CBSU bibliography search
To request a reprint of a CBSU publication, please
click here to send us an email (reprints may not be available for all publications)
Paying Attention to Social Meaning: an fMRI Study.
Authors:
Tavares, P., Lawrence, A.D., and BARNARD, P.J.
Reference:
Cerebral Cortex, 18(8), 1876-1885
Year of publication:
2008
CBU number:
6552
Abstract:
Animations of simple geometric shapes are readily interpreted as animate
agents engaged in meaningful social interactions. Such animations have been
shown to activate brain regions implicated in the detection of animate motion,
in understanding the intentions of others as well as areas commonly linked to
the processing of social and emotional information. However, attribution of
animacy does not occur under all circumstances and the precise conditions
under which specific regions are activated remains unclear. In an fMRI study
we manipulated viewers' perspective to assess the part played by selective
attention. Participants were cued to attend either to spatial properties of the
movements or to the kind of social behaviour it could represent. Activations
that occurred to the initial cue, while observing the animations themselves and
while responding to a post-presentation probe were analysed separately.
Results showed that activity in the social brain network was strongly
influenced by selective attention, and that remarkably similar activations were
seen during film viewing and in response to probe questions. Our use of
stimuli supporting rich and diverse social narratives likely enhanced the
influence of top-down processes on neural activity in the social brain.