Research has shown that adults are better at processing faces of the most represented ethnic group in their social environment compared to faces from other ethnicities, and that they rely more on holistic/configural information for identity discrimination in own-race than other-race faces. Here, we applied a spatial filtering approach to the investigation of trustworthiness perception to explore whether the information on which trustworthiness judgments are based differs according to face race. European participants (N = 165) performed an online-delivered pairwise preference task in which they were asked to select the face they would trust more within pairs randomly selected from validated White and Asian broad spectrum, low-pass filter and high-pass filter trustworthiness continua. Results confirmed earlier demonstrations that trustworthiness perception generalizes across face ethnicity, but discrimination of trustworthiness intensity relied more heavily on the LSF content of the images for own-race faces compared to other-race faces. Results are discussed in light of previous work on emotion discrimination and the hypothesis of overlapping perceptual mechanisms subtending social perception of faces.
Persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have impaired mentalizing skills. In this study, a group of persons with ASD traits (high-AQ scores) initially received sham tDCS before completing a pre-test in two mentalizing tasks: false belief and self-other judgments. Over the next week, on four consecutive days, they received sessions of anodal electrical stimulation (a-tDCS) over the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ), a region frequently associated with the theory of mind. On the last day, after the stimulation session, they completed a new set of mentalizing tasks. A control group (with low-AQ scores) matched in age, education and intelligence received just sham stimulation and completed the same pre-test and post-test. The results showed that the high-AQ group improved their performance (faster responses), after a-tDCS, in the false belief and in the self-other judgments of mental features, whereas they did not change performance in the false photographs or the self-other judgments of physical features. These selective improvements cannot be attributed to increased familiarity with the tasks, because the performance of the low-AQ control group remained stable about one week later. Therefore, our study provides initial proof that tDCS could be used to improve mentalizing skills in persons with ASD traits.
Basic visual functions have evolved to allow for rapid detection of dynamic stimuli in our surrounding environment. In particular, looming stimuli are of relevance because they are expected to enter the individual’s interpersonal space representing a potential threat. Different studies showed that emotions can modulate the perception of visual looming stimuli and the borders of interpersonal space, defined as the area around the body that individuals maintain between themselves and others during social interactions. Here, we investigated how emotions modulate the perception and the physiological correlates of interpersonal space and whether such indexes change across age and gender. Children and adults were asked to quickly react to emotional looming stimuli while measuring their skin conductance response (SCR). We found that emotional looming stimuli shrink the borders of interpersonal space of males more than females, and that this pattern does not change with age. In addition, adults reacted faster to angry than happy and neutral faces, which is in line with the notion that threatening stimuli capture attention more quickly than other types of emotional stimuli. However, this was not observed in children, suggesting that experience with negative stimuli, rather than the evolutionary meaning they possess, may influence the boundaries of interpersonal space. Overall, our study suggests that interpersonal space is modulated by emotions, but this appears to be modulated by gender and age: while behavioural responses to emotional looming stimuli refine with age, physiological responses are adult-like as early as 5 years of age.
Cyberbullying is inducing significant socio-cultural problems and psychological disorders, which require a rapid solution. Cyberbullying is an extension of the traditional bullying that involves the typical behaviors of bullying perpetrated through the use of various technologies, electronic devices in particular (e-mail, instant messaging applications, media, etc.). While providing differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, this review aims at investigating how the new media can be used to prevent such phenomenon and investigating its psychological impact on victims. The focus will be on tools and interventions that are capable of identifying online bullying, on existent treatments with special regard to strategies that take advantage of technologies to fight cyberbullying. In particular, the web will be considered as a mean to assist a vast number of people; moreover, the role of virtual reality as a tool to help victims overcoming psychological distress within safe and protected environments will be object of discussion.
Cyberbullying is inducing significant socio-cultural problems and psychological disorders, which require a rapid solution. Cyberbullying is an extension of the traditional bullying that involves the typical behaviors of bullying perpetrated through the use of various technologies, electronic devices in particular (e-mail, instant messaging applications, media, etc.). While providing differences between traditional bullying and cyberbullying, this review aims at investigating how the new media can be used to prevent such phenomenon and investigating its psychological impact on victims. The focus will be on tools and interventions that are capable of identifying online bullying, on existent treatments with special regard to strategies that take advantage of technologies to fight cyberbullying. In particular, the web will be considered as a mean to assist a vast number of people; moreover, the role of virtual reality as a tool to help victims overcoming psychological distress within safe and protected environments will be object of discussion.
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