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Predicting the reward value of faces and bodies from social perception.

ABSTRACT: Social judgments of faces are thought to be underpinned by two perceptual components: valence and dominance. Recent work using a standard key-press task to assess reward value found that these valence and dominance components were both positively related to the reward value of faces. Although bodies play an important role in human social interaction, the perceptual dimensions that underpin social judgments of bodies and their relationship to the reward value of bodies are not yet known. The current study investigated these issues. We replicated previous studies showing that valence and dominance underpin social judgments of faces and that both components are positively related to the reward value of faces. By contrast, social judgments of bodies were underpinned by a single component that reflected aspects of both perceived valence and perceived dominance and was positively correlated with the reward value of bodies. These results highlight differences in how observers process faces and bodies.

SUBMITTER: Morrison D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5604994 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Predicting the reward value of faces and bodies from social perception.

Morrison Danielle D Wang Hongyi H Hahn Amanda C AC Jones Benedict C BC DeBruine Lisa M LM

PloS one 20170919 9

Social judgments of faces are thought to be underpinned by two perceptual components: valence and dominance. Recent work using a standard key-press task to assess reward value found that these valence and dominance components were both positively related to the reward value of faces. Although bodies play an important role in human social interaction, the perceptual dimensions that underpin social judgments of bodies and their relationship to the reward value of bodies are not yet known. The curr ...[more]

PMID: 28926615

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Project description:Evaluation of facial and vocal emotional cues is vital in social interactions but can be highly influenced by characteristics of the observer, such as sex, age, and symptoms of affective disorders. Our evaluations of others' emotional expressions are likely to change as we get to know them and anticipate how they are likely to behave. However, the role of associative learning in the evaluation of social cues remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated whether emotional ratings (valence and arousal) and reward valuation ("liking" and "wanting" measures) of neutral facial expressions can be altered through associative learning. We also examined whether emotional ratings and reward valuation varied with symptoms of anxiety and depression, disorders known to impair socio-affective functioning. Participants (N = 324) were young adults, ranging in scores across dimensions of depression and anxiety symptoms: "general distress" (common to depression and anxiety), "anhedonia-apprehension" (more specific to depression), and "fears" (more specific to anxiety). They rated neutral faces and completed a probabilistic learning task that paired images of neutral faces with positive or negative social feedback. Results demonstrated that pairing neutral faces with positive social feedback increased ratings of arousal, valence, and reward valuation (both "liking" and "wanting"). Pairing neutral faces with negative feedback reduced valence ratings and reduced "wanting," but did not impact arousal ratings or "liking." Symptoms of general distress were associated with negative bias in valence ratings, symptoms of anhedonia-apprehension were associated with reduced "wanting," and symptoms of fears were associated with altered accuracy over trials. Notably, the association between general distress and negative bias was reduced following the associative learning task. This suggests that disrupted evaluation of social cues can be improved through brief training.

Dataset Information

Predicting the reward value of faces and bodies from social perception.

Publications

Predicting the reward value of faces and bodies from social perception.

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