Distinct neural processes are engaged in the modulation of mimicry by social group-membership and emotional expressions

Rauchbauer, Birgit; Majdandžić, Jasminka; Hummer, Allan; Windischberger, Christian; Lamm, Claus

doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.03.007

Cited by 57 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Furthermore, we also aimed to test whether the found effect would replicate with shorter presentation of the task-irrelevant social-affective stimuli. For this we slightly reduced the presentation duration of frames 1 and 4 (as in [22]).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perceiving an incongruent task-irrelevant movement slows down reaction time, as automatic motor resonance processes have to be blocked (further referred to as the process of response inhibition ) [5]. In line with previous studies, using the mean difference in response time between incongruent and congruent trials as a measure of interference [26], mimicry regulation [22] or self-other distinction [27], we operationalized this difference measure as the mimicry effect . This mimicry effect thus accounted for both response inhibition and facilitation processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…number). Yet, it has been shown that distinct neural processes guide this flexible regulation of mimicry towards distinct affiliative goals [22]. Moreover, in intergroup contexts it has also been shown that being mimicked enhances empathy towards out-group members [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Modulation of Mimicry by Ethnic Group-Membership and Emotional Expressions

et al. 2016

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Mimicry has been ascribed affiliative functions. In three experiments, we used a newly developed social-affective mimicry task (SAMT) to investigate mimicry´s modulation by emotional facial expressions (happy, angry) and ethnic group-membership (White in-group, Black out-group). Experiment 1 established the main consistent effect across experiments, which was enhanced mimicry to angry out-group faces compared to angry in-group faces. Hence the SAMT was useful for experimentally investigating the modulation of mimicry. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these effects were not confounded by general aspects of response conflict, as a Simon task resulted in different response patterns than the SAMT. Experiment 2 and pooled analysis of Experiments 1 and 2 also corroborated the finding of enhanced mimicry to angry out-group faces. Experiment 3 tested whether this effect was related to perceptions of threat, by framing angry persons as physically threatening, or not. Selective enhancement of mimicry to out-group persons framed as physically threatening confirmed this hypothesis. Further support for the role of threat was derived from implicit measures showing, in all experiments, that black persons were more strongly associated with threat. Furthermore, enhanced mimicry was consistently related to response facilitation in the execution of congruent movements. This suggests that mimicry acted as a social congruency signal. Our findings suggest that mimicry may serve as an appeasement signal in response to negative affiliative intent. This extends previous models of mimicry, which have predominantly focused on its role in reciprocating affiliation. It suggests that mimicry might not only be used to maintain and establish affiliative bonds, but also to ameliorate a negative social situation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Modulation of Mimicry by Ethnic Group-Membership and Emotional Expressions

et al. 2016

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“…The researchers explain this finding with the fact that happiness, but not anger, is generally perceived as highly affiliative (Hess, Blairy, & Kleck, 2000;Knutson, 1996). Moreover, most recent research suggests that in some cases even out-group members might elicit stronger automatic imitation effects when participants are motivated to affiliate with that group (i.e., when sharing implicit motivation goals; Rauchbauer, Majdandžić, Hummer, Windischberger, & Lamm, 2015). In sum, these and our present findings suggest that affiliation motives are an important factor when it comes to imitation and mimicry of different group members.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of group membership on cross-contextual imitation

Genschow

Schindler

2015

Psychon Bull Rev

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Research on mimicry has demonstrated that individuals imitate in-group members more strongly than outgroup members. In the present study, we tested whether such top-down modulation also applies for more extreme forms of direct mapping, such as for cross-contextual imitation settings, in which individuals imitate others' movements without sharing a common goal or context. Models on self-other control suggest that top-down modulations are based merely on a direct link between social sensory processing and imitation. That is, perceived similarities between oneself and another person is sufficient to amplify a shared representation between own and others' actions, which then trigger imitation. However, motivational accounts explain such findings with the assumption that individuals are motivated to affiliate with others. Because imitation is linked to positive social consequences, individuals should imitate in-group members more strongly than out-group members. We tested these two theoretical accounts against each other by applying a crosscontextual imitation paradigm. The results demonstrate that in-group members are more strongly cross-contextually imitated than out-group members the higher individuals' motivation to affiliate with the in-group is. This supports motivational models but not self-other control accounts. Further theoretical implications are discussed.

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“…More recently, Rauchbauer, Majdandžić, Hummer, Windischberger, and Lamm (2015) aimed to investigate whether and how mimicry is modulated by social-affective variables. Participants watched videos of finger movements accompanied by facial expressions above the hand stimulus.…”

Section: Video Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Male and Female Differences in Nonconscious Mimicry: A Systematic Review

2015

Journal of European Psychology Students

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Distinct neural processes are engaged in the modulation of mimicry by social group-membership and emotional expressions

Cited by 57 publications

References 83 publications

The Modulation of Mimicry by Ethnic Group-Membership and Emotional Expressions

The Modulation of Mimicry by Ethnic Group-Membership and Emotional Expressions

The influence of group membership on cross-contextual imitation

Male and Female Differences in Nonconscious Mimicry: A Systematic Review

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