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A novel social attribution paradigm: The Dynamic Interacting Shape Clips (DISC)
Natasha N Ludwig1, Erin E Hecht1, Tricia Z King1
1Georgia State University, Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Institute, P.O. Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA.
Brain and Cognition
|December 20, 2019
Summary
The Dynamic Interacting Shape Clips (DISC) stimulus set effectively measures social attribution and mentalizing. fMRI results show DISC activates brain regions for social cognition, supporting its use in research.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Mentalizing, or social attribution, is crucial for understanding others' intentions.
- Existing stimuli for studying mentalizing have limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- Introduce and validate the Dynamic Interacting Shape Clips (DISC) stimulus set.
- Assess DISC's utility in measuring social attribution and mentalizing using fMRI.
- Examine neural correlates of social cognition using DISC.
Main Methods:
- Developed the DISC stimulus set with diverse social interactions and control conditions.
- Collected behavioral data on participants' interpretations of DISC stimuli.
- Acquired fMRI data from 22 adults viewing DISC stimuli under different attentional cues.
Main Results:
- Behavioral data confirmed participants anthropomorphized stimuli and perceived intended social interactions.
- fMRI revealed activation in brain areas associated with animacy and mental state attribution.
- Activation patterns differed significantly between social interaction clips and random movement, and based on attentional cues.
Conclusions:
- The DISC stimulus set is a validated tool for studying social cognition.
- DISC effectively elicits neural responses related to mentalizing and social attribution.
- Findings support DISC's application in diverse research methodologies, including fMRI.
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