Posturography Approaches: An Insightful Window to Explore the Role of the Brain in Socio-Affective Processes

Mouras, Harold; Vonesch, Alexandre; Lebel, Karina; Léonard, Guillaume; Lelard, Thierry

doi:10.3390/brainsci13111585

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 54 publications

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“…Our results suggest that overt avoidance decisions can be directly motivated by GD processes. It is however possible that reactive SR processes affect covert measures of behavior, such as posture or gait (Lange & Pauli, 2019;Mouras et al, 2023), during action selection or execution. Future studies should implement kinematics measures in a similar free-choice approach-avoidance VR task to investigate this possibility.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability

Sequestro,

Serfaty,

Grèzes

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Adaptative action selection in threatening social contexts, for example when facing aggressive individuals, is core to social behavior. It is debated whether, when facing threat, initial action opportunities are mostly determined by automatic action tendencies – i.e., reactive stimulus-response (SR) associations – or by rapid and implicit goal-directed (GD) processes, which depend on the predicted consequences of available actions. To investigate the balance between SR and GD, we conducted three experiments manipulating the predictability of action-outcomes associations, in a novel approach-avoidance decision task in virtual reality. Participants presented a greater avoidance rate from angry individuals when the action-outcome association was predictable. Computationally, this was subtended by more efficient evidence accumulation, as indicated by an increased drift rate. Furthermore, cardiac deceleration around the time of choice was greater in the predictable condition and allowed the value attributed to the outcome to be better integrated into the decision. Finally, while most participants avoided angry individuals only under predictability, supporting a predominant role of GD processes, a minority of them avoided regardless of predictability. Overall, our results shed light on the computational architecture of social avoidance, opening interesting new research and clinical perspectives.

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Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability

Sequestro,

Serfaty,

Grèzes

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability

Sequestro,

Serfaty,

Grèzes

et al. 2024

Commun Psychol

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Avoiding threatening individuals is pivotal for adaptation to our social environment. Yet, it remains unclear whether social threat avoidance is subtended by goal-directed processes, in addition to stimulus-response associations. To test this, we manipulated outcome predictability during spontaneous approach/avoidance decisions from avatars displaying angry facial expressions. Across three virtual reality experiments, we showed that participants avoided more often when they could predict the outcome of their actions, indicating goal-directed processes. However, above-chance avoidance rate when facing unpredictable outcomes suggested that stimulus-response associations also played a role. We identified two latent classes of participants: the “goal-directed class” showed above-chance avoidance only in the predictable condition, while the “stimulus-response class” showed no credible difference between conditions but had a higher overall avoidance rate. The goal-directed class exhibited greater cardiac deceleration in the predictable condition, associated with better value integration in decision-making. Computationally, this class had an increased drift-rate in the predictable condition, reflecting increased value estimation of threat avoidance. In contrast, the stimulus-response class showed higher responsiveness to threat, indicated by increased drift-rate for avoidance and increased muscular activity at response time. These results support the central role of goal-directed processes in social threat avoidance and reveal its physiological and computational correlates.

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Posturography Approaches: An Insightful Window to Explore the Role of the Brain in Socio-Affective Processes

Cited by 2 publications

References 54 publications

Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability

Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability

Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability

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