Pleasing frowns, disappointing smiles: an ERP investigation of counterempathy

The biological predisposition to resonate emotionally with another person is regarded as a critical aspect of social interaction. There are, however, situations in which the emotional response to others is discordant with their emotional experience. Using event-related potentials, the present study investigated the neural underpinnings of this phenomenon, termed "counterempathy." Participants played a card game under the belief that they were playing jointly with another player who sat in an adjoining room and whose smiles and frowns in response to winning or losing in the game they could observe on a computer screen. Depending upon the experimental setting, the other player's facial expressions conveyed either of two opposing values to the participant. In the empathic setting, his emotional expressions were congruent with the participant's outcome (win or loss), whereas in the counterempathic setting, they indicated incongruent outcomes. Results revealed a reversed pattern of brain responses to facial expressions between congruent and incongruent conditions at ~170 ms (N170) over the temporal cortex. That is, N170 was sensitive to frowns in the congruent condition and to smiles in the incongruent condition, both indicating losses for the participant. Furthermore, frowns in the incongruent condition yielded larger medial frontal negativity (MFN) over the medial prefrontal cortex, which correlated with the subjective pleasantness about one's own winning in the incongruent condition. These findings demonstrate that (1) counterempathic responses are associated with modulation of early sensory processing of emotional cues, (2) that MFN is sensitive to the detection of another person's loss during positive inequity, and (3) that MFN is associated with a pleasant feeling during positive inequity, which is possibly related to "Schadenfreude."     

Emotional valence modulates the preference for curved objects

Previous studies have shown that people prefer objects with curved contours over objects with sharp contours. However, those studies used stimuli that were mainly neutral in emotional valence. We tested here the interplay between visual features and general valence as positive or negative. After replicating curvature preferences for neutral objects, we used positive (cake, chocolate) and negative (snake, bomb) stimuli to examine if emotional valence-through response prioritisation-modulates the preference for curved objects. We found that people indeed preferred the curved versions of objects to the sharp versions of the same objects, but only if the objects were neutral or positive in emotional valence. There were no difference in liking for objects with negative emotional valence. This is evidence that the aesthetic response is adaptive, in this case prioritising valence over contour as demanded by the general semantic classification.     

Association Learning with Own‐ and Other‐race Faces in three‐ and six‐month old infants – A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study assessed 133 Caucasian German infants at 3 and 6 months of age to investigate the influence of own‐race and other‐race faces as visual stimuli on association learning in the visual expectation paradigm (VExP). The study is related to the findings on the other‐race‐effect (ORE) which is said to emerge at 6 months of age. Caucasian faces were used as stimuli of a familiar ethnic category, whereas African faces were used as stimuli of an unfamiliar ethnic category. There was no significant difference between the two stimulus classes in infants' reaction time (RT) to stimulus shifts at 3 months. At 6 months of age, infants' RT decreased significantly in the Caucasian faces condition but not in the African faces condition. These results indicate that the processing of other‐race versus own‐race faces by the age of 6 months, which is also the relevant age for the onset of the ORE, has an important influence on the performance on the VExP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infant Contingency Learning in Different Cultural Contexts

Three‐month‐old Cameroonian Nso farmer and German middle‐class infants were compared regarding learning and retention in a computerized mobile task. Infants achieving a preset learning criterion during reinforcement were tested for immediate and long‐term retention measured in terms of an increased response rate after reinforcement and after a 24‐h delay compared with baseline. It was hypothesized that infants from both cultural communities would acquire the contingency between own motion and mobile movement, as they similarly experience contingent responses in social interactions. Nso infants were assumed to show a higher learning rate related to their advanced gross motor development, whereas German infants were expected to show a higher baseline because of culture‐typical motor handling promoting a high level of activity (i.e. lying supine). Results showed immediate and long‐term retention in infants from both cultural contexts, as well as a higher baseline for German infants. Although the learning rate was higher for Cameroonian infants, logistic regression revealed that learning was not related to gross motor development but depended on the level of baseline response. Thus, contingency learning was shown in different cultural environments, and the level of baseline activity coined by culture‐specific motor handling turned out to influence learning within the mobile task. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A New Approach To The Identification Of Cognitive Conflicts In The Repertory Grid: An Illustrative Case Study

The concept of cognitive conflicts and its relation to the success of psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy are discussed. According to this model of therapy, patients should achieve insight into their conscious as well as unconscious conflicts. Therefore in the present study we assumed that demonstrable cognitive changes would occur over treatment for chronic pain, as measured by Kelly's (1955) Repertory Grid Test. Grids were analyzed with regard to conflicts on the basis of the concept of unbalanced triads. A triad may be described as unbalanced when logical inconsistencies can be demonstrated on the basis of a correlative comparison of three corresponding construct pairs. Construct systems were checked for unbalanced triads by means of a new computer program derived by the authors. A case study serves to demonstrate the possibilities for analysis and interpretation of unbalanced triads offered by this novel method. Results indicate that cognitive restructuring had indeed taken place during therapy and had decreased the relative number of cognitive conflicts.     

Culture,Institutions, and Morally Dubious Behaviors: Testing Some Core Propositions of the Institutional-Anomie Theory

This study draws on self-report data on the prevalence of morally dubious behaviors in Europe to examine Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional-anomie theory. Institutional-anomie theory tries to explain cross-national differences in crime rates through the interplay between the cultural commitments and the institutional arrangements characterizing a society. The relevant state of research is unsatisfactory and full of gaps. Deficiencies exist, especially with regard to the postulated cultural dynamics. Findings from a series of multilevel models testing the combined effects of cultural forces and social institutions on respondents’ engagements in morally dubious behaviors that are committed in pursuit of self-interest—thereby controlling for differences in sociodemographic composition—shed doubt on the theory's explanatory power. Neither the cultural imperatives of the “American Dream” nor the extent of anomic orientations are linked in the expected manner to the observed cross-national variation in rates of moral misconduct across Europe.     

Torque levels, subjective discomfort, and muscle activity associated with four commercially available screwdrivers under static and dynamic work conditions

This study evaluated screwdrivers with different handle designs and blade lengths. 10 men and 10 women voluntarily participated. A repeated-measures experiment design was employed. The three independent factors were sex of user, handle (four types), and blade length (130, 170, and 210 mm). The dependent measures were the maximum supination torque under a static task and the %MVC of EMG responses in biceps brachii and flexor digitorum, and a discomfort rating for the upper extremity under the dynamic task. Analysis showed that the in-line screwdriver with the combined characteristics of large handle diameter (3.8-4.1 cm), smooth rubber covering handle surface, triangular (or circular) shape, and adequate handle length (11 cm) had the greatest supination torque and a smaller discomfort rating than the screwdriver with the pistol-grip handle. Blade length was not significantly related to any dependent measure.     

The Mona Lisa effect: is 'our' Lisa fame or fake?

This demonstration uses one of the most famous human faces, the portrait of Mona Lisa, La Gioconda, by Leonardo da Vinci. Usually, we have a very accurate and stable representation of the exact configuration of such a familiar face. Typically, we are able to rapidly recognise even subtle configural changes. However, here we show that an exposure to specific alterations performed on a familiar face substantially reduces this ability even over a time period as long as 80 min. This demonstration illustrates the flexibility of the perceptual system and adaptation to new information.