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Memory supports and enables social interactions in a variety of ways. In order to engage in successful social interaction, people must be able to remember how they should interact with one another, whom they have interacted with previously, and what occurred during those interactions. There are a lot of brain processes and functions that go into the application and use of memory in social interactions, as well as psychological reasoning for its importance.
The ability to visually identify previous social partners is essential for successful interactions because it aids in recognizing which partners can and cannot be trusted. In humans, this is accomplished by facial recognition. Research suggests that humans are born with an innate ability to process other human faces. In one study, Pascalis, et al. (1995) found that four-day-old neonates (infants) prefer to look at their mothers' faces rather than at a stranger's face. [1] This finding suggests that neonates are able to remember, recognize, and differentiate between faces. Further research suggests that humans prefer to focus on faces rather than non-face alternatives. [2] Such specialized processing for faces aids in the encoding of memory for people. This preference is one explanation for why humans are more proficient at memorizing faces than non-faces.
There are several areas of the brain associated with the highly specialized form of memory for faces.
The fusiform face area (FFA) is associated with facial recognition. It is generally located on the fusiform gyrus in the temporal lobe, but its precise location varies between individuals. [3] The FFA has been found to show a degree of lateralization, or what side of the brain the activity is likely to be found. [3] Typically, it is larger in the right hemisphere of the brain. [3] It is widely accepted that the FFA is involved in the encoding and retrieval of memory for faces and other familiar categorical processing. [4]
Damage to the FFA has been shown to lead to severe deficits in facial recognition and processing. [5] These deficits can lead to difficulty in maintaining normal social relationships over an extended period.
The amygdala is one of the major structures in the limbic system. [6] It is also known to play a role in the processing of memory for emotional events. [7]
One study, performed by Adolphs, et al. (1998), [8] found striking differences in perceived trustworthiness and approachability ratings between subjects with complete bilateral amygdala damage and a control group. The results showed that all of the amygdally impaired subjects rated unfamiliar faces as much more trustworthy and approachable than familiar faces. [9] Furthermore, the impaired subjects rated faces as trustworthy which the control group considered dubious. These findings illustrate a large difference in the amygdally impaired subjects' perception of faces. The same study went on to determine whether or not the difference generalizes to an auditory description of a person. The impaired subjects made entirely normal perceptions in this task. [8] Overall, the research suggests that the amygdala is important for the making and retrieval of social judgements.
The hippocampus is a structure located in the medial temporal lobe. It is thought to be involved in the encoding, consolidation and retrieval of memories. [10] This structure's function is probably best known from specific case studies, the most famous being Henry Molaison, formerly known as patient H.M., whose medial temporal lobes were bilaterally removed, which means that both sides were removed, in an attempt to cure his epileptic seizures. As a result, he experienced severe anterograde amnesia. [11]
Several disorders or impairments have been found to disrupt an individual's ability to successfully process faces.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are neurological development disorders characterized by repetitive behaviors and impaired social skills. [12] Patients with ASD are also characterized by over-selectivity, which is a tendency to attend to only a few stimuli. [13] Over-selectivity causes memory encoding problems, as relevant information is not attended to, and thus not stored in memory. These encoding problems are associated with an impaired memory for faces, [14] which is in turn associated with impairments in social functioning. [15]
Prosopagnosia is an inability to identify faces and face-like objects. This represents a failure to encode incoming visual information. Neurological studies indicate that prosopagnosia is associated with bilateral lesions of the central visual system, primarily located in the medial occipitotemporal region. [16] The inability to correctly recognize a face can have detrimental consequences for building social relationships due to the fact that recognition is required for associating feelings or experiences with a stimulus. [15]
Memory for previous interactions is critical for successful long-term social relationships. This is largely due to a human expectation of reciprocity, [17] which requires humans to have a better memory for favours or debts owed. [17] These memories play an important role in deciding whether or not a human interacts with another in the future, as they contribute to the construction of a person's reputation. Milinski, Semmann & Krambeck (2002) have demonstrated, through the use of public goods games and indirect reciprocity games, that humans are less likely to interact with those who have a reputation for not equivalently returning the favour. [18]
Research indicates that long-term memory can directly influence a person's choice of strategy during interaction. [19] Participants with normal memory functioning were found to use a wider variety of techniques in the prisoner's dilemma task. [19] Thus, memory constraints alter the strategies used during social interactions. [20]
The impressions humans leave each other with after interactions, whether active or passive, help to build reputations. [18]
A study by Espejo (2003) has demonstrated that the extent of a social interaction does not significantly affect short-term memory retention for that interaction. [21] This indicates that the processes by which impressions are formed do not take much time to occur. Furthermore, as these results were demonstrated in rats with lesioning in the medial prefrontal cortex, a key brain structure for social interaction, they suggest a multi-component system of memory. [21] However, a study by Belmore (1987) on impression formation and serial position indicated that behaviours from early in an acquaintance are no better recalled than later events. [22]
Expectations about a person can influence what is remembered about that individual after an initial interaction. [23] Therefore, such information affects the impression one person makes on another. For example, Srull (1981) found that people had better recall for memories of a person acting in a way opposite to previous expectations. [24] This was attributed to the repeated retrieval of such memories in attempts to reconcile them with the person's reputation. [24] [25]
Furthermore, the memories that contribute to an impression appear to be influenced by negativity and the source of behaviour. [26] Research on the subject indicates that people are more likely to remember negative behaviour when it is perceived as coming from a moral or dispositional source, and positive behaviour when seen as coming from either a person's ability or a need to suit the situation. [26] [27] Positive behaviours result from a desire to appear socially acceptable, whereas negative behaviours are more revealing of the individual's personality. [26] Thus, negative behaviours lead to more questioning of the individual's actual personality, which in turn results in more methodical processing of that person's behaviour. [22] This is believed to produce better memory for events by forming more associative links to the memory of that behaviour. [24] However, positive behaviour may also be subject to this improved memory if there is reason to doubt the behaviour. [26] If a critical assessment of an individual's actions results in a contrast to their positive image, the amount of interaction with that person will decrease. [26]
In psychology, friends and foes do not have a consistent definition. One definition of friends and foes is as cheaters and non-cheaters, with non-cheaters also referred to as cooperators. [28] [29] [30] Cheaters are defined as those who benefit from cooperation, but endure no costs, thereby discouraging cooperators. Cheaters benefit from others' cooperation without the costs of reciprocation. Cooperation is risky because those who cooperate gamble with the possibility of being exploited by a cheater. [28] [31]
Enhanced memory for faces of cheaters has been well demonstrated in humans. [28] Specifically, when exposed to trustworthy and untrustworthy faces, the memories of untrustworthy faces persist longer through an extinction procedure than do trustworthy faces, and when presented with pictures of faces with accompanying descriptions of cheating, trustworthy, or irrelevant information, people have enhanced source memory for the faces of cheaters. [32] [33] [34] However, the existence of a cognitive module specific to cheater detection is the subject of scientific debate. [28] While enhanced memory for cheaters is most likely due to a specific cognitive module, [32] there is currently insufficient evidence to support the existence of this specific module due to the difficulty of demonstrating such an evolutionary cognitive trait. [35] [34]
Cheater recognition is closely related to the recognition of specific emotions. [28] Bell et al. argue for the existence of an emotional incongruity effect. [36] Memory is better for the face of a smiling cheater than of a smiling cooperator, because the incongruity captures the attention of the participant. If the emotion violates the expectancy then it is much better remembered. Furthermore, negative information is much better remembered whether it violates expectancies or not. [37] Negative emotions have a strong effect on source memory due to the presence of threatening stimuli. [28] [38] Memory is determined by the emotional reaction of people at the encoding stage for both trustworthy and cheaters' facial expressions. [39] Furthermore, encoding levels process the recognition for traits and features of face recognition over expression of the face. [40] Memory is more readily remembered for emotionally involving information than for emotionally neutral information. [28] [41] [42]
Friends and foes are represented differently in the brain. The fusiform cortex, posterior cingulate gyrus, amygdala, and areas involved in motivational control were differentially activated as a function of previous social encounters. In general, these areas were more active when faces were perceived as foes rather than friends. [43]
Destination memory is the ability to remember information one has conveyed to others. Destination memory is important for conversations because it allows people to recall what was already talked about. [44] An example of destination memory failure is when one tells a story multiple times, unaware that listeners have heard the story before. Deficiency in destination memory is more common among older adults, but has been reported by university students as well. [44] Destination memory is notoriously poor due to ineffective integration of components of episodic memory. [44] However, there appear to be few, if any, negative social implications for poor destination memory.
Implicit memory is the non-declarative, or unspoken, aspects of memory. [45] Priming, motor memory and classical conditioning are all examples of implicit memory. An example of implicit memory's effect on our social interactions has been illustrated by the pin-in-hand phenomenon. [46] This phenomenon was first observed by Claparède [46] while dealing with an amnesiac patient. Normally, he would shake the patient's hand and introduce himself, as the patient thought it was their first time meeting. However, on one occasion he hid a pin and pricked the patient with it when she reached to shake his hand. Later, when he offered his hand, she drew away and refused to shake, in spite of the fact she could not explicitly recall the pinprick itself. [46] The patient was unable to provide a reason for her hesitation.
Social norms are unspoken rules that govern acceptable behaviours in a given social situation. Violation of these norms can be considered extremely offensive, and may lead to social rejection. Thus, it is adaptive to be able to adhere to social norms, which requires memory of them. As a person matures, they tend to passively gain an intricate understanding of the norms associated with their culture. [47]
One way memory can affect social interactions is through schemata. A schema is a mental structure implemented in order to sort knowledge into central themes or subjects. [48] Although schemata develop from experience, not all experiences are organized with schemata. [49] Schemata can influence the way in which new people and situations are understood, which has a direct effect on social interaction. [48]
Many research studies have been conducted concerning the effect of schemata on individuals' perceptions of others. [50] It has been found that preschoolers are aware of gender schemata and are capable of pointing out behaviours which are inconsistent with them. [51] In a Canadian study, participants were asked to rate various diverse groups based on how well a given characteristic applied to them. [50] The results confirmed that participants were quicker to assign a rating if the given characteristics fit the schema for that group. [50]
Schemata have been proposed as a way to explain the persistence of stereotypes. According to this theory, negative stereotypes persist because information that is incongruent with a schema is not organized and thus less likely to be remembered. [48] Therefore, schemata influence what information is encoded and retrieved from memory, thereby influencing social interactions.
Any condition that causes a memory deficit will affect social functioning. This will differ based on the nature and severity of the deficit. For example, patients with Alzheimer's disease have difficulty during social interactions because of agnosia, and aphasia. [12]
The amygdala is a paired nuclear complex present in the cerebral hemispheres of vertebrates. It is considered part of the limbic system. In primates, it is located medially within the temporal lobes. It consists of many nuclei, each made up of further subnuclei. The subdivision most commonly made is into the basolateral, central, cortical, and medial nuclei together with the intercalated cell clusters. The amygdala has a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making, and emotional responses. The amygdala was first identified and named by Karl Friedrich Burdach in 1822.
The limbic system, also known as the paleomammalian cortex, is a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the medial temporal lobe of the cerebrum primarily in the forebrain.
Source amnesia is the inability to remember where, when or how previously learned information has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge. This branch of amnesia is associated with the malfunctioning of one's explicit memory. It is likely that the disconnect between having the knowledge and remembering the context in which the knowledge was acquired is due to a dissociation between semantic and episodic memory – an individual retains the semantic knowledge, but lacks the episodic knowledge to indicate the context in which the knowledge was gained.
The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain.
Facial perception is an individual's understanding and interpretation of the face. Here, perception implies the presence of consciousness and hence excludes automated facial recognition systems. Although facial recognition is found in other species, this article focuses on facial perception in humans.
Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is a cognitive disorder of face perception in which the ability to recognize familiar faces, including one's own face (self-recognition), is impaired, while other aspects of visual processing and intellectual functioning remain intact. The term originally referred to a condition following acute brain damage, but a congenital or developmental form of the disorder also exists, with a prevalence of 2.5%. The brain area usually associated with prosopagnosia is the fusiform gyrus, which activates specifically in response to faces. The functionality of the fusiform gyrus allows most people to recognize faces in more detail than they do similarly complex inanimate objects. For those with prosopagnosia, the method for recognizing faces depends on the less sensitive object-recognition system. The right hemisphere fusiform gyrus is more often involved in familiar face recognition than the left. It remains unclear whether the fusiform gyrus is specific for the recognition of human faces or if it is also involved in highly trained visual stimuli. Prosopoagnosic patients are under normal conditions able to recognize facial expressions and emotions.
Explicit memory is one of the two main types of long-term human memory, the other of which is implicit memory. Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences, and concepts. This type of memory is dependent upon three processes: acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval.
Social behavior is behavior among two or more organisms within the same species, and encompasses any behavior in which one member affects the other. This is due to an interaction among those members. Social behavior can be seen as similar to an exchange of goods, with the expectation that when you give, you will receive the same. This behavior can be affected by both the qualities of the individual and the environmental (situational) factors. Therefore, social behavior arises as a result of an interaction between the two—the organism and its environment. This means that, in regards to humans, social behavior can be determined by both the individual characteristics of the person, and the situation they are in.
Affective neuroscience is the study of how the brain processes emotions. This field combines neuroscience with the psychological study of personality, emotion, and mood. The basis of emotions and what emotions are remains an issue of debate within the field of affective neuroscience.
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a part of the prefrontal cortex in the mammalian brain. The ventral medial prefrontal is located in the frontal lobe at the bottom of the cerebral hemispheres and is implicated in the processing of risk and fear, as it is critical in the regulation of amygdala activity in humans. It also plays a role in the inhibition of emotional responses, and in the process of decision-making and self-control. It is also involved in the cognitive evaluation of morality.
Memory and trauma is the deleterious effects that physical or psychological trauma has on memory.
The neuroanatomy of memory encompasses a wide variety of anatomical structures in the brain.
Emotion can have a powerful effect on humans and animals. Numerous studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories tend to be of emotional events, which are likely to be recalled more often and with more clarity and detail than neutral events.
Visual object recognition refers to the ability to identify the objects in view based on visual input. One important signature of visual object recognition is "object invariance", or the ability to identify objects across changes in the detailed context in which objects are viewed, including changes in illumination, object pose, and background context.
The effects of stress on memory include interference with a person's capacity to encode memory and the ability to retrieve information. Stimuli, like stress, improved memory when it was related to learning the subject. During times of stress, the body reacts by secreting stress hormones into the bloodstream. Stress can cause acute and chronic changes in certain brain areas which can cause long-term damage. Over-secretion of stress hormones most frequently impairs long-term delayed recall memory, but can enhance short-term, immediate recall memory. This enhancement is particularly relative in emotional memory. In particular, the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and the amygdala are affected. One class of stress hormone responsible for negatively affecting long-term, delayed recall memory is the glucocorticoids (GCs), the most notable of which is cortisol. Glucocorticoids facilitate and impair the actions of stress in the brain memory process. Cortisol is a known biomarker for stress. Under normal circumstances, the hippocampus regulates the production of cortisol through negative feedback because it has many receptors that are sensitive to these stress hormones. However, an excess of cortisol can impair the ability of the hippocampus to both encode and recall memories. These stress hormones are also hindering the hippocampus from receiving enough energy by diverting glucose levels to surrounding muscles.
Social cues are verbal or non-verbal signals expressed through the face, body, voice, motion and guide conversations as well as other social interactions by influencing our impressions of and responses to others. These percepts are important communicative tools as they convey important social and contextual information and therefore facilitate social understanding.
Social-emotional agnosia, also known as emotional agnosia or expressive agnosia, is the inability to perceive facial expressions, body language, and voice intonation. A person with this disorder is unable to non-verbally perceive others' emotions in social situations, limiting normal social interactions. The condition causes a functional blindness to subtle non-verbal social-emotional cues in voice, gesture, and facial expression. People with this form of agnosia have difficulty in determining and identifying the motivational and emotional significance of external social events, and may appear emotionless or agnostic. Symptoms of this agnosia can vary depending on the area of the brain affected. Social-emotional agnosia often occurs in individuals with schizophrenia and autism. It is difficult to distinguish from, and has been found to co-occur with, alexithymia.
A neurological look at race is multifaceted. The cross-race effect has been neurologically explained by there being differences in brain processing while viewing same-race and other-race faces. There is a debate over the cause of the cross-race effect.
Emotion perception refers to the capacities and abilities of recognizing and identifying emotions in others, in addition to biological and physiological processes involved. Emotions are typically viewed as having three components: subjective experience, physical changes, and cognitive appraisal; emotion perception is the ability to make accurate decisions about another's subjective experience by interpreting their physical changes through sensory systems responsible for converting these observed changes into mental representations. The ability to perceive emotion is believed to be both innate and subject to environmental influence and is also a critical component in social interactions. How emotion is experienced and interpreted depends on how it is perceived. Likewise, how emotion is perceived is dependent on past experiences and interpretations. Emotion can be accurately perceived in humans. Emotions can be perceived visually, audibly, through smell and also through bodily sensations and this process is believed to be different from the perception of non-emotional material.
Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) or relational neurobiology is an interdisciplinary framework that was developed in the 1990s by Daniel J. Siegel, who sought to bring together scientific disciplines to demonstrate how the mind, brain, and relationships integrate. IPNB views the mind as a process that regulates the flow of energy and information through its neurocircuitry, which is then shared and regulated between people through engagement, connection, and communication. Drawing on systems theory, Siegel proposed that these processes within interpersonal relationships can shape nervous system maturation. Siegel claimed that the mind has an irreducible quality which informs this approach.
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