The cognitive control of social resonance

• Applicants: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Tanja Schultz, since 9/2023; Dr. Stefan Zachow
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology ; Image and Language Processing, Computer Graphics and Visualisation, Human Computer Interaction, Ubiquitous and Wearable Computing ; Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience ; Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 467058220

People tend to copy behavior shown by others, which is commonly attributed to automatic imitation processes. Based on the theory of event coding (TEC), we argue that this view is incorrect. Rather, whether and to what degree people imitate others depends on (1) the degree to which the cognitive representation of themselves feature-overlaps with the cognitive representation of the other; (2) the degree to which overlapping features are considered to be relevant in the particular situation; and (3) whether people have established a more integrative or a more focused cognitive-control mode. We aim to test these predictions by creating a socially engaging and interactive virtual scenario, in which the human participant is represented by a tightly synchronized Doppelgänger that is facing another avatar (the Other).We will establish this new paradigm which will also allow to measure various kinds of explicit and implicit cognitive and bodily reactions of human participants to the features and the behavior of the Other. We will introduce various manipulations of the featural and behavioral relationship between the human’s Doppelgänger and the Other, which allows us to assess how the reactions of the human are moderated by the relationship between Doppelgänger and Other—i.e., between the representation of the human and the interaction partner. We will be using an advanced virtual mirror featuring powerful cues for social resonance, cutting-edge audio-visual, thermal, and electromyographic analyses of the human’s facial and vocal socio-emotional reactions, machine-learning-based analytical techniques, and feedback-based online reactions of the Other. Based on this multimodal and multi-method approach, we aim to obtain a reliable near real-time measure of social resonance. Together with TEC, this approach would allow us to go beyond previous models of automatic facial mimicry and “unconscious” imitation processes; thus, it promises to yield important new insights into the cognitive control of human social resonance.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2134: The active self
• Co-Investigator: Dennis Küster, Ph.D.
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Bernhard Hommel, until 8/2023