Social Cognition

Imagine the social interactions of two people who meet for the first time. As they get to know one another politeness gives way to friendliness, awkward pauses are replaced by effortless transitions from one topic to the next, and spontaneous banter emerges. When old friends grow apart, their interactions appear to follow the opposite trajectory, with spontaneity and friendliness being replaced by politeness and awkward moments. It would seem then, that single interactions speak volumes about our social lives and relationships. If this is true, what signals allow us to understand one another, gauge our relationships, and adapt to our conversation partners? What neural processes underpin our ability to send, receive and interpret social cues?

Human social interactions have a long evolutionary history. They have been used to obtain food, shelter and protection. They are fundamental to childrearing. They serve important emotional needs, such as comfort in times of distress. Day-to-day social interactions are the foundations upon which relationships are built, as well as a conduit through which individual needs are met. Given their importance, it is no surprise that humans have developed extraordinary capacity for social communication. In fact, people are so proficient at interacting that they often send and receive social cues without being aware of having done so. These observations have spurred a search for the "social brain." However, despite much effort, progress has been slow.

Numerous studies of the skills thought to be involved in social understanding, such as the ability to recognize emotional facial expressions or to ascribe thoughts, beliefs and intentions to others have been conducted. These studies afford some insight into how people navigate the social world but are problematic in that they provide a static view of social behavior. Trying to understand how humans navigate social interactions by studying isolated social skills belies the fact that interactions, even those occurring between the same two people, change over time and utilize a vast array of social cues and skills. The result of having taken a static view of social interactions is that we know little about how people use the information conveyed via social cues or how the brain processes these signals. A framework that better accounts for dynamic behavior or adaptation during interactions may help to improve our understanding of how humans navigate the social world.

One such method of conceptualizing social adaptation is to frame it in terms of learning. This idea suggests that people use the social cues they receive to develop predictions about others' behavior, which are then used to adapt response strategies. For example, people may learn that warm smiles are associated with positive feelings, that expressions of distress generate empathy and support from others, or that offers of help are often reciprocated. The aim of this research is to examine whether general learning models are a reasonable way to account for the "give and take" of social interaction. To do this, we ask participants to play computer games that require the use of social information. Sometimes they play against another participant and sometimes they only play against the computer. We look at how people's responses change over time and with different partners. Research questions include:

 

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