scholarly journals Contextual perception under active inference

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Berk Mirza ◽  
Maell Cullen ◽  
Thomas Parr ◽  
Sukhi Shergill ◽  
Rosalyn J. Moran
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Target Face ◽  
Active Inference ◽  
Global Features ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Inference Models ◽  
Mental State Attribution ◽  
The Social

AbstractHuman social interactions depend on the ability to resolve uncertainty about the mental states of others. The context in which social interactions take place is crucial for mental state attribution as sensory inputs may be perceived differently depending on the context. In this paper, we introduce a mental state attribution task where a target-face with either an ambiguous or an unambiguous emotion is embedded in different social contexts. The social context is determined by the emotions conveyed by other faces in the scene. This task involves mental state attribution to a target-face (either happy or sad) depending on the social context. Using active inference models, we provide a proof of concept that an agent’s perception of sensory stimuli may be altered by social context. We show with simulations that context congruency and facial expression coherency improve behavioural performance in terms of decision times. Furthermore, we show through simulations that the abnormal viewing strategies employed by patients with schizophrenia may be due to (i) an imbalance between the precisions of local and global features in the scene and (ii) a failure to modulate the sensory precision to contextualise emotions.

scholarly journals The switching mechanisms of social network densification

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teruyoshi Kobayashi ◽  
Mathieu Génois
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Regime Switching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Social ◽  
Switching Property ◽  
Distinctive Type ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractDensification and sparsification of social networks are attributed to two fundamental mechanisms: a change in the population in the system, and/or a change in the chances that people in the system are connected. In theory, each of these mechanisms generates a distinctive type of densification scaling, but in reality both types are generally mixed. Here, we develop a Bayesian statistical method to identify the extent to which each of these mechanisms is at play at a given point in time, taking the mixed densification scaling as input. We apply the method to networks of face-to-face interactions of individuals and reveal that the main mechanism that causes densification and sparsification occasionally switches, the frequency of which depending on the social context. The proposed method uncovers an inherent regime-switching property of network dynamics, which will provide a new insight into the mechanics behind evolving social interactions.

scholarly journals Stress response, gut microbial diversity and sexual signals correlate with social interactions

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 20160352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris I. Levin ◽  
David M. Zonana ◽  
Bailey K. Fosdick ◽  
Se Jin Song ◽  
Rob Knight ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Microbial Diversity ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Sexual Signals ◽  
Body Contact ◽  
The Social ◽  
Barn Swallows

Theory predicts that social interactions are dynamically linked to phenotype. Yet because social interactions are difficult to quantify, little is known about the precise details on how interactivity is linked to phenotype. Here, we deployed proximity loggers on North American barn swallows ( Hirundo rustica erythrogaster ) to examine intercorrelations among social interactions, morphology and features of the phenotype that are sensitive to the social context: stress-induced corticosterone (CORT) and gut microbial diversity. We analysed relationships at two spatial scales of interaction: (i) body contact and (ii) social interactions occurring between 0.1 and 5 m. Network analysis revealed that relationships between social interactions, morphology, CORT and gut microbial diversity varied depending on the sexes of the individuals interacting and the spatial scale of interaction proximity. We found evidence that body contact interactions were related to diversity of socially transmitted microbes and that looser social interactions were related to signalling traits and CORT.

scholarly journals Individual, but not population asymmetries, are modulated by social environment and genotype in Drosophila melanogaster

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Versace ◽  
Matteo Caffini ◽  
Zach Werkhoven ◽  
Benjamin L. de Bivort
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Position And Orientation ◽  
Female Male Female

AbstractTheory predicts that social interactions can induce an alignment of behavioral asymmetries between individuals (i.e., population-level lateralization), but evidence for this effect is mixed. To understand how interaction with other individuals affects behavioral asymmetries, we systematically manipulated the social environment of Drosophila melanogaster, testing individual flies and dyads (female-male, female-female and male-male pairs). In these social contexts we measured individual and population asymmetries in individual behaviors (circling asymmetry, wing use) and dyadic behaviors (relative position and orientation between two flies) in five different genotypes. We reasoned that if coordination between individuals drives alignment of behavioral asymmetries, greater alignment at the population-level should be observed in social contexts compared to solitary individuals. We observed that the presence of other individuals influenced the behavior and position of flies but had unexpected effects with respect to individual and population asymmetries: individual-level asymmetries were strong and modulated by the social context but population-level asymmetries were mild or absent. Moreover, the strength of individual-level asymmetries differed between strains, but this was not the case for population-level asymmetries. These findings suggest that the degree of social interaction found in Drosophila is insufficient to drive population-level behavioral asymmetries.

Tension

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lasana T. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Context ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Classical Equation ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Inference ◽  
Key Terms

The first chapter states that flexible social cognition—having the ability to engage and not engage in mental state inferences with others—perhaps explains why people are capable of pro and anti-social behaviour. It introduces a classical equation for social behaviour, before suggesting an edit that equation that accounts for social cognition. It then suggests a metaphor to explain how social cognition might be engaged based on the social context. Next, it defines the key terms for the argument surrounding flexible social cognition: flexible and mental state inference as the most fundamental form of social cognition. It reconciles differences in the use of various psychological jargon for various types of social cognition, then defines social groups, explaining their importance to the general theory.

scholarly journals Cortical dynamics underlying social behavior in dominance hierarchy and spatial navigation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Lara-Vasquez ◽  
Nelson Espinosa ◽  
Cristian Morales ◽  
Constanza Moran ◽  
Pablo Billeke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Social Ranking ◽  
Cortical Dynamics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Connectivity Patterns

AbstractRodents establish dominance hierarchy as a social ranking system in which one subject acts as dominant over all the other subordinate individuals. Dominance hierarchy regulates food access and mating opportunities, but little is known of its significance in collective behavior, for instance during navigation for foraging or migration. Here, we implemented a simplified goal-directed spatial navigation task in mice and found that the social context exerts significant influence on individual decision-making, even when efficient navigation rules leading to reward had been previously learned. Thus, decision-making and consequent task performance were strongly dependent on contingent social interactions arising during collective navigation, yet their influence on individual behavior was outlined by dominance hierarchy. Dominant animals did not behave as leaders during navigation; conversely, they were most sensitive to social context. Social ranking in turn was reflected in the neural activity and connectivity patterns of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, both in anesthetized and behaving mice. These results suggest that the interplay between contingent social interactions and dominance hierarchy can regulate behavioral performance, supported by the intrinsic matrix of coordinated activity in the hippocampal-prefrontal circuit.Significance StatementDecision-making is shaped by intrinsic features, such as memory-stored information, and external influences, such as social interactions, yet their interplay is not well understood. We studied decision-making during collective behavior and found that instead of prioritizing memory-based pertinent information, mice shifted their individual decisions according to contingent social interactions arising in the social context. Conversely, constitutive social interactions, such as dominance hierarchy, were relevant to outline the effect of the social environment on individual behavior. Our results suggest that intrinsic hippocampal-cortical activity and connectivity patterns define social interactions. Hence, intrinsic cortical dynamics underlie behavioral performance during social decision-making.

Exploring the Social Brain in Schizophrenia: Left Prefrontal Underactivation During Mental State Attribution

2000 ◽  
Vol 157 (12) ◽  
pp. 2040-2042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara A. Russell ◽  
Katya Rubia ◽  
Edward T. Bullmore ◽  
W. Soni ◽  
John Suckling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Mental State Attribution ◽  
The Social

Individuals as Social Relationships: 18 Ways that Acting Alone can be thought of as Social Behavior

2001 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Guerin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Body Shapes

This article argues to replace individualistic explanations of behavior with descriptions of social and historical context. Eighteen ways are outlined that playing a guitar alone in a room can be thought of as socially controlled rather than dispositionally controlled. Despite having a skin containing a body, a “person” for the social sciences is a conglomerate of social relationships or interactions that spans space and time. Thinking of people and causes as within a body shapes individualistic biases in our explanations and interventions. Rather than propose a new philosophy, this article reviews 18 concrete ways to begin thinking about people as social interactions and not agentic individuals. This changes the interventions we propose, alters how we view cultural practices, prevents some perennial problems of psychology, and leads the way to integrate psychology in the social sciences. Moving from dispositional explanations to study the historical and social context of social relationships also requires that psychology seriously adapt some of the more intensive research methods from other social sciences.

scholarly journals Social niche specialization under constraints: personality, social interactions and environmental heterogeneity

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1618) ◽  
pp. 20120343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Olivier Montiglio ◽  
Caterina Ferrari ◽  
Denis Réale
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Environmental Heterogeneity ◽  
Social Roles ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Personality Differences ◽  
Niche Specialization ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Niche

Several personality traits are mainly expressed in a social context, and others, which are not restricted to a social context, can be affected by the social interactions with conspecifics. In this paper, we focus on the recently proposed hypothesis that social niche specialization (i.e. individuals in a population occupy different social roles) can explain the maintenance of individual differences in personality. We first present ecological and social niche specialization hypotheses. In particular, we show how niche specialization can be quantified and highlight the link between personality differences and social niche specialization. We then review some ecological factors (e.g. competition and environmental heterogeneity) and the social mechanisms (e.g. frequency-dependent, state-dependent and social awareness) that may be associated with the evolution of social niche specialization and personality differences. Finally, we present a conceptual model and methods to quantify the contribution of ecological factors and social mechanisms to the dynamics between personality and social roles. In doing so, we suggest a series of research objectives to help empirical advances in this research area. Throughout this paper, we highlight empirical studies of social niche specialization in mammals, where available.

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