scholarly journals Autonomic arousal tracks outcome salience not valence in monkeys making social decisions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-452
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Basile ◽  
Jessica A. Joiner ◽  
Olga Dal Monte ◽  
Nicholas A. Fagan ◽  
Chloe L. Karaskiewicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autonomic Arousal ◽  
Social Decisions

scholarly journals Autonomic arousal tracks outcome salience not valence in monkeys making social decisions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Basile ◽  
Jessica A. Joiner ◽  
Olga Dal Monte ◽  
Nicholas A. Fagan ◽  
Chloe L. Karaskiewicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Autonomic Arousal ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Outcome Valence ◽  
Social Decisions ◽  
Prosocial Tendencies ◽  
Marked Preference ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Vicarious Reinforcement ◽  
Task Parameters

AbstractThe evolutionary and neural underpinnings of human prosociality are still largely unknown. A growing body of evidence suggests that some species find the sight of another individual receiving a reward reinforcing, often called vicarious reinforcement. One hypothesis is that vicarious reward is reinforcing because it is arousing like a primary reward. We evaluated this hypothesis by measuring the autonomic pupil response of eight monkeys across two laboratories in two different versions of a vicarious reinforcement paradigm. Monkeys were cued as to whether an upcoming reward would be delivered to them, another monkey, or nobody and could accept or decline the offer. As expected, all monkeys in both laboratories showed a marked preference for juice to the self, together with a reliable prosocial preference for juice to a social partner compared to juice to nobody. However, contrary to the autonomic arousal hypothesis, we found that pupils were widest in anticipation of juice to the self, moderately-sized in anticipation of juice to nobody, and narrowest in anticipation of juice to a social partner. This effect was seen across both laboratories and regardless of specific task parameters. The seemingly paradoxical pupil effect can be explained by a model in which pupil size tracks outcome salience, prosocial tendencies track outcome valence, and the relation between salience and valence is U-shaped.

Skin Conductance and Subjective Arousal in Anxiety, Depression, and Comorbidity

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laina E. Rosebrock ◽  
Denada Hoxha ◽  
Catherine Norris ◽  
John T. Cacioppo ◽  
Jackie K. Gollan
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Autonomic Arousal ◽  
Emotional Picture ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Picture Viewing ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
Subjective Arousal ◽  
Healthy Participants

Abstract. Skin conductance (SC), an autonomic arousal measure of the sympathetic nervous system, is a sensitive and useful index of physiological arousal. However, SC data does not always align with self-reports of arousal. SC, self-reported arousal, and their association, known as emotion coherence, may be altered with the presence of major psychiatric illness. This study investigated group differences on SC reactivity and self-reported arousal while viewing positive, negative, neutral, and threat images between participants diagnosed with major depression with and without anxiety disorders relative to a healthy comparison group. Additionally, the strength and direction of association between SC reactivity and arousal ratings (emotion coherence) was examined within groups. Unmedicated participants were recruited via online and paper advertisements around Chicago and categorized into one of four groups (Depressed: n = 35, Anxious: n = 44, Comorbid: n = 38, Healthy: n = 29). SC and affect ratings were collected during and after a standardized emotional picture viewing task. SC reactivity was significantly higher during threat images, regardless of group. During threat image presentation, increased SC reactivity occurred during the last few seconds before picture offset; for all other stimulus types, SC reactivity decreased significantly after picture offset. Anxious and comorbid participants rated emotional images as more arousing than healthy participants; there were no observed differences in arousal ratings between depressed and healthy participants. Heightened reactivity in anxiety may manifest in arousal ratings without corresponding increased SC reactivity to emotional images. Results do not suggest underlying altered psychophysiology in this sample of depressed or anxious participants.

Physical Aggression Is Associated With More Effective Postdecisional Processing of Social Threat

2021 ◽  
pp. 216770262096629
Author(s):  
Grace M. Brennan ◽  
Arielle Baskin-Sommers
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Physical Aggression ◽  
Social Threat ◽  
Social Decisions ◽  
Angry Rumination ◽  
Incarcerated Men ◽  
Over Time

Physically aggressive individuals are more likely to decide that others are threatening. Yet no research has examined how physically aggressive individuals’ social decisions unfold in real time. Seventy-five incarcerated men completed a task in which they identified the emotions in faces displaying anger (i.e., threat) and happiness (i.e., nonthreat) at low, moderate, or high ambiguity. Participants then rated their confidence in their decisions either immediately or after a delay, and changes in confidence provided an index of postdecisional processing. Physical aggression was associated with stronger differentiation of threatening and nonthreatening faces under moderate ambiguity. Moreover, physical aggression was associated with steeper decreases in confidence over time following decisions that threatening faces were nonthreatening, indicating more extensive postdecisional processing. This pattern of postdecisional processing mediated the association between physical aggression and angry rumination. Findings suggest a role for postdecisional processing in the maintenance of threat-based social decisions in physical aggression.

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