Gratitude Affects Inter-Subjective Synchronicity for Cognitive Performance and Autonomic Responsiveness

Recently, social neurosciences have been interested in the investigation of neurophysiological responses related to the experience of positive emotions, such as gratitude, during social interactions. Specifically, the aim of the present research was to investigate whether gratitude related to gift exchange could favor cooperative behavior and bond construction, by improving behavioral and autonomic responsivity. At this regard, the autonomic synchronization and behavioral performance of 16 friends coupled in dyads were recorded during a joint attentional task. Gift exchange could be occurred either at the beginning or in the middle of the task. For the recording of simultaneous autonomic activity [heart rate (HR) and skin conductance level (SCL)], a hyperscanning biofeedback paradigm was used. Intra-subjective analysis showed an increase in behavioral [accuracy (ACC)] and autonomic responses (HR and SCL) when the gift exchange took place at the beginning of the task rather than in the middle. Moreover, inter-subjective analysis revealed an increase in behavioral performance and greater autonomic synchronization of HR index. The present research, therefore, shows how gratitude and trust experienced following gift exchange can modify participants’ reactions by creating a shared cognition and the adoption of joint strategies.

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Effects of Provocation on Emotions and Aggression: An Experimental Study with Aggressive Children

Swiss Journal of Psychology ◽

10.1024/1421-0185.65.2.117 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 65 (2) ◽

pp. 117-124 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Christina Stadler ◽

Sonja Rohrmann ◽

Sibylle Steuber ◽

Fritz Poustka

Keyword(s):

Experimental Study ◽

Positive Emotions ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Physiological Measures ◽

Competitive Reaction ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Conduct Disordered ◽

Physiological Variables ◽

Aggressive Children ◽

Conductance Level

In this study, the effects of an experimental-induced provocation on emotions and aggression were examined in 34 aggressive conduct-disordered children using a competitive reaction time paradigm. Two experimental conditions were created, an increasing provocation and a low constant provocation condition. Self-rated anger was assessed directly after provocation on a 5-point-visual scale. In addition, negative and positive emotions as well as physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance level) were measured at baseline and after provocation. Results revealed that participants’ aggressive behaviour and subjective emotions differed as a function of the opponent’s level of provocation. Concerning physiological parameters, no significant differences were found between the experimental conditions. These results suggest that affective, but not physiological variables characterize reactive aggression in conduct-disordered children.

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Physiological synchrony promotes cooperative success in real-life interactions

10.1101/792416 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

F. Behrens ◽

J. A. Snijdewint ◽

R. G. Moulder ◽

E. Prochazkova ◽

E. E. Sjak-Shie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Cooperative Behavior ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Real Life ◽

Dyadic Interaction ◽

Gut Feelings ◽

The Face ◽

Social Decision Making ◽

Conductance Level

AbstractCooperation is pivotal for society to flourish and prosper. To ease cooperation, humans express and read emotions and intentions via explicit signals or subtle reflections of arousal visible in the face. Evidence is accumulating that humans synchronize these nonverbal expressions, as well as the physiological mechanisms underlying them, potentially promoting cooperative behavior. The current study is designed to verify the existence of this putative linkage between synchrony and cooperation. To that extent, 152 participants played multiple rounds of the Prisoner’s Dilemma game in a naturalistic dyadic interaction setting. During one round of games they could see each other, and during a second round they could not. The results showed that when people’s heart rate and skin conductance level aligned, they cooperated more successfully. Interestingly, for skin conductance level synchrony to boost cooperation, face to face contact was essential. The effect of heart rate synchrony on cooperation was context independent. Skin conductance level, but not heart rate, tended to closely correlate with changes in pupil size and we discuss how the pupil might provide a window to partners’ sympathetic arousal. These findings show how unconscious mechanisms guide social behavior and emphasize the importance of studying social processes between rather than within individuals in real-life interactions.Significance StatementHuman cooperation is remarkable in its scale, complexity, and efficiency. However, whereas people think of themselves as rational agents, they actually partly base their decision to cooperate with someone on gut feelings. These feelings are informed by non-verbal expressions that are picked up implicitly and that synchronize across interaction partners. For the first time, we show that the alignment of people’s arousal over multiple rounds of the Prisoners’ dilemma game predicts cooperative success. Through synchrony, partners converge emotionally, fostering understanding and bonding, which are key ingredients when it comes to successful cooperation. This suggests that successfully cooperating does not depend on individuals, but on the connection between individuals, emphasizing the importance of studying social decision-making processes in real-life settings.

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Affective Synchrony and Autonomic Coupling during Cooperation: A Hyperscanning Study

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2017/3104564 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2017 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Maria Elide Vanutelli ◽

Laura Gatti ◽

Laura Angioletti ◽

Michela Balconi

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Electrodermal Activity ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Social Bond ◽

Positive Outcomes ◽

Emotional States ◽

Emotional Experiences ◽

Joint Actions ◽

Social Dynamic ◽

Conductance Level

Previous research highlighted that during social interactions people shape each other’s emotional states by resonance mechanisms and synchronized autonomic patterns. Starting from the idea that joint actions create shared emotional experiences, in the present study a social bond was experimentally induced by making subjects cooperate with each other. Participants’ autonomic system activity (electrodermal: skin conductance level and response: SCL, SCR; cardiovascular indices: heart rate: HR) was continuously monitored during an attentional couple game. The cooperative motivation was induced by presenting feedback which reinforced the positive outcomes of the intersubjective exchange. 24 participants coupled in 12 dyads were recruited. Intrasubject analyses revealed higher HR in the first part of the task, connoted by increased cognitive demand and arousing social dynamic, while intersubject analysis showed increased synchrony in electrodermal activity after the feedback. Such results encourage the use of hyperscanning techniques to assess emotional coupling in ecological and real-time paradigms.

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A gift for gratitude and cooperative behavior: brain and cognitive effects

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsaa003 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (12) ◽

pp. 1317-1327 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michela Balconi ◽

Giulia Fronda ◽

Maria Elide Vanutelli

Keyword(s):

Task Performance ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Response Times ◽

Cooperative Behavior ◽

Gift Exchange ◽

Cognitive Effects ◽

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

The Gift

Abstract Recently, different psychological studies have been interested in identifying the factors that regulate the development and maintenance of long-lasting interpersonal and social relationships. Specifically, the present research explored the link between gift exchange, gratitude and cognitive effects. The behavioral performance and neural activity of 32 participants were recorded during a cooperative game to be played before and after gift exchange. Specifically, participants had to perform the task coupled with a dear friend. Half of the couples were asked to exchange a gift before the task performance; the other half was asked to exchange a gift halfway through the task performance. For hemodynamic brain responses, functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used. Results showed that an increase in cognitive performance occurred after the exchange of gifts, with improved accuracy and lower response times in task performance. Regarding hemodynamic responses, an increase in oxygenated hemoglobin was detected, especially in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex following the gift exchange. Furthermore, it was observed that gift exchange before the beginning of the task increased the performance level. The present study provides a significant contribution to the identification of those factors that enable the increased cognitive performance based on cooperative relationships.

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Emotional processing and the autonomic nervous system: a comprehensive meta-analytic investigation

10.31234/osf.io/kmpq5 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pedro Silva Moreira ◽

Pedro Chaves ◽

Nuno Dias ◽

Patrício Costa ◽

Pedro Rocha Almeida

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Autonomic Nervous System ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

The Body ◽

Analytic Investigation ◽

Physiological Basis ◽

Autonomic Nervous ◽

Conductance Level

Background: The search for autonomic correlates of emotional processing has been a matter of interest for the scientific community with the goal of identifying the physiological basis of emotion. Despite an extensive state-of-the-art exploring the correlates of emotion, there is no absolute consensus regarding how the body processes an affective state.Objectives: In this work, we aimed to aggregate the literature of psychophysiological studies in the context of emotional induction. Methods: For this purpose, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analytic investigation, comparing different measures from the electrodermal, cardiovascular, respiratory and facial systems across emotional categories/dimensions. Two-hundred and ninety-one studies met the inclusion criteria and were quantitatively pooled in random-effects meta-analytic modelling. Results: Heart rate and skin conductance level were the most reported psychophysiological measures. Overall, there was a negligible differentiation between emotional categories with respect to the pooled estimates. Of note, considerable amount of between-studies’ heterogeneity was found in the meta-analytic aggregation. Self-reported ratings of emotional arousal were found to be associated with specific autonomic-nervous system (ANS) indices, particularly with the variation of the skin conductance level. Conclusions: Despite this clear association, there is still a considerable amount of unexplained variability that raises the need for more fine-grained analysis to be implemented in future research in this field.

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Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing versus exposure in vivo

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.171.1.82 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 171 (1) ◽

pp. 82-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Peter Muris ◽

Harald Merckelbach ◽

Hans Van Haaften ◽

Birgit Mayer

Keyword(s):

Eye Movement ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Skin Conductance Level ◽

Specific Phobia ◽

Self Report ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Additional Value ◽

Conductance Level

BackgroundEye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) is a relatively new therapeutic technique that has been proposed as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety complaints.MethodWe compared the efficacy of EMDR with that of exposure in viv. in the treatment of a specific phobia. Twenty-two spider-phobic children who met the DSM – III – R criteria for specific phobia participated in the study. Children were treated with one session of exposure in viv. and one session of EMDR in a crossover design. Treatment outcome was evaluated by self-report measures, a behavioural avoidance test and a physiological index (skin conductance level).ResultsResults showed positive effects of EMDR, but also suggest that it is especially self-report measures that are sensitive to EMDR. Improvement on a behavioural measure was less pronounced, and exposure in viv. was found to be superior in reducing avoidance behaviour. With regard to skin conductance level, EMDR and exposure in viv. did not differ.ConclusionsEMDR has no additional value in treatment of this type of animal phobia, for which exposure in viv. is the treatment of choice.

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The gift of advice: communication in a bilateral gift exchange game

Experimental Economics ◽

10.1007/s10683-012-9347-3 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 443-477 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

David J. Cooper ◽

John P. Lightle

Keyword(s):

Gift Exchange ◽

The Gift

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Rembrandt, Vermeer, and the Gift in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art

10.1017/9789048550647 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Michael Zell

Keyword(s):

Social Networks ◽

Seventeenth Century ◽

Early Modern ◽

Gift Exchange ◽

Gift Giving ◽

Dutch Art ◽

Dutch Golden Age ◽

Symbolic Economy ◽

The Gift ◽

New Perspective

This book offers a new perspective on the art of the Dutch Golden Age by exploring the interaction between the gift's symbolic economy of reciprocity and obligation and the artistic culture of early modern Holland. Gifts of art were pervasive in seventeenth-century Europe and many Dutch artists, like their counterparts elsewhere, embraced gift giving to cultivate relations with patrons, art lovers, and other members of their social networks. Rembrandt also created distinctive works to function within a context of gift exchange, and both Rembrandt and Vermeer engaged the ethics of the gift to identify their creative labor as motivated by what contemporaries called a love of art

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