Several neuroimaging studies point to a key role of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) in the formation of socially relevant impressions. In 3 different experiments, participants were required to form socially relevant impressions about other individuals on the basis of text descriptions of their social behaviors, and to decide whether a face alone, a trait adjective (e.g., "selfish"), or a face presented with a trait adjective was consistent or inconsistent with the impression they had formed. Before deciding whether the target stimulus matched the impression they had previously formed, participants received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the dmPFC, the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, also implicated in social impression formation), or over a control site (vertex). Results from the 3 experiments converged in showing that interfering with dmPFC activity significantly delayed participants in responding whether a face-adjective pair was consistent with the impression they had formed. No effects of TMS were observed following stimulation of the IFG or when evaluations had to be made on faces or trait adjectives presented alone. Our findings critically extend previous neuroimaging evidence by indicating a causal role of the dmPFC in creating coherent impressions based on the integration of face and verbal description of social behaviors.

Ferrari, C., Lega, C., Vernice, M., Tamietto, M., Mende Siedlecki, P., Vecchi, T., et al. (2016). The Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Plays a Causal Role in Integrating Social Impressions from Faces and Verbal Descriptions. CEREBRAL CORTEX, 26(1), 156-165 [10.1093/cercor/bhu186].

The Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Plays a Causal Role in Integrating Social Impressions from Faces and Verbal Descriptions

FERRARI, CHIARA
;
LEGA, CARLOTTA;VERNICE, MIRTA;CATTANEO, ZAIRA
2016

Abstract

Several neuroimaging studies point to a key role of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) in the formation of socially relevant impressions. In 3 different experiments, participants were required to form socially relevant impressions about other individuals on the basis of text descriptions of their social behaviors, and to decide whether a face alone, a trait adjective (e.g., "selfish"), or a face presented with a trait adjective was consistent or inconsistent with the impression they had formed. Before deciding whether the target stimulus matched the impression they had previously formed, participants received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the dmPFC, the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, also implicated in social impression formation), or over a control site (vertex). Results from the 3 experiments converged in showing that interfering with dmPFC activity significantly delayed participants in responding whether a face-adjective pair was consistent with the impression they had formed. No effects of TMS were observed following stimulation of the IFG or when evaluations had to be made on faces or trait adjectives presented alone. Our findings critically extend previous neuroimaging evidence by indicating a causal role of the dmPFC in creating coherent impressions based on the integration of face and verbal description of social behaviors.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; faces; impressions formation; inferior frontal gyrus; social inference; social traits; TMS;
faces; social traits; impressions formation; dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; inferior frontal gyrus; TMS; social inference
English
27-ago-2014
2016
26
1
156
165
reserved
Ferrari, C., Lega, C., Vernice, M., Tamietto, M., Mende Siedlecki, P., Vecchi, T., et al. (2016). The Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex Plays a Causal Role in Integrating Social Impressions from Faces and Verbal Descriptions. CEREBRAL CORTEX, 26(1), 156-165 [10.1093/cercor/bhu186].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/52766
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