Recent technological advancements encompassed under the Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) framework (Makeig, Gramann, Jung, Sejnowski, & Poizner, 2009) have produced exciting new experimental results linking mind, brain and behaviour (Gramann, Ferris, Gwin,

Gaze direction, a cue of both social and spatial attention, is known to modulate early neural responses to faces e.g. N170. However, findings in the literature have been inconsistent, likely reflecting differences in stimulus characteristics and task requirements. Here, we investigated the effect of task on neural responses to dynamic gaze changes: away and toward transitions (resulting or not in eye contact). Subjects performed, in random order, social (away/toward them) and non-social (left/right) judgment tasks on these stimuli. Overall, in the non-social task, results showed a larger N170 to gaze aversion than gaze motion toward the observer. In the social task, however, this difference was no longer present in the right hemisphere, likely reflecting an enhanced N170 to gaze motion toward the observer. Our behavioral and event-related potential data indicate that performing social judgments enhances saliency of gaze motion toward the observer, even those that did not result in gaze contact. These data and that of previous studies suggest two modes of processing visual information: a 'default mode' that may focus on spatial information; a 'socially aware mode' that might be activated when subjects are required to make social judgments. The exact mechanism that allows switching from one mode to the other remains to be clarified.

No abstract

Although the influence of social support in health is a widely acknowledged factor, there is a significant gap in the understanding of its role on cognition. The purpose of this systematic review was, therefore, to determine the state-of-the-art on the literature testing the association between social support and cognition. Using six databases (WoS, PubMed, ProQuest, PsycINFO, Scopus and EBSCOhost), we identified 22 articles published between 1999 and 2019 involving an empirical quantitative focus which meet the inclusion criteria. Data extraction was performed following PRISMA recommendations. To summarize the extracted data, we used a narrative synthesis approach. Despite limitations, there is overall preliminary evidence of a relevant positive association between social support and cognition. Our results demonstrate there is enough information for an outbreak of experimental research in the area and an expansion of this body of knowledge. We argue that the present evidence lays the foundations for a more comprehensive theoretical model, one that corresponds with the complexity of the topic and possibly considers models derived from social interaction and active inference theories.

Our brains readily decode human movements, as shown by neural responses to face and body motion. N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) are earlier and larger to mouth opening movements relative to closing in both line-drawn and natural faces, and gaze aversions relative to direct gaze in natural faces (Puce and Perrett, 2003; Puce et al., 2000). Here we extended this work by recording both ERP and oscillatory EEG activity (event-related spectral perturbations, ERSPs) to line-drawn faces depicting eye and mouth movements (Eyes: Direct vs Away; Mouth: Closed vs Open) and non-face motion controls. Neural activity was measured in 2 occipitotemporal clusters of 9 electrodes, one in each hemisphere. Mouth opening generated larger N170s than mouth closing, replicating earlier work. Eye motion elicited robust N170s that did not differ between gaze conditions. Control condition differences were seen, and generated the largest N170. ERSP difference plots across conditions in the occipitotemporal electrode clusters (Eyes: Direct vs Away; Mouth: Closed vs Open) showed statistically significant differences in beta and gamma bands for gaze direction changes and mouth opening at similar post-stimulus times and frequencies. In contrast, control stimuli showed activity in the gamma band with a completely different time profile and hemispheric distribution to facial stimuli. ERSP plots were generated in two 9 electrode clusters centered on central sites, C3 and C4. In the left cluster for all stimulus conditions, broadband beta suppression persisted from about 250 ms post-motion onset. In the right cluster, beta suppression was seen for control conditions only. Statistically significant differences between conditions were confined between 4 – 15 Hz, unlike occipitotemporal sites where differences occurred at much higher frequencies (high beta/gamma). Our data indicate that N170 amplitude is sensitive to the amount of movement in the visual field, independent of stimulus type. In contrast, occipitotemporal beta and gamma activity differentiate between facial and non-facial motion. Context and stimulus configuration likely play a role in shaping neural responses, based on comparisons of the current data to previously reported studies. Broadband suppression of central beta activity, and significant low frequency differences were likely stimulus driven and not contingent on behavioral responses.