Empathy Modulates the Rewarding Effect of Mimicry.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Humans exhibit a natural inclination to favor individuals who mimic their behavior.
• Gaze bias serves as a reliable indicator of a target's perceived reward value.
• Previous studies indicate a correlation between gaze bias and reward processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether mimicry alters the reward value attributed to a social agent.
• To explore the role of empathy in modulating the impact of mimicry on reward perception.
• To validate gaze bias as a quantifiable proxy for learned reward value.

Main Methods:

• A conditioning task was employed where participants were exposed to faces exhibiting mimicry and 'anti-mimicry'.
• A preferential looking task assessed gaze bias towards mimicked versus non-mimicked faces.
• Individual differences in trait empathy were measured and correlated with observed gaze bias.
• A separate task validated gaze bias as a proxy for monetary reward value.

Main Results:

• Participants demonstrated a significant gaze bias towards faces that mimicked them.
• The magnitude of the mimicry-induced gaze bias positively correlated with participants' trait empathy levels.
• Gaze bias was also observed for faces associated with high versus low monetary rewards, confirming its validity as a reward proxy.

Conclusions:

• Mimicry demonstrably enhances the reward value of social stimuli.
• Empathy plays a crucial role in mediating the extent to which mimicry influences reward perception.
• These findings may offer insights into social deficits observed in conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).