TY - JOUR A1 - Trilla, Irene A1 - Drimalla, Hanna A1 - Bajbouj, Malek A1 - Dziobek, Isabel T1 - The influence of reward on facial mimicry BT - no evidence for a significant effect of oxytocin JF - Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience N2 - Recent findings suggest a role of oxytocin on the tendency to spontaneously mimic the emotional facial expressions of others. Oxytocin-related increases of facial mimicry, however, seem to be dependent on contextual factors. Given previous literature showing that people preferentially mimic emotional expressions of individuals associated with high (vs. low) rewards, we examined whether the reward value of the mimicked agent is one factor influencing the oxytocin effects on facial mimicry. To test this hypothesis, 60 male adults received 24 IU of either intranasal oxytocin or placebo in a double-blind, between-subject experiment. Next, the value of male neutral faces was manipulated using an associative learning task with monetary rewards. After the reward associations were learned, participants watched videos of the same faces displaying happy and angry expressions. Facial reactions to the emotional expressions were measured with electromyography. We found that participants judged as more pleasant the face identities associated with high reward values than with low reward values. However, happy expressions by low rewarding faces were more spontaneously mimicked than high rewarding faces. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find a significant direct effect of intranasal oxytocin on facial mimicry, nor on the reward-driven modulation of mimicry. Our results support the notion that mimicry is a complex process that depends on contextual factors, but failed to provide conclusive evidence of a role of oxytocin on the modulation of facial mimicry. KW - oxytocin KW - facial mimicry KW - reward KW - EMG KW - social modulation KW - null results Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.00088 SN - 1662-5153 VL - 14 PB - Frontiers Media CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krahe, Charlotte A1 - Springer, Anne A1 - Weinman, John A. A1 - Fotopoulou, Aikaterini T1 - The social modulation of pain - others as predictive signals of salience ; a systematic review JF - Frontiers in human neuroscienc N2 - Several studies in cognitive neuroscience have investigated the cognitive and affective modulation of pain. By contrast, fewer studies have focused on the social modulation of pain, despite a plethora of relevant clinical findings. Here we present the first review of experimental studies addressing how interpersonal factors, such as the presence, behavior, and spatial proximity of an observer, modulate pain. Based on a systematic literature search, we identified 26 studies on experimentally induced pain that manipulated different interpersonal variables and measured behavioral, physiological, and neural pain-related responses. We observed that the modulation of pain by interpersonal factors depended on (1) the degree to which the social partners were active or were perceived by the participants to possess possibility for action; (2) the degree to which participants could perceive the specific intentions of the social partners; (3) the type of pre-existing relationship between the social partner and the person in pain, and lastly, (4) individual differences in relating to others and coping styles. Based on these findings, we propose that the modulation of pain by social factors can be fruitfully understood in relation to a recent predictive coding model, the free energy framework, particularly as applied to interoception and social cognition. Specifically, we argue that interpersonal interactions during pain may function as social, predictive signals of contextual threat or safety and as such influence the salience of noxious stimuli. The perception of such interpersonal interactions may in turn depend on (a) prior beliefs about interpersonal relating and (b) the certainty or precision by which an interpersonal interaction may predict environmental threat or safety. KW - pain KW - social modulation KW - social support KW - empathy KW - predictive coding KW - attachment KW - review Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00386 SN - 1662-5161 VL - 7 IS - 29 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER -