Investigating neural correlates of impression formation based on novel status antecedents
| Author(s) | Barth, Denise M. | |
| Date Accessioned | 2023-02-02T14:28:23Z | |
| Date Available | 2023-02-02T14:28:23Z | |
| Publication Date | 2022 | |
| SWORD Update | 2022-09-21T16:09:23Z | |
| Abstract | Society is comprised of diverse status hierarchies from which we differentiate and evaluate others. Athleticism, intelligence, and wealth are a few of the countless social dimensions which humans value. Humans navigate hierarchies efficiently, relying on implicit understanding of their cultures’ values, but also the ability to extract this information quickly and from distinct antecedents. For example, perceivers use visual cues (e.g., race, clothing) and knowledge about a target’s ascribed rank within that hierarchy to infer status. But is humans’ processing of status so efficient that we infer the same things from both types of inferences? Advances in neuroimaging research on status-based perception suggest this is unlikely, but this question has not been experimentally applied to all facets of status-based processing. Status-based impression formation is supported by multiple cognitive processes (e.g., face perception, status differentiation, evaluation) which in turn are preferentially supported by different brain regions. The intraparietal sulcus (IPS) supports social distance estimation. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) supports social processing, namely of positive person knowledge, whereas the amygdala supports social salience detection. In the present work, we explore whether regions within the social evaluative neural network respond differentially to knowledge and visual cues of status, and their impact on status-based processing efficiency. Study 1 assessed whether explicit differentiation of knowledge-based rank impacts activity toward targets varying in agency (conspecifics vs. non-human symbols). Study 2 assessed whether evaluative processes indexed by activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) and other regions (e.g., amygdala) in response to knowledge-based status is equally sensitive to differences in ascribed competence of targets varying in agency during explicit but rapid impression formation. Finally, study 3 explored whether perceivers similarly engage in status-based evaluation of conspecifics with either visual or knowledge-based status antecedents. Our findings suggest that processing of status antecedents is highly sensitive to social characteristics and contextual factors, and therefore may not reliably predict status-based inferences alone. These studies’ contributions are discussed in relation to extant research on neural mechanisms underlying status-based perception, and their potential to catalyze research examining novel intersections between knowledge and visual antecedents. | |
| Advisor | Kubota, Jennifer T. | |
| Advisor | Cloutier, Jasmin | |
| Degree | Ph.D. | |
| Department | University of Delaware, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.58088/yxhe-0v71 | |
| Unique Identifier | 1368025864 | |
| URL | https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/32198 | |
| Language | en | |
| Publisher | University of Delaware | |
| URI | https://login.udel.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/investigating-neural-correlates-impression/docview/2719363670/se-2?accountid=10457 | |
| Keywords | Hierarchy | |
| Keywords | Impression formation | |
| Keywords | Neuroimaging | |
| Keywords | Social evaluation | |
| Keywords | Social status | |
| Title | Investigating neural correlates of impression formation based on novel status antecedents | |
| Type | Thesis |