular item features are associated with neural activity. Behaviorally, and contrary to prior work, morals were perceived as more preference-like than fact-like. Neurally, morals and preferences elicited common magnitudes and spatial patterns of activity, particularly within the dorsal-medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), a critical region for social cognition. This common DMPFC activity for morals and preferences was present across whole-brain conjunctions, and in individually localized functional regions of interest (targeting the theory of mind network). By contrast, morals and facts did not elicit any neural activity in common. Follow-up item analyses suggested that the activity elicited in common by morals and preferences was explained by their shared tendency to evoke representations of mental states. We conclude that morals are represented as far more subjective than prior work has suggested. This conclusion is consistent with recent theoretical research, which has argued that morality is fundamentally about regulating social relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record zitiert von: 2
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(2017): Evaluating the Sensitivity to Virtual Characters Facial Asymmetry in Emotion Synthesis. In: Applied Artificial Intelligence 31 (2), S. 103-118. DOI: 10.1080/08839514.2017.1299983
Abstract: The use of expressive Virtual Characters is an effective complementary means of communication for social networks offering multi-user 3D-chatting environment. In such contexts, the facial expression channel offers a rich medium to translate the ongoing emotions conveyed by the text-based exchanges. However, until recently, only purely symmetric facial expressions have been considered for that purpose. In this article we examine human sensitivity to facial asymmetry in the expression of both basic and complex emotions. The rationale for introducing asymmetry in the display of facial expressions stems from two well-established observations in cognitive neuroscience: first that the expression of basic emotions generally displays a small asymmetry, second that more complex emotions such as ambivalent feeling may reflect in the partial display of different, potentially opposite, emotions on each side of the face. A frequent occurrence of this second case results from the conflict between the truly felt emotion and the one that should be displayed due to social conventions. Our main hypothesis is that a much larger expressive and emotional space can only be automatically synthesized by means of facial asymmetry when modeling emotions with a general Valence-Arousal-Dominance dimensional approach. Besides, we want also to explore the general human sensitivity to the introduction of a small degree of asymmetry into the expression of basic emotions. We conducted an experiment by presenting 64 pairs of static facial expressions, one symmetric and one asymmetric, illustrating eight emotions (three basic and five complex ones) alternatively for a male and a female character. Each emotion was presented four times by swapping the symmetric and asymmetric positions and by mirroring the asymmetrical expression. Participants were asked to grade, on a continuous scale, the correctness of each facial expression with respect to a short definition. Results confirm the potential of introducing facial asymmetry for a subset of the complex emotions. Guidelines are proposed for designers of embodied conversational agent and emotionally reflective avatars.
Keywords: Asymmetrie, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Authentizität von dargestellter Emotion, dominance, Emotionserkennung, Gesichtszüge, Gestik/Mimik, Kognitionswissenschaft/Social Sciences/Humanities, Konventionen, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Neurowissenschaften, Realtechnik, soziale Kognition, Technik -
(2017): The Neural Basis of Changing Social Norms through Persuasion. In: Scientific reports 7 (1). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-16572-2
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29176682 Abstract: Social norms regulate behavior, and changes in norms have a great impact on society. In most modern societies, norms change through interpersonal communication and persuasive messages found in media. Here, we examined the neural basis of persuasion-induced changes in attitude toward and away from norms using fMRI. We measured brain activity while human participants were exposed to persuasive messages directed toward specific norms. Persuasion directed toward social norms specifically activated a set of brain regions including temporal poles, temporo-parietal junction, and medial prefrontal cortex. Beyond these regions, when successful, persuasion away from an accepted norm specifically recruited the left middle temporal and supramarginal gyri. Furthermore, in combination with data from a separate attitude-rating task, we found that left supramarginal gyrus activity represented participant attitude toward norms and tracked the persuasion-induced attitude changes that were away from agreement.
Keywords: Beeinflussung der Bewertung moralischer Urteile, Bewertung von sozialem Verhalten (/sozialer Angemessenheit), Disziplin, Einfluss von Medien, Good manners, Neurowissenschaften, Normen, Normenwandel, Observablen/Kriterien für sozial angemessenes Verhalten und dessen Bewertung, Postkasten, Psychologie, Soziale Angemessenheit, Wandel von Normen 2016
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Absher, John R.; Cloutier, Jasmin (Hg.) (2016): Neuroimaging personality, social cognition, and character. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800935-2.00012-9 Abstract: Learning new, and regulating existing, emotional responses are two intimately connected survival functions that enable us to flexibly adapt in a constantly changing world. Basic and clinical research has long documented the behavioral effects of these functions in humans and other animals. Here, we survey recent developments in the research on the transmission of emotionally relevant information. In particular, we discuss experiments using behavioral and neurobiological methods to examine how fear and safety information is transmitted between individuals through observation. We discuss how these findings can be understood in light of studies of empathy and mental state attributions and present a simple neurobiological model of emotional learning and regulation that is compatible with empirical evidence in psychology and neuroscience. We close by outlining a few outstanding challenges for future research on social learning and regulation.
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(2016): Why (and how) should we study the interplay between emotional arousal, Theory of Mind, and inhibitory control to understand moral cognition?. In: Psychonomic bulletin & review 23 (6), S. 1660-1680. DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1042-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-016-1042-5 Abstract: Findings in the field of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience have shed new light on our understanding of the psychological and biological bases of morality. Although a lot of attention has been devoted to understanding the processes that underlie complex moral dilemmas, attempts to represent the way in which individuals generate moral judgments when processing basic harmful actions are rare. Here, we will outline a model of morality which proposes that the evaluation of basic harmful actions relies on complex interactions between emotional arousal, Theory of Mind (ToM) capacities, and inhibitory control resources. This model makes clear predictions regarding the cognitive processes underlying the development of and ability to generate moral judgments. We draw on data from developmental and cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and psychopathology research to evaluate the model and propose several conceptual and methodological improvements that are needed to further advance our understanding of moral cognition and its development. zitiert von 12
Keywords: Causality, Emotional Control, Emotions, Empathy, Executive Function, Humans, Inhibition (Psychology), Intention Medical Subject Headings (MeSH): Arousal, Kognitionswissenschaften, Moral, Morality, Morals, Neurowissenschaften, Response Inhibition, Social Perception, theory of mind, Thinking -
(2016): Surfing uncertainty. Prediction, action, and the embodied mind. Oxford; New York; Auckland: Oxford University Press
Abstract: How is it that thoroughly physical material beings such as ourselves can think, dream, feel, create and understand ideas, theories and concepts? How does mere matter give rise to all these non-material mental states, including consciousness itself? An answer to this central question of our existence is emerging at the busy intersection of neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. In this groundbreaking work, philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark explores exciting new theories from these fields that reveal minds like ours to be prediction machines - devices that have evolved to anticipate the incoming streams of sensory stimulation before they arrive. These predictions then initiate actions that structure our worlds and alter the very things we need to engage and predict. Clark takes us on a journey in discovering the circular causal flows and the self-structuring of the environment that define "the predictive brain." What emerges is a bold, new, cutting-edge vision that reveals the brain as our driving force in the daily surf through the waves of sensory stimulation.
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(2016): Theory of mind for processing unexpected events across contexts. In: Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 11 (8), S. 1183-1192. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw032
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsw032 Abstract: Theory of mind, or mental state reasoning, may be particularly useful for making sense of unexpected events. Here, we investigated unexpected behavior across both social and non-social contexts in order to characterize the precise role of theory of mind in processing unexpected events. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how people respond to unexpected outcomes when initial expectations were based on (i) an object’s prior behavior, (ii) an agent’s prior behavior and (iii) an agent’s mental states. Consistent with prior work, brain regions for theory of mind were preferentially recruited when people first formed expectations about social agents vs non-social objects. Critically, unexpected vs expected outcomes elicited greater activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which also discriminated in its spatial pattern of activity between unexpected and expected outcomes for social events. In contrast, social vs non-social events elicited greater activity in precuneus across both expected and unexpected outcomes. Finally, given prior information about an agent’s behavior, unexpected vs expected outcomes elicited an especially robust response in right temporoparietal junction, and the magnitude of this difference across participants correlated negatively with autistic-like traits. Together, these findings illuminate the distinct contributions of brain regions for theory of mind for processing unexpected events across contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2016): Reading palm-up signs. Neurosemiotic overview of a common hand gesture. In: Semiotica (210). DOI: 10.1515/sem-2016-0053
Abstract: This article explores ways in which the human nervous system encodes and decodes palm-up gestural signs, signals, and cues. Palm-up gestures and their accompanying speech acts evolved from an ancient neurological system that gave rise to both gestural (pectoral) communication and vocal (laryngeal) language (Bass and Chagnaud 2013, Shared developmental and evolutionary origins for neural basis of vocal-acoustic and pectoral-gestural signaling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109. 10677-10684.). Meanings of palm-up cues are multifaceted and nuanced, and express degrees of emotional helplessness, cognitive uncertainty, prosodic emphasis, and social deference. By themselves or in combination with other hand movements - such as reaching, showing, and pointing - palm-up cues are used to begin speaking turns, ask questions, request favors, and share personal opinions, feelings, and moods. The palm-up hand movement is a possibly universal signal of deference, in Erving Goffman's (1956, The nature of deference and demeanor. American Anthropologist 58(3). 473-502.) sense of the term, not unlike other deferential body-motion cues such as the anjaimudra, bow, curtsy, genuflection, kowtow, namaste, poussi-poussi, pranama, sampeah, and wai.
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(2016): The Role of Emotion Regulation in Moral Judgment. In: NEUROETHICS 1251 (1). DOI: 10.1007/s12152-016-9261-z
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-016-9261-z Abstract: Moral judgment has typically been characterized as a conflict between emotion and reason. In recent years, a central concern has been determining which process is the chief contributor to moral behavior. While classic moral theorists claimed that moral evaluations stem from consciously controlled cognitive processes, recent research indicates that affective processes may be driving moral behavior. Here, we propose a new way of thinking about emotion within the context of moral judgment, one in which affect is generated and transformed by both automatic and controlled processes, and moral evaluations are shifted accordingly. We begin with a review of how existing theories in psychology and neuroscience address the interaction between emotion and cognition, and how these theories may inform the study of moral judgment. We then describe how brain regions involved in both affective processing and moral judgment overlap and may make distinct contributions to the moral evaluati on proce ss. Finally, we discuss how this way of thinking about emotion can be reconciled with current theories in moral psychology before mapping out future directions in the study of moral behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2016): Non-anthropomorphic robots as social entities on a neurophysiological level. In: Computers in Human Behavior 57, S. 182-186. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.034
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.034 Abstract: Studied the evocation of the so-called mirror neuron system (MNS) response by means of "social interaction" with a nonanthropomorphic robot. 57 adults (mean age 23 years) were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions. Electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded while participants observed video clips of someone operating a malfunctioning vacuum-cleaning robot. Subjects watched the movements of the robot before and after it had been handled by its operator. In one group, the robot was humanized insofar as it was treated aggressively. In the control group, it was simply treated as an object. EEG mu activity served as an inverse indicator of MNS activity. Brain activity was also recorded at occipital electrodes. Subjects rated the operator's aggressiveness, and their associated compassion for the robot. Mu activity was moderately correlated with operator aggressiveness and subjects' compassion ratings; the more perceived aggression that the robot was subjected to, the more compassion subjects felt, and the less pronounced their mu activity was in response to the robot's "experience."
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(01.01.2016): Understanding sanctions in social dilemmas: A biopsychological perspective on costly punishment in public goods situations.
Abstract: Analyzed sanctions such as costly punishment for uncooperative behavior in social-dilemma situations from a biopsychological perspective. A theoretical summary and discussion of five published or submitted research papers is presented. - Contents: (1) Pfattheicher, S. & Keller, J. (in press). Towards a biopsychological understanding of costly punishment: The role of basal cortisol. PLoS ONE, 9:e85691. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085691 (2) Pfattheicher, S. & Keller, J. (2014). The eye cue manipulation as subtle induction of a sense of being watched: Empirical validation and theoretical integration. (3) Pfattheicher, S., Landhäußer, A. & Keller, J. (2014). Punishing for the sake of reputation? Effects of reputational concerns on costly punishment. (4) Pfattheicher, S. & Keller, J. (2013). Vigilant self-regulation and costly punishment in public goods situations. European Journal of Personality, 27, 346-354. doi:10.1002/per.1909 (5) Pfattheicher, S., Landhäußer, A. & Keller, J. (in press). Individual differences in antisocial punishment in public goods situations: The interplay of cortisol with testosterone and dominance. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 27, 340-348. doi:10.1002/bdm.1811
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Stein, John (2016): Reference module in neuroscience and biobehavioral psychology. Place of publication not identified: Elsevier
2015
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(2015): Higher incentives can impair performance. Neural evidence on reinforcement and rationality. In: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 10 (11), S. 1477-1483
Abstract: Examined the assumption that monetary incentives always result in increased performance. Human decision makers frequently focus on past performance, a form of reinforcement learning occasionally at odds with rational decision making. An incentivized belief-updating task from economics was employed to investigate this conflict through measurements of neural correlates of reward processing. 85 healthy college students (aged 19-29 years) participated in 2 experiments while electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded. Results showed that higher incentives fail to improve performance when immediate feedback on decision outcomes is provided. Subsequent analysis of the feedback-related negativity, an early event-related potential following feedback, revealed the mechanism behind this paradoxical effect. As incentives increase, the win/lose feedback becomes more prominent, leading to an increased reliance on reinforcement and more errors. This mechanism is relevant for economic decision making and the debate on performance-based payment. zitiert von 15
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(2015): Disrupting morphosyntactic and lexical semantic processing has opposite effects on the sample entropy of neural signals. In: BRAIN RESEARCH 1604, S. 1-14
Abstract: Converging evidence in neuroscience suggests that syntax and semantics are dissociable in brain space and time. However, it is possible that partly disjoint cortical networks, operating in successive time frames, still perform similar types of neural computations. To test the alternative hypothesis, we collected EEG data while participants read sentences containing lexical semantic or morphosyntactic anomalies, resulting in N400 and P600 effects, respectively. Next, we reconstructed phase space trajectories from EEG time series, and we measured the complexity of the resulting dynamical orbits using sample entropy an index of the rate at which the system generates or loses information over time. Disrupting morphosyntactic or lexical semantic processing had opposite effects on sample entropy: it increased in the N400 window for semantic anomalies, and it decreased in the P600 window for morphosyntactic anomalies. These findings point to a fundamental divergence in the neural computations supporting meaning and grammar in language. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Bedeutung, Bedeutung und Grammatik, Bedeutungszusammenhang, frame semantics, Grammar, Grammatiktheorie, Intellektualtechnik, Kogn. Architektur, Kognitionswissenschaft/Social Sciences/Humanities, Kognitive Skills/Social Cognition, lexikalische Semantik, Meaning, Mensch-Technik-Relationen (MTR), Neurowissenschaften, Sprache, Sprachverarbeitung, Sprachverstehen, Technik, Voraussetzungen für sozial angemessenes Verhalten -
(2015): An Information-Based Approach to Consciousness. Mental State Decoding. DOI: 10.15502/9783958570276
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15502/9783958570276 Abstract: The debate on the neural correlates of visual consciousness often focuses on the question of which additional processing has to happen for a visual representation to enter consciousness. However, a related question that has only rarely been addressed is which brain regions directly encode specific contents of consciousness. The search for these core neural correlates of contents of consciousness (NCCCs) requires establishing a mapping between sensory experiences and population measures of brain activity in specific brain regions. One approach for establishing this mapping is multivariate decoding. Using this technique, several properties of NCCCs have been investigated. Masking studies have revealed that information about sensory stimuli can be decoded from the primary visual cortex, even if the stimuli cannot be consciously identified by a subject. This suggests that information that does not reach awareness can be encapsulated in early visual stages of processing. Visual imagery representations and veridical perception share similar neural representations in higher-level visual regions, suggesting that these regions are directly related to the encoding of conscious visual experience. But population signals in these higher-level visual regions cannot be the sole carriers of visual experiences because they are invariant to low-level visual features. We found no evidence for increased encoding of sensory information in the prefrontal cortex when a stimulus reaches awareness. In general, we found no role of the prefrontal cortex in encoding sensory experiences at all. However, the improved discrimination of sensory information during perceptual learning could be explained by an improved read-out by the prefrontal cortex. One possible implication is that prefrontal cortical regions do not participate in the encoding of sensory features per se. Instead they may be relevant in making decisions about sensory features, without exhibiting a re-representation of sensory information.
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(2015): The role of shared neural activations, mirror neurons, and morality in empathy--a critical comment. In: Neuroscience research 90, S. 15-24. DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2014.10.008
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25455743 Abstract: In the last decade, the phenomenon of empathy has received widespread attention by the field of social neuroscience. This has provided fresh insights for theoretical models of empathy, and substantially influenced the academic and public conceptions about this complex social skill. The present paper highlights three key issues which are often linked to empathy, but which at the same time might obscure our understanding of it. These issues are: (1) shared neural activations and whether these can be interpreted as evidence for simulation accounts of empathy; (2) the causal link of empathy to our presumed mirror neuron system; and (3) the question whether increasing empathy will result in better moral decisions and behaviors. The aim of our review is to provide the basis for critically evaluating our current understanding of empathy, and its public reception, and to inspire new research directions.
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(2015): Psychoanalyse und Neurowissenschaften. Chancen, Grenzen, Kontroversen. 1. Aufl.. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer (Psychoanalyse im 21. Jahrhundert)
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(2015): Be nice if you have to--the neurobiological roots of strategic fairness. In: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 10 (6), S. 790-796. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu114
DOI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25190704 Abstract: Social norms, such as treating others fairly regardless of kin relations, are essential for the functioning of human societies. Their existence may explain why humans, among all species, show unique patterns of prosocial behaviour. The maintenance of social norms often depends on external enforcement, as in the absence of credible sanctioning mechanisms prosocial behaviour deteriorates quickly. This sanction-dependent prosocial behaviour suggests that humans strategically adapt their behaviour and act selfishly if possible but control selfish impulses if necessary. Recent studies point at the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in controlling selfish impulses. We test whether the DLPFC is indeed involved in the control of selfish impulses as well as the strategic acquisition of this control mechanism. Using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, we provide evidence for the causal role of the right DLPFC in strategic fairness. Because the DLPFC is phylogenetically one of the latest developed neocortical regions, this could explain why complex norm systems exist in humans but not in other social animals.
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(2015): Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Im/politeness. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Abstract: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Im/politeness brings together the work of linguists, psychologists, neuroscientists, and second language experts in order to provide readers with a snapshot of the possibilities for studying im/politeness in the 21st century. The volume is organized along methodological lines in three parts each preceded by a brief introduction outlining the evolution and advantages and disadvantages of the relevant methodologies, while a specially commissioned epilogue places the volume in the field as a whole. Part I is dedicated to self-reporting studies, Part II covers observational studies, and Part III introduces experimental studies. A central goal of the present collection is to make a case for the relevance of all these types of data and of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to the ongoing theoretical debates in the field of im/politeness.