Self-face recognition in social context.

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Sugiura, Motoaki; Sassa, Yuko; Jeong, Hyeonjeong; Wakusawa, Keisuke; Horie, Kaoru; Sato, Shigeru; Kawashima, Ryuta

2012-06-01

The concept of "social self" is often described as a representation of the self-reflected in the eyes or minds of others. Although the appearance of one's own face has substantial social significance for humans, neuroimaging studies have failed to link self-face recognition and the likely neural substrate of the social self, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). We assumed that the social self is recruited during self-face recognition under a rich social context where multiple other faces are available for comparison of social values. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined the modulation of neural responses to the faces of the self and of a close friend in a social context. We identified an enhanced response in the ventral MPFC and right occipitoparietal sulcus in the social context specifically for the self-face. Neural response in the right lateral parietal and inferior temporal cortices, previously claimed as self-face-specific, was unaffected for the self-face but unexpectedly enhanced for the friend's face in the social context. Self-face-specific activation in the pars triangularis of the inferior frontal gyrus, and self-face-specific reduction of activation in the left middle temporal gyrus and the right supramarginal gyrus, replicating a previous finding, were not subject to such modulation. Our results thus demonstrated the recruitment of a social self during self-face recognition in the social context. At least three brain networks for self-face-specific activation may be dissociated by different patterns of response-modulation in the social context, suggesting multiple dynamic self-other representations in the human brain. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Gender differences in the relationship between social communication and emotion recognition.

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Kothari, Radha; Skuse, David; Wakefield, Justin; Micali, Nadia

2013-11-01

To investigate the association between autistic traits and emotion recognition in a large community sample of children using facial and social motion cues, additionally stratifying by gender. A general population sample of 3,666 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were assessed on their ability to correctly recognize emotions using the faces subtest of the Diagnostic Analysis of Non-Verbal Accuracy, and the Emotional Triangles Task, a novel test assessing recognition of emotion from social motion cues. Children with autistic-like social communication difficulties, as assessed by the Social Communication Disorders Checklist, were compared with children without such difficulties. Autistic-like social communication difficulties were associated with poorer recognition of emotion from social motion cues in both genders, but were associated with poorer facial emotion recognition in boys only (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.4, 2.6, p = .0001). This finding must be considered in light of lower power to detect differences in girls. In this community sample of children, greater deficits in social communication skills are associated with poorer discrimination of emotions, implying there may be an underlying continuum of liability to the association between these characteristics. As a similar degree of association was observed in both genders on a novel test of social motion cues, the relatively good performance of girls on the more familiar task of facial emotion discrimination may be due to compensatory mechanisms. Our study might indicate the existence of a cognitive process by which girls with underlying autistic traits can compensate for their covert deficits in emotion recognition, although this would require further investigation. Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Orexin signaling during social defeat stress influences subsequent social interaction behaviour and recognition memory.

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Eacret, Darrell; Grafe, Laura A; Dobkin, Jane; Gotter, Anthony L; Rengerb, John J; Winrow, Christopher J; Bhatnagar, Seema

2018-06-11

Orexins are neuropeptides synthesized in the lateral hypothalamus that influence arousal, feeding, reward pathways, and the response to stress. However, the role of orexins in repeated stress is not fully characterized. Here, we examined how orexins and their receptors contribute to the coping response during repeated social defeat and subsequent anxiety-like and memory-related behaviors. Specifically, we used Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) to stimulate orexins prior to each of five consecutive days of social defeat stress in adult male rats. Additionally, we determined the role of the orexin 2 receptor in these behaviors by using a selective orexin 2 receptor antagonist (MK-1064) administered prior to each social defeat. Following the 5 day social defeat conditioning period, rats were evaluated in social interaction and novel object recognition paradigms to assess anxiety-like behavior and recognition memory, respectively. Activation of orexin neurons by DREADDs prior to each social defeat decreased the average latency to become defeated across 5 days, indicative of a passive coping strategy that we have previously linked to a stress vulnerable phenotype. Moreover, stimulation of orexin signaling during defeat conditioning decreased subsequent social interaction and performance in the novel object recognition test indicating increased subsequent anxiety-like behavior and reduced working memory. Blocking the orexin 2 receptor during repeated defeat did not alter these effects. Together, our results suggest that orexin neuron activation produces a passive coping phenotype during social defeat leading to subsequent anxiety-like behaviors and memory deficits. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.

[Neural basis of self-face recognition: social aspects].

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Sugiura, Motoaki

2012-07-01

Considering the importance of the face in social survival and evidence from evolutionary psychology of visual self-recognition, it is reasonable that we expect neural mechanisms for higher social-cognitive processes to underlie self-face recognition. A decade of neuroimaging studies so far has, however, not provided an encouraging finding in this respect. Self-face specific activation has typically been reported in the areas for sensory-motor integration in the right lateral cortices. This observation appears to reflect the physical nature of the self-face which representation is developed via the detection of contingency between one's own action and sensory feedback. We have recently revealed that the medial prefrontal cortex, implicated in socially nuanced self-referential process, is activated during self-face recognition under a rich social context where multiple other faces are available for reference. The posterior cingulate cortex has also exhibited this activation modulation, and in the separate experiment showed a response to attractively manipulated self-face suggesting its relevance to positive self-value. Furthermore, the regions in the right lateral cortices typically showing self-face-specific activation have responded also to the face of one's close friend under the rich social context. This observation is potentially explained by the fact that the contingency detection for physical self-recognition also plays a role in physical social interaction, which characterizes the representation of personally familiar people. These findings demonstrate that neuroscientific exploration reveals multiple facets of the relationship between self-face recognition and social-cognitive process, and that technically the manipulation of social context is key to its success.

Social recognition is context dependent in single male prairie voles

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Zheng, Da-Jiang; Foley, Lauren; Rehman, Asad; Ophir, Alexander G.

2013-01-01

Single males might benefit from knowing the identity of neighbouring males when establishing and defending boundaries. Similarly, males should discriminate between individual females if this leads to more reproductive opportunities. Contextual social cues may alter the value of learning identity. Knowing the identity of competitors that intrude into an animal’s territory may be more salient than knowing the identity of individuals on whose territory an animal is trespassing. Hence, social and environmental context could affect social recognition in many ways. Here we test social recognition of socially monogamous single male prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster. In experiment 1 we tested recognition of male or female conspecifics and found that males discriminated between different males but not between different females. In experiment 2 we asked whether recognition of males is influenced when males are tested in their own cage (familiar), in a clean cage (neutral) or in the home cage of another male (unfamiliar). Although focal males discriminated between male conspecifics in all three contexts, individual variation in recognition was lower when males were tested in their home cage (in the presence of familiar social cues) compared to when the context lacked social cues (neutral). Experiment 1 indicates that selective pressures may have operated to enhance male territorial behaviour and indiscriminate mate selection. Experiment 2 suggests that the presence of a conspecific cue heightens social recognition and that home-field advantages might extend to social cognition. Taken together, our results indicate social recognition depends on the social and possibly territorial context. PMID:24273328

Recognition and Judgement in Social Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juul, Søren

2009-01-01

to recognition. In the first part, I outline the normative ideal and show its relevance for practical social work on the basis of social clients' experiences of disrespect. In the second, I expalin the concept of judgement and criticise the prevailing forms of judgement to be found in the social institutions...

Recognition of social identity in ants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nick eBos

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Recognizing the identity of others, from the individual to the group level, is a hallmark of society. Ants, and other social insects, have evolved advanced societies characterized by efficient social recognition systems. Colony identity is mediated by colony specific signature mixtures, a blend of hydrocarbons present on the cuticle of every individual (the label. Recognition occurs when an ant encounters another individual, and compares the label it perceives to an internal representation of its own colony odor (the template. A mismatch between label and template leads to rejection of the encountered individual. Although advances have been made in our understanding of how the label is produced and acquired, contradictory evidence exists about information processing of recognition cues. Here, we review the literature on template acquisition in ants and address how and when the template is formed, where in the nervous system it is localized, and the possible role of learning. We combine seemingly contradictory evidence in to a novel, parsimonious theory for the information processing of nestmate recognition cues.

Recognition of social identity in ants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bos, Nick; d'Ettorre, Patrizia

2012-01-01

Recognizing the identity of others, from the individual to the group level, is a hallmark of society. Ants, and other social insects, have evolved advanced societies characterized by efficient social recognition systems. Colony identity is mediated by colony specific signature mixtures, a blend...

Social Approach and Emotion Recognition in Fragile X Syndrome

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Williams, Tracey A.; Porter, Melanie A.; Langdon, Robyn

2014-01-01

Evidence is emerging that individuals with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) display emotion recognition deficits, which may contribute to their significant social difficulties. The current study investigated the emotion recognition abilities, and social approachability judgments, of FXS individuals when processing emotional stimuli. Relative to…

Early life stress impairs social recognition due to a blunted response of vasopressin release within the septum of adult male rats.

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Lukas, Michael; Bredewold, Remco; Landgraf, Rainer; Neumann, Inga D; Veenema, Alexa H

2011-07-01

Early life stress poses a risk for the development of psychopathologies characterized by disturbed emotional, social, and cognitive performance. We used maternal separation (MS, 3h daily, postnatal days 1-14) to test whether early life stress impairs social recognition performance in juvenile (5-week-old) and adult (16-week-old) male Wistar rats. Social recognition was tested in the social discrimination test and defined by increased investigation by the experimental rat towards a novel rat compared with a previously encountered rat. Juvenile control and MS rats demonstrated successful social recognition at inter-exposure intervals of 30 and 60 min. However, unlike adult control rats, adult MS rats failed to discriminate between a previously encountered and a novel rat after 60 min. The social recognition impairment of adult MS rats was accompanied by a lack of a rise in arginine vasopressin (AVP) release within the lateral septum seen during social memory acquisition in adult control rats. This blunted response of septal AVP release was social stimulus-specific because forced swimming induced a rise in septal AVP release in both control and MS rats. Retrodialysis of AVP (1 μg/ml, 3.3 μl/min, 30 min) into the lateral septum during social memory acquisition restored social recognition in adult MS rats at the 60-min interval. These studies demonstrate that MS impairs social recognition performance in adult rats, which is likely caused by blunted septal AVP activation. Impaired social recognition may be linked to MS-induced changes in other social behaviors like aggression as shown previously. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prosocial effects of prolactin in male rats: Social recognition, social approach and social learning.

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Donhoffner, Mary E; Al Saleh, Samar; Schink, Olivia; Wood, Ruth I

2017-11-01

Prolactin (PRL) and oxytocin (OT) are pituitary hormones essential for lactation, but also promote sexual behavior. OT stimulates social behaviors, such as recognition, approach, and learning, but less is known about PRL in these behaviors. Since PRL and OT have complementary functions in reproduction, we hypothesized that PRL increases social recognition, approach, and learning. Male Long-Evans rats received ovine PRL (oPRL; 0.5, 2.0 or 5.0mg/kg), the PRL antagonist bromocriptine (0.1, 3.0 or 5.0mg/kg) or saline 20 mins before testing for recognition of familiar vs. unfamiliar stimulus males. Saline controls preferred the unfamiliar male (psocial approach, we determined if PRL restores approach 2h after defeat by an aggressive male. Defeated rats avoided the aggressive male. 2mg/kg oPRL, before or after defeat, restored approach towards the aggressive male (psocial learning, we tested social transmission of food preference. Rats choose between two unfamiliar flavors, one of which they have previously been exposed to through interaction with a demonstrator rat. Vehicle controls preferred chow with the demonstrated flavor over the novel flavor. oPRL-treated rats were similar. Bromocriptine-treated rats failed to show a preference. When tested one week later, only oPRL-treated rats preferred the demonstrated flavor. The results suggest that PRL is required for social recognition and learning, and that increasing PRL enhances social memory and approach, similar to OT. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Single prolonged stress impairs social and object novelty recognition in rats.

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Eagle, Andrew L; Fitzpatrick, Chris J; Perrine, Shane A

2013-11-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) results from exposure to a traumatic event and manifests as re-experiencing, arousal, avoidance, and negative cognition/mood symptoms. Avoidant symptoms, as well as the newly defined negative cognitions/mood, are a serious complication leading to diminished interest in once important or positive activities, such as social interaction; however, the basis of these symptoms remains poorly understood. PTSD patients also exhibit impaired object and social recognition, which may underlie the avoidance and symptoms of negative cognition, such as social estrangement or diminished interest in activities. Previous studies have demonstrated that single prolonged stress (SPS), models PTSD phenotypes, including impairments in learning and memory. Therefore, it was hypothesized that SPS would impair social and object recognition memory. Male Sprague Dawley rats were exposed to SPS then tested in the social choice test (SCT) or novel object recognition test (NOR). These tests measure recognition of novelty over familiarity, a natural preference of rodents. Results show that SPS impaired preference for both social and object novelty. In addition, SPS impairment in social recognition may be caused by impaired behavioral flexibility, or an inability to shift behavior during the SCT. These results demonstrate that traumatic stress can impair social and object recognition memory, which may underlie certain avoidant symptoms or negative cognition in PTSD and be related to impaired behavioral flexibility. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of Social Cognition on Alcohol Dependence Treatment Outcome: Poorer Facial Emotion Recognition Predicts Relapse/Dropout.

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Rupp, Claudia I; Derntl, Birgit; Osthaus, Friederike; Kemmler, Georg; Fleischhacker, W Wolfgang

2017-12-01

Despite growing evidence for neurobehavioral deficits in social cognition in alcohol use disorder (AUD), the clinical relevance remains unclear, and little is known about its impact on treatment outcome. This study prospectively investigated the impact of neurocognitive social abilities at treatment onset on treatment completion. Fifty-nine alcohol-dependent patients were assessed with measures of social cognition including 3 core components of empathy via paradigms measuring: (i) emotion recognition (the ability to recognize emotions via facial expression), (ii) emotional perspective taking, and (iii) affective responsiveness at the beginning of inpatient treatment for alcohol dependence. Subjective measures were also obtained, including estimates of task performance and a self-report measure of empathic abilities (Interpersonal Reactivity Index). According to treatment outcomes, patients were divided into a patient group with a regular treatment course (e.g., with planned discharge and without relapse during treatment) or an irregular treatment course (e.g., relapse and/or premature and unplanned termination of treatment, "dropout"). Compared with patients completing treatment in a regular fashion, patients with relapse and/or dropout of treatment had significantly poorer facial emotion recognition ability at treatment onset. Additional logistic regression analyses confirmed these results and identified poor emotion recognition performance as a significant predictor for relapse/dropout. Self-report (subjective) measures did not correspond with neurobehavioral social cognition measures, respectively objective task performance. Analyses of individual subtypes of facial emotions revealed poorer recognition particularly of disgust, anger, and no (neutral faces) emotion in patients with relapse/dropout. Social cognition in AUD is clinically relevant. Less successful treatment outcome was associated with poorer facial emotion recognition ability at the beginning of

Interplay of oxytocin, vasopressin, and sex hormones in the regulation of social recognition.

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Gabor, Christopher S; Phan, Anna; Clipperton-Allen, Amy E; Kavaliers, Martin; Choleris, Elena

2012-02-01

Social Recognition is a fundamental skill that forms the basis of behaviors essential to the proper functioning of pair or group living in most social species. We review here various neurobiological and genetic studies that point to an interplay of oxytocin (OT), arginine-vasopressin (AVP), and the gonadal hormones, estrogens and testosterone, in the mediation of social recognition. Results of a number of studies have shown that OT and its actions at the medial amygdala seem to be essential for social recognition in both sexes. Estrogens facilitate social recognition, possibly by regulating OT production in the hypothalamus and the OT receptors at the medial amygdala. Estrogens also affect social recognition on a rapid time scale, likely through nongenomic actions. The mechanisms of these rapid effects are currently unknown but available evidence points at the hippocampus as the possible site of action. Male rodents seem to be more dependent on AVP acting at the level of the lateral septum for social recognition than female rodents. Results of various studies suggest that testosterone and its metabolites (including estradiol) influence social recognition in males primarily through the AVP V1a receptor. Overall, it appears that gonadal hormone modulation of OT and AVP regulates and fine tunes social recognition and those behaviors that depend upon it (e.g., social bonds, social hierarchies) in a sex specific manner. This points at an important role for these neuroendocrine systems in the regulation of the sex differences that are evident in social behavior and of sociality as a whole.

Functional Connectivity of Multiple Brain Regions Required for the Consolidation of Social Recognition Memory.

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Tanimizu, Toshiyuki; Kenney, Justin W; Okano, Emiko; Kadoma, Kazune; Frankland, Paul W; Kida, Satoshi

2017-04-12

Social recognition memory is an essential and basic component of social behavior that is used to discriminate familiar and novel animals/humans. Previous studies have shown the importance of several brain regions for social recognition memories; however, the mechanisms underlying the consolidation of social recognition memory at the molecular and anatomic levels remain unknown. Here, we show a brain network necessary for the generation of social recognition memory in mice. A mouse genetic study showed that cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB)-mediated transcription is required for the formation of social recognition memory. Importantly, significant inductions of the CREB target immediate-early genes c-fos and Arc were observed in the hippocampus (CA1 and CA3 regions), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and amygdala (basolateral region) when social recognition memory was generated. Pharmacological experiments using a microinfusion of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin showed that protein synthesis in these brain regions is required for the consolidation of social recognition memory. These findings suggested that social recognition memory is consolidated through the activation of CREB-mediated gene expression in the hippocampus/mPFC/ACC/amygdala. Network analyses suggested that these four brain regions show functional connectivity with other brain regions and, more importantly, that the hippocampus functions as a hub to integrate brain networks and generate social recognition memory, whereas the ACC and amygdala are important for coordinating brain activity when social interaction is initiated by connecting with other brain regions. We have found that a brain network composed of the hippocampus/mPFC/ACC/amygdala is required for the consolidation of social recognition memory. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Here, we identify brain networks composed of multiple brain regions for the consolidation of social recognition memory. We

Social implications of the battle of the sexes: sexual harassment disrupts female sociality and social recognition.

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Darden, Safi K; James, Richard; Ramnarine, Indar W; Croft, Darren P

2009-07-22

Across sexually reproducing species, males and females are in conflict over the control of reproduction. At the heart of this conflict in a number of taxa is male harassment of females for mating opportunities and female strategies to avoid this harassment. One neglected consequence that may result from sexual harassment is the disruption of important social associations. Here, we experimentally manipulate the degree of sexual harassment that wild female guppies (Poecilia reticulata) experience by establishing replicated, semi-natural pools with different population sex ratios. We quantify the effects of sexual harassment on female social structure and the development of social recognition among females. When exposed to sexual harassment, we found that females had more disparate social networks with limited repeated interactions when compared to females that did not experience male harassment. Furthermore, females that did not experience harassment developed social recognition with familiar individuals over an 8-day period, whereas females that experienced harassment did not, an effect we suggest is due to disruption of association patterns. These results show that social network structure and social recognition can be affected by sexual harassment, an effect that will be relevant across taxonomic groups and that we predict will have fitness consequences for females.

genetic overexpression of NR2B subunit enhances social recognition memory for different strains and species.

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Jacobs, Stephanie A; Tsien, Joe Z

2012-01-01

The ability to learn and remember conspecifics is essential for the establishment and maintenance of social groups. Many animals, including humans, primates and rodents, depend on stable social relationships for survival. Social learning and social recognition have become emerging areas of interest for neuroscientists but are still not well understood. It has been established that several hormones play a role in the modulation of social recognition including estrogen, oxytocin and arginine vasopression. Relatively few studies have investigated how social recognition might be improved or enhanced. In this study, we investigate the role of the NMDA receptor in social recognition memory, specifically the consequences of altering the ratio of the NR2B:NR2A subunits in the forebrain regions in social behavior. We produced transgenic mice in which the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor was overexpressed postnatally in the excitatory neurons of the forebrain areas including the cortex, amygdala and hippocampus. We investigated the ability of both our transgenic animals and their wild-type littermate to learn and remember juvenile conspecifics using both 1-hr and 24-hr memory tests. Our experiments show that the wild-type animals and NR2B transgenic mice preformed similarly in the 1-hr test. However, transgenic mice showed better performances in 24-hr tests of recognizing animals of a different strain or animals of a different species. We conclude that NR2B overexpression in the forebrain enhances social recognition memory for different strains and animal species.

Hippocampus lesions induced deficits in social and spatial recognition in Octodon degus.

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Uekita, Tomoko; Okanoya, Kazuo

2011-06-01

Previous studies of rodents reported that the hippocampus plays an important role in social behavior as well as spatial behavior. However, there are inconsistencies between reports of the effects of hippocampal lesions on social behavior. The present study sought to clarify the aspects of social behavior in which the hippocampus plays a role in the degu, Octodon degus, a social rodent. We examined the effects of hippocampal lesions on social behavior in the degu using familiar and novel partners. When placed in a familiar environment with a familiar partner after surgery, sham operation control (S.Cont) degus exhibited affinitive behavior longer compared with hippocampal lesioned (HPC) degus. In a novel environment, S.Cont degus exhibited longer aggressive behavior toward novel partners, and longer affinitive behavior with familiar partners compared with HPC degus. HPC degus did not show evidence of differentiation in social behavior, regardless of partner's novelty. The results of an anxiety test confirmed that these findings could not be attributed to changes in emotional state. We conducted an object-recognition test with the same subjects. HPC degus showed an impairment in spatial recognition but not object recognition. Taken together, these results suggest that the degu hippocampus plays an important role not only in spatial recognition but also social recognition. The changes in social behavior resulting from hippocampal lesions were interpreted as due to an impairment of social recognition rather than an impairment in novelty detection. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chronic minocycline treatment improves social recognition memory in adult male Fmr1 knockout mice.

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Yau, Suk Yu; Chiu, Christine; Vetrici, Mariana; Christie, Brian R

2016-10-01

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is caused by a mutation in the Fmr1 gene that leads to silencing of the gene and a loss of its gene product, Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). Some of the key behavioral phenotypes for FXS include abnormal social anxiety and sociability. Here we show that Fmr1 knock-out (KO) mice exhibit impaired social recognition when presented with a novel mouse, and they display normal social interactions in other sociability tests. Administering minocycline to Fmr1 KO mice throughout critical stages of neural development improved social recognition memory in the novel mouse recognition task. To determine if synaptic changes in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) could have played a role in this improvement, we examined PSD-95, a member of the membrane-associated guanylate kinase family, and signaling molecules (ERK1/2, and Akt) linked to synaptic plasticity in the PFC. Our analyses indicated that while minocycline treatment can enhance behavioral performance, it does not enhance expression of PSD-95, ERK1/2 or Akt in the PFC. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genetic Mapping in Mice Reveals the Involvement of Pcdh9 in Long-Term Social and Object Recognition and Sensorimotor Development.

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Bruining, Hilgo; Matsui, Asuka; Oguro-Ando, Asami; Kahn, René S; Van't Spijker, Heleen M; Akkermans, Guus; Stiedl, Oliver; van Engeland, Herman; Koopmans, Bastijn; van Lith, Hein A; Oppelaar, Hugo; Tieland, Liselotte; Nonkes, Lourens J; Yagi, Takeshi; Kaneko, Ryosuke; Burbach, J Peter H; Yamamoto, Nobuhiko; Kas, Martien J

2015-10-01

Quantitative genetic analysis of basic mouse behaviors is a powerful tool to identify novel genetic phenotypes contributing to neurobehavioral disorders. Here, we analyzed genetic contributions to single-trial, long-term social and nonsocial recognition and subsequently studied the functional impact of an identified candidate gene on behavioral development. Genetic mapping of single-trial social recognition was performed in chromosome substitution strains, a sophisticated tool for detecting quantitative trait loci (QTL) of complex traits. Follow-up occurred by generating and testing knockout (KO) mice of a selected QTL candidate gene. Functional characterization of these mice was performed through behavioral and neurological assessments across developmental stages and analyses of gene expression and brain morphology. Chromosome substitution strain 14 mapping studies revealed an overlapping QTL related to long-term social and object recognition harboring Pcdh9, a cell-adhesion gene previously associated with autism spectrum disorder. Specific long-term social and object recognition deficits were confirmed in homozygous (KO) Pcdh9-deficient mice, while heterozygous mice only showed long-term social recognition impairment. The recognition deficits in KO mice were not associated with alterations in perception, multi-trial discrimination learning, sociability, behavioral flexibility, or fear memory. Rather, KO mice showed additional impairments in sensorimotor development reflected by early touch-evoked biting, rotarod performance, and sensory gating deficits. This profile emerged with structural changes in deep layers of sensory cortices, where Pcdh9 is selectively expressed. This behavior-to-gene study implicates Pcdh9 in cognitive functions required for long-term social and nonsocial recognition. This role is supported by the involvement of Pcdh9 in sensory cortex development and sensorimotor phenotypes. Copyright © 2015 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published

Facial and prosodic emotion recognition in social anxiety disorder.

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Tseng, Huai-Hsuan; Huang, Yu-Lien; Chen, Jian-Ting; Liang, Kuei-Yu; Lin, Chao-Cheng; Chen, Sue-Huei

2017-07-01

Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) have a cognitive preference to negatively evaluate emotional information. In particular, the preferential biases in prosodic emotion recognition in SAD have been much less explored. The present study aims to investigate whether SAD patients retain negative evaluation biases across visual and auditory modalities when given sufficient response time to recognise emotions. Thirty-one SAD patients and 31 age- and gender-matched healthy participants completed a culturally suitable non-verbal emotion recognition task and received clinical assessments for social anxiety and depressive symptoms. A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to examine group differences in emotion recognition. Compared to healthy participants, SAD patients were significantly less accurate at recognising facial and prosodic emotions, and spent more time on emotion recognition. The differences were mainly driven by the lower accuracy and longer reaction times for recognising fearful emotions in SAD patients. Within the SAD patients, lower accuracy of sad face recognition was associated with higher severity of depressive and social anxiety symptoms, particularly with avoidance symptoms. These findings may represent a cross-modality pattern of avoidance in the later stage of identifying negative emotions in SAD. This pattern may be linked to clinical symptom severity.

Oxytocin and the oxytocin receptor underlie intrastrain, but not interstrain, social recognition.

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Macbeth, A H; Lee, H-J; Edds, J; Young, W S

2009-07-01

We studied three lines of oxytocin (Oxt) and oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) knockout (KO) male mice [Oxt(-/-), total Oxtr(-/-) and partial forebrain Oxtr (Oxtr(FB/FB))] with established deficits in social recognition to further refine our understanding of their deficits with regard to stimulus female's strain. We used a modified social discrimination paradigm in which subjects are singly housed only for the duration of the test. Additionally, stimulus females are singly housed throughout testing and are presented within corrals for rapid comparison of investigation by subject males. Wild-type (WT) males from all three lines discriminated between familiar and novel females of three different strains (C57BL/6, BALB/c and Swiss-Webster). No KO males discriminated between familiar and novel BALB/c or C57BL/6 females. Male Oxt(-/-) and Oxtr(-/-) mice, but not Oxtr(FB/FB) mice, discriminated between familiar and novel Swiss-Webster females. As this might indicate a global deficit in individual recognition for Oxtr(FB/FB) males, we examined their ability to discriminate between females from different strains and compared performance with Oxtr(-/-) males. WT and KO males from both lines were able to distinguish between familiar and novel females from different strains, indicating the social recognition deficit is not universal. Instead, we hypothesize that the Oxtr is involved in 'fine' intrastrain recognition, but is less important in 'broad' interstrain recognition. We also present the novel finding of decreased investigation across tests, which is likely an artifact of repeated testing and not because of stimulus female's strain or age of subject males.

Emotion recognition and social skills in child and adolescent offspring of parents with schizophrenia.

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Horton, Leslie E; Bridgwater, Miranda A; Haas, Gretchen L

2017-05-01

Emotion recognition, a social cognition domain, is impaired in people with schizophrenia and contributes to social dysfunction. Whether impaired emotion recognition emerges as a manifestation of illness or predates symptoms is unclear. Findings from studies of emotion recognition impairments in first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia are mixed and, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the link between emotion recognition and social functioning in that population. This study examined facial affect recognition and social skills in 16 offspring of parents with schizophrenia (familial high-risk/FHR) compared to 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC), ages 7-19. As hypothesised, FHR children exhibited impaired overall accuracy, accuracy in identifying fearful faces, and overall recognition speed relative to controls. Age-adjusted facial affect recognition accuracy scores predicted parent's overall rating of their child's social skills for both groups. This study supports the presence of facial affect recognition deficits in FHR children. Importantly, as the first known study to suggest the presence of these deficits in young, asymptomatic FHR children, it extends findings to a developmental stage predating symptoms. Further, findings point to a relationship between early emotion recognition and social skills. Improved characterisation of deficits in FHR children could inform early intervention.

Long-Term Social Recognition Memory in Zebrafish.

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Madeira, Natália; Oliveira, Rui F

2017-08-01

In species in which individuals live in stable social groups, individual recognition is expected to evolve to allow individuals to remember past interactions with different individuals and adjust future behavior toward them accordingly. Thus, social memory is expected to be a ubiquitous component of social cognition of social species. However, few studies have investigated the occurrence of social memory in non-mammals. Here we evaluated the ability of zebrafish (Danio rerio) to recognize different conspecifics and to retain this information in long lasting (i.e. 24 h) memories. We used a social discrimination paradigm, adapted from mouse studies, in which the focal individual meets two pairs of conspecifics in two consecutive days: one conspecific is the same in both days and the other is different between days 1 and 2. If animals have the ability to discriminate between different conspecifics, it is predicted that they will spend more time exploring the novel than the familiar (i.e. already seen in day 1) conspecific. In this study, zebrafish with access to both olfactory and visual conspecific cues exhibited consistent recognition of a previously encountered (familiar) conspecific after a 24 h delay. This result supports the hypothesis that long-term social memory, previously described in mammals, is also present in zebrafish, hence extending the evidence for the presence of this type of memory to teleost fish.

Social context predicts recognition systems in ant queens

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dreier, Stéphanie Agnès Jeanine; d'Ettorre, Patrizia

2009-01-01

Recognition of group-members is a key feature of sociality. Ants use chemical communication to discriminate nestmates from intruders, enhancing kin cooperation and preventing parasitism. The recognition code is embedded in their cuticular chemical profile, which typically varies between colonies....... We predicted that ants might be capable of accurate recognition in unusual situations when few individuals interact repeatedly, as new colonies started by two to three queens. Individual recognition would be favoured by selection when queens establish dominance hierarchies, because repeated fights...... for dominance are costly; but it would not evolve in absence of hierarchies. We previously showed that Pachycondyla co-founding queens, which form dominance hierarchies, have accurate individual recognition based on chemical cues. Here, we used the ant Lasius niger to test the null hypothesis that individual...

Neuroanatomical Markers of Social Hierarchy Recognition in Humans: A Combined ERP/MRI Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Santamaría-García, Hernando; Burgaleta, Miguel; Sebastián-Gallés, Nuria

2015-07-29

Social hierarchy is an ubiquitous principle of social organization across animal species. Although some progress has been made in our understanding of how humans infer hierarchical identity, the neuroanatomical basis for perceiving key social dimensions of others remains unexplored. Here, we combined event-related potentials and structural MRI to reveal the neuroanatomical substrates of early status recognition. We designed a covertly simulated hierarchical setting in which participants performed a task either with a superior or with an inferior player. Participants showed higher amplitude in the N170 component when presented with a picture of a superior player compared with an inferior player. Crucially, the magnitude of this effect correlated with brain morphology of the posterior cingulate cortex, superior temporal gyrus, insula, fusiform gyrus, and caudate nucleus. We conclude that early recognition of social hierarchies relies on the structural properties of a network involved in the automatic recognition of social identity. Humans can perceive social hierarchies very rapidly, an ability that is key for social interactions. However, some individuals are more sensitive to hierarchical information than others. Currently, it is unknown how brain structure supports such fast-paced processes of social hierarchy perception and their individual differences. Here, we addressed this issue for the first time by combining the high temporal resolution of event-related potentials (ERPs) and the high spatial resolution of structural MRI. This methodological approach allowed us to unveil a novel association between ERP neuromarkers of social hierarchy perception and the morphology of several cortical and subcortical brain regions typically assumed to play a role in automatic processes of social cognition. Our results are a step forward in our understanding of the human social brain. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/3510843-08$15.00/0.

Recognition memory for social and non-social odors: differential effects of neurotoxic lesions to the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex.

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Feinberg, Leila M; Allen, Timothy A; Ly, Denise; Fortin, Norbert J

2012-01-01

The contributions of the hippocampus (HC) and perirhinal cortex (PER) to recognition memory are currently topics of debate in neuroscience. Here we used a rapidly-learned (seconds) spontaneous novel odor recognition paradigm to assess the effects of pre-training N-methyl-D-aspartate lesions to the HC or PER on odor recognition memory. We tested memory for both social and non-social odor stimuli. Social odors were acquired from conspecifics, while non-social odors were household spices. Conspecific odor stimuli are ethologically-relevant and have a high degree of overlapping features compared to non-social household spices. Various retention intervals (5 min, 20 min, 1h, 24h, or 48 h) were used between study and test phases, each with a unique odor pair, to assess changes in novelty preference over time. Consistent with findings in other paradigms, modalities, and species, we found that HC lesions yielded no significant recognition memory deficits. In contrast, PER lesions caused significant deficits for social odor recognition memory at long retention intervals, demonstrating a critical role for PER in long-term memory for social odors. PER lesions had no effect on memory for non-social odors. The results are consistent with a general role for PER in long-term recognition memory for stimuli that have a high degree of overlapping features, which must be distinguished by conjunctive representations. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Facial Recognition of Happiness Is Impaired in Musicians with High Music Performance Anxiety.

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Sabino, Alini Daniéli Viana; Camargo, Cristielli M; Chagas, Marcos Hortes N; Osório, Flávia L

2018-01-01

Music performance anxiety (MPA) can be defined as a lasting and intense apprehension connected with musical performance in public. Studies suggest that MPA can be regarded as a subtype of social anxiety. Since individuals with social anxiety have deficits in the recognition of facial emotion, we hypothesized that musicians with high levels of MPA would share similar impairments. The aim of this study was to compare parameters of facial emotion recognition (FER) between musicians with high and low MPA. 150 amateur and professional musicians with different musical backgrounds were assessed in respect to their level of MPA and completed a dynamic FER task. The outcomes investigated were accuracy, response time, emotional intensity, and response bias. Musicians with high MPA were less accurate in the recognition of happiness ( p  = 0.04; d  = 0.34), had increased response bias toward fear ( p  = 0.03), and increased response time to facial emotions as a whole ( p  = 0.02; d  = 0.39). Musicians with high MPA displayed FER deficits that were independent of general anxiety levels and possibly of general cognitive capacity. These deficits may favor the maintenance and exacerbation of experiences of anxiety during public performance, since cues of approval, satisfaction, and encouragement are not adequately recognized.

[Graduate Students in Medicine Course: Motivation, Socialization and Academic Recognition].

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Magalhães-Alves, Cristina; Barbosa, Joselina; Ribeiro, Laura; Ferreira, Maria Amélia

2017-04-28

Students with a previous degree have personal and professional experiences that can contribute to a different academic path during the medical course. This study aims to: 1) analyze both satisfaction and impact of academic recognition; 2) investigate whether motivations and expectations at entrance are maintained along the course; 3) to evaluate socialization after regress to higher education. To accomplish the first objective a questionnaire was administered to 82 students who entered the medical school from 2011/2012 to 2013/2014. For the second and third goals a focus group was run (three groups with five students each, representing the three academic years). Students felt satisfied with the recognition, and 50% of them believe that accreditations replace knowledge acquired with the curricular units, and 47% preferred to obtain accreditation. Academic achievement was negatively associated with the satisfaction of recognition and positively with age, background and registration cycle. Socialization of these students is distinct from the younger ones, their motivations at entrance are intrinsic and, contrary to expectations, are maintained along the course. Students prefer recognition instead of attending the curricular units. The most satisfied with the recognition accomplish less credits and the younger ones, from health area and enrolled in the clinical cycle, accomplish more. Along the course, motivations become more solid, expectations change and socialization is carried out with greater responsibility.

A role for CA3 in social recognition memory.

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Chiang, Ming-Ching; Huang, Arthur J Y; Wintzer, Marie E; Ohshima, Toshio; McHugh, Thomas J

2018-02-02

Social recognition memory is crucial for survival across species, underlying the need to correctly identify conspecifics, mates and potential enemies. In humans the hippocampus is engaged in social and episodic memory, however the circuit mechanisms of social memory in rodent models has only recently come under scrutiny. Work in mice has established that the dorsal CA2 and ventral CA1 regions play critical roles, however a more comprehensive comparative analyses of the circuits and mechanisms required has not been reported. Here we employ conditional genetics to examine the differential contributions of the hippocampal subfields to social memory. We find that the deletion of NMDA receptor subunit 1 gene (NR1), which abolishes NMDA receptor synaptic plasticity, in CA3 pyramidal cells led to deficits in social memory; however, mice lacking the same gene in DG granule cells performed indistinguishable from controls. Further, we use conditional pharmacogenetic inhibition to demonstrate that activity in ventral, but not dorsal, CA3 is necessary for the encoding of a social memory. These findings demonstrated CA3 pyramidal cell plasticity and transmission contribute to the encoding of social stimuli and help further identify the distinct circuits underlying the role of the hippocampus in social memory. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment

OpenAIRE

Bradler, Christiane; Dur, Robert; Neckermann, Susanne; Non, Arjan

2014-01-01

This discussion paper led to a publication in 'Management Science' . This paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of unannounced, public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly received recognition after two hours of work. We find that recognition increases subsequent performance substantially, and particu...

Oxytocin, vasopressin and estrogen receptor gene expression in relation to social recognition in female mice.

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Clipperton-Allen, Amy E; Lee, Anna W; Reyes, Anny; Devidze, Nino; Phan, Anna; Pfaff, Donald W; Choleris, Elena

2012-02-28

Inter- and intra-species differences in social behavior and recognition-related hormones and receptors suggest that different distribution and/or expression patterns may relate to social recognition. We used qRT-PCR to investigate naturally occurring differences in expression of estrogen receptor-alpha (ERα), ER-beta (ERβ), progesterone receptor (PR), oxytocin (OT) and receptor, and vasopressin (AVP) and receptors in proestrous female mice. Following four 5 min exposures to the same two conspecifics, one was replaced with a novel mouse in the final trial (T5). Gene expression was examined in mice showing high (85-100%) and low (40-60%) social recognition scores (i.e., preferential novel mouse investigation in T5) in eight socially-relevant brain regions. Results supported OT and AVP involvement in social recognition, and suggest that in the medial preoptic area, increased OT and AVP mRNA, together with ERα and ERβ gene activation, relate to improved social recognition. Initial social investigation correlated with ERs, PR and OTR in the dorsolateral septum, suggesting that these receptors may modulate social interest without affecting social recognition. Finally, increased lateral amygdala gene activation in the LR mice may be associated with general learning impairments, while decreased lateral amygdala activity may indicate more efficient cognitive mechanisms in the HR mice. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A simple centrality index for scientific social recognition

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Kinouchi, Osame; Soares, Leonardo D. H.; Cardoso, George C.

2018-02-01

We introduce a new centrality index for bipartite networks of papers and authors that we call K-index. The K-index grows with the citation performance of the papers that cite a given researcher and can be seen as a measure of scientific social recognition. Indeed, the K-index measures the number of hubs, defined in a self-consistent way in the bipartite network, that cites a given author. We show that the K-index can be computed by simple inspection of the Web of Science platform and presents several advantages over other centrality indexes, in particular Hirsch h-index. The K-index is robust to self-citations, is not limited by the total number of papers published by a researcher as occurs for the h-index and can distinguish in a consistent way researchers that have the same h-index but very different scientific social recognition. The K-index easily detects a known case of a researcher with inflated number of papers, citations and h-index due to scientific misconduct. Finally, we show that, in a sample of twenty-eight physics Nobel laureates and twenty-eight highly cited non-Nobel-laureate physicists, the K-index correlates better to the achievement of the prize than the number of papers, citations, citations per paper, citing articles or the h-index. Clustering researchers in a K versus h plot reveals interesting outliers that suggest that these two indexes can present complementary independent information.

Effects of sex and gonadectomy on social investigation and social recognition in mice.

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Karlsson, Sara A; Haziri, Kaltrina; Hansson, Evelyn; Kettunen, Petronella; Westberg, Lars

2015-11-25

An individual's ability to recognise and pay attention to others is crucial in order to behave appropriately in various social situations. Studies in humans have shown a sex bias in sociability as well as social memory, indicating that females have better face memory and gaze more at the eyes of others, but information about the factors that underpin these differences is sparse. Our aim was therefore to investigate if sociability and social recognition differ between female and male mice, and if so, to what extent gonadal hormones may be involved. Intact and gonadectomised male and female mice were assessed for sociability and social recognition using the three-chambered sociability paradigm, as well as the social discrimination test. Furthermore, we conducted a novel object recognition test, a locomotor activity test and an odour habituation/dishabituation test. The present study showed that the ability to recognise other individuals is intact in males with and without gonads, as well as in intact females, whereas it is hampered in gonadectomised females. Additionally, intact male mice displayed more persistent investigatory behaviour compared to the other groups, although the intact females showed elevated basal locomotor activity. In addition, all groups had intact object memory and habituated to odours. Our results suggest that intact male mice investigate conspecifics more than females do, and these differences seem to depend upon circulating hormones released from the testis. As these results seem to contrast what is known from human studies, they should be taken into consideration when using the three-chambered apparatus, and similar paradigms as animal models of social deficits in e.g. autism. Other behavioural tests, and animal models, may be more suitable for translational studies between patients and experimental animals.

Emotion recognition and social cognition in temporal lobe epilepsy and the effect of epilepsy surgery.

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Amlerova, Jana; Cavanna, Andrea E; Bradac, Ondrej; Javurkova, Alena; Raudenska, Jaroslava; Marusic, Petr

2014-07-01

The abilities to identify facial expression from another person's face and to attribute mental states to others refer to preserved function of the temporal lobes. In the present study, we set out to evaluate emotion recognition and social cognition in presurgical and postsurgical patients with unilateral refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of TLE surgery and to identify the main risk factors for impairment in these functions. We recruited 30 patients with TLE for longitudinal data analysis (14 with right-sided and 16 with left-sided TLE) and 74 patients for cross-sectional data analysis (37 with right-sided and 37 with left-sided TLE) plus 20 healthy controls. Besides standard neuropsychological assessment, we administered an analog of the Ekman and Friesen test and the Faux Pas Test to assess emotion recognition and social cognition, respectively. Both emotion recognition and social cognition were impaired in the group of patients with TLE, irrespective of the focus side, compared with healthy controls. The performance in both tests was strongly dependent on the intelligence level. Beyond intelligence level, earlier age at epilepsy onset, longer disease duration, and history of early childhood brain injury predicted social cognition problems in patients with TLE. Epilepsy surgery within the temporal lobe seems to have neutral effect on patients' performances in both domains. However, there are a few individual patients who appear to be at risk of postoperative decline, even when seizure freedom is achieved following epilepsy surgery. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural basis of distorted self-face recognition in social anxiety disorder.

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Kim, Min-Kyeong; Yoon, Hyung-Jun; Shin, Yu-Bin; Lee, Seung-Koo; Kim, Jae-Jin

2016-01-01

The observer perspective causes patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) to excessively inspect their performance and appearance. This study aimed to investigate the neural basis of distorted self-face recognition in non-social situations in patients with SAD. Twenty patients with SAD and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls participated in this fMRI study. Data were acquired while participants performed a Composite Face Evaluation Task, during which they had to press a button indicating how much they liked a series of self-faces, attractively transformed self-faces, and attractive others' faces. Patients had a tendency to show more favorable responses to the self-face and unfavorable responses to the others' faces compared with controls, but the two groups' responses to the attractively transformed self-faces did not differ. Significant group differences in regional activity were observed in the middle frontal and supramarginal gyri in the self-face condition (patients self-face condition (patients > controls); and the middle frontal, supramarginal, and angular gyri in the attractive others' face condition (patients > controls). Most fronto-parietal activities during observation of the self-face were negatively correlated with preference scores in patients but not in controls. Patients with SAD have a positive point of view of their own face and experience self-relevance for the attractively transformed self-faces. This distorted cognition may be based on dysfunctions in the frontal and inferior parietal regions. The abnormal engagement of the fronto-parietal attentional network during processing face stimuli in non-social situations may be linked to distorted self-recognition in SAD.

Loneliness and the social monitoring system: Emotion recognition and eye gaze in a real-life conversation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lodder, G.M.A.; Scholte, R.H.J.; Goossens, L.; Engels, R.C.M.E.; Verhagen, M.

2016-01-01

Based on the belongingness regulation theory (Gardner et al., 2005, Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull., 31, 1549), this study focuses on the relationship between loneliness and social monitoring. Specifically, we examined whether loneliness relates to performance on three emotion recognition tasks and

Does aging impair first impression accuracy? Differentiating emotion recognition from complex social inferences.

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Krendl, Anne C; Rule, Nicholas O; Ambady, Nalini

2014-09-01

Young adults can be surprisingly accurate at making inferences about people from their faces. Although these first impressions have important consequences for both the perceiver and the target, it remains an open question whether first impression accuracy is preserved with age. Specifically, could age differences in impressions toward others stem from age-related deficits in accurately detecting complex social cues? Research on aging and impression formation suggests that young and older adults show relative consensus in their first impressions, but it is unknown whether they differ in accuracy. It has been widely shown that aging disrupts emotion recognition accuracy, and that these impairments may predict deficits in other social judgments, such as detecting deceit. However, it is unclear whether general impression formation accuracy (e.g., emotion recognition accuracy, detecting complex social cues) relies on similar or distinct mechanisms. It is important to examine this question to evaluate how, if at all, aging might affect overall accuracy. Here, we examined whether aging impaired first impression accuracy in predicting real-world outcomes and categorizing social group membership. Specifically, we studied whether emotion recognition accuracy and age-related cognitive decline (which has been implicated in exacerbating deficits in emotion recognition) predict first impression accuracy. Our results revealed that emotion recognition accuracy did not predict first impression accuracy, nor did age-related cognitive decline impair it. These findings suggest that domains of social perception outside of emotion recognition may rely on mechanisms that are relatively unimpaired by aging. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Novel insights into the ontogeny of nestmate recognition in Polistes social wasps.

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Signorotti, Lisa; Cappa, Federico; d'Ettorre, Patrizia; Cervo, Rita

2014-01-01

The importance of early experience in animals' life is unquestionable, and imprinting-like phenomena may shape important aspects of behaviour. Early learning typically occurs during a sensitive period, which restricts crucial processes of information storage to a specific developmental phase. The characteristics of the sensitive period have been largely investigated in vertebrates, because of their complexity and plasticity, both in behaviour and neurophysiology, but early learning occurs also in invertebrates. In social insects, early learning appears to influence important social behaviours such as nestmate recognition. Yet, the mechanisms underlying recognition systems are not fully understood. It is currently believed that Polistes social wasps are able to discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates following the perception of olfactory cues present on the paper of their nest, which are learned during a strict sensitive period, immediately after emergence. Here, through differential odour experience experiments, we show that workers of Polistes dominula develop correct nestmate recognition abilities soon after emergence even in absence of what have been so far considered the necessary cues (the chemicals spread on nest paper). P. dominula workers were exposed for the first four days of adult life to paper fragments from their nest, or from a foreign conspecific nest or to a neutral condition. Wasps were then transferred to their original nests where recognition abilities were tested. Our results show that wasps do not alter their recognition ability if exposed only to nest material, or in absence of nest material, during the early phase of adult life. It thus appears that the nest paper is not used as a source of recognition cues to be learned in a specific time window, although we discuss possible alternative explanations. Our study provides a novel perspective for the study of the ontogeny of nestmate recognition in Polistes wasps and in other social insects.

An investigation of the effect of race-based social categorization on adults’ recognition of emotion

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, B. Nicole; Segal, Shira C.

2018-01-01

Emotion recognition is important for social interaction and communication, yet previous research has identified a cross-cultural emotion recognition deficit: Recognition is less accurate for emotions expressed by individuals from a cultural group different than one’s own. The current study examined whether social categorization based on race, in the absence of cultural differences, influences emotion recognition in a diverse context. South Asian and White Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area completed an emotion recognition task that required them to identify the seven basic emotional expressions when posed by members of the same two groups, allowing us to tease apart the contributions of culture and social group membership. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no mutual in-group advantage in emotion recognition: Participants were not more accurate at recognizing emotions posed by their respective racial in-groups. Both groups were more accurate at recognizing expressions when posed by South Asian faces, and White participants were more accurate overall compared to South Asian participants. These results suggest that in a diverse environment, categorization based on race alone does not lead to the creation of social out-groups in a way that negatively impacts emotion recognition. PMID:29474367

An investigation of the effect of race-based social categorization on adults' recognition of emotion.

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, B Nicole; Segal, Shira C; Moulson, Margaret C

2018-01-01

Emotion recognition is important for social interaction and communication, yet previous research has identified a cross-cultural emotion recognition deficit: Recognition is less accurate for emotions expressed by individuals from a cultural group different than one's own. The current study examined whether social categorization based on race, in the absence of cultural differences, influences emotion recognition in a diverse context. South Asian and White Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area completed an emotion recognition task that required them to identify the seven basic emotional expressions when posed by members of the same two groups, allowing us to tease apart the contributions of culture and social group membership. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no mutual in-group advantage in emotion recognition: Participants were not more accurate at recognizing emotions posed by their respective racial in-groups. Both groups were more accurate at recognizing expressions when posed by South Asian faces, and White participants were more accurate overall compared to South Asian participants. These results suggest that in a diverse environment, categorization based on race alone does not lead to the creation of social out-groups in a way that negatively impacts emotion recognition.

An investigation of the effect of race-based social categorization on adults' recognition of emotion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B Nicole Reyes

Full Text Available Emotion recognition is important for social interaction and communication, yet previous research has identified a cross-cultural emotion recognition deficit: Recognition is less accurate for emotions expressed by individuals from a cultural group different than one's own. The current study examined whether social categorization based on race, in the absence of cultural differences, influences emotion recognition in a diverse context. South Asian and White Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area completed an emotion recognition task that required them to identify the seven basic emotional expressions when posed by members of the same two groups, allowing us to tease apart the contributions of culture and social group membership. Contrary to our hypothesis, there was no mutual in-group advantage in emotion recognition: Participants were not more accurate at recognizing emotions posed by their respective racial in-groups. Both groups were more accurate at recognizing expressions when posed by South Asian faces, and White participants were more accurate overall compared to South Asian participants. These results suggest that in a diverse environment, categorization based on race alone does not lead to the creation of social out-groups in a way that negatively impacts emotion recognition.

Lateral septal vasopressin in rats : Role in social and object recognition?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Everts, H.G J; Koolhaas, J.M.

1997-01-01

The capacity of male rats to remember familiar conspecifics is called social recognition. It is a form of short-term memory modulated by lateral septal (LS) vasopressin (VP). The specificity of this phenomenon was studied by examining whether recognition of previously investigated objects is also

Theory of Mind, Emotion Recognition and Social Perception in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: findings from the NAPLS-2 cohort.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbato, Mariapaola; Liu, Lu; Cadenhead, Kristin S; Cannon, Tyrone D; Cornblatt, Barbara A; McGlashan, Thomas H; Perkins, Diana O; Seidman, Larry J; Tsuang, Ming T; Walker, Elaine F; Woods, Scott W; Bearden, Carrie E; Mathalon, Daniel H; Heinssen, Robert; Addington, Jean

2015-09-01

Social cognition, the mental operations that underlie social interactions, is a major construct to investigate in schizophrenia. Impairments in social cognition are present before the onset of psychosis, and even in unaffected first-degree relatives, suggesting that social cognition may be a trait marker of the illness. In a large cohort of individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) and healthy controls, three domains of social cognition (theory of mind, facial emotion recognition and social perception) were assessed to clarify which domains are impaired in this population. Six-hundred and seventy-five CHR individuals and 264 controls, who were part of the multi-site North American Prodromal Longitudinal Study, completed The Awareness of Social Inference Test , the Penn Emotion Recognition task , the Penn Emotion Differentiation task , and the Relationship Across Domains , measures of theory of mind, facial emotion recognition, and social perception, respectively. Social cognition was not related to positive and negative symptom severity, but was associated with age and IQ. CHR individuals demonstrated poorer performance on all measures of social cognition. However, after controlling for age and IQ, the group differences remained significant for measures of theory of mind and social perception, but not for facial emotion recognition. Theory of mind and social perception are impaired in individuals at CHR for psychosis. Age and IQ seem to play an important role in the arising of deficits in facial affect recognition. Future studies should examine the stability of social cognition deficits over time and their role, if any, in the development of psychosis.

Social Process Variables Affecting Reading Performance in Delayed Readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorton, Mary; Kukuk, Christopher

1978-01-01

Examines the relationship between 14 social process variables and the reading performances of 180 slow learners, ages 7-15. Finds that two of those factors (brith trauma and being held back in school) emerge as predictors of reading comprehension, word recognition, and spelling. (RL)

Improvement of dizocilpine-induced social recognition deficits in mice by brexpiprazole, a novel serotonin-dopamine activity modulator.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshimi, Noriko; Futamura, Takashi; Hashimoto, Kenji

2015-03-01

Cognitive impairment, including impaired social cognition, is largely responsible for the deterioration in social life suffered by patients with psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD). Brexpiprazole (7-{4-[4-(1-benzothiophen-4-yl)piperazin-1-yl]butoxy}quinolin-2(1H)-one), a novel serotonin-dopamine activity modulator, was developed to offer efficacious and tolerable therapy for different psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and adjunctive treatment of MDD. In this study, we investigated whether brexpiprazole could improve social recognition deficits (one of social cognition deficits) in mice, after administration of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist MK-801 (dizocilpine). Dosing with dizocilpine (0.1mg/kg) induced significant impairment of social recognition in mice. Brexpiprazole (0.01, 0.03, 0.1mg/kg, p.o.) significantly ameliorated dizocilpine-induced social recognition deficits, without sedation or a reduction of exploratory behavior. In addition, brexpiprazole alone had no effect on social recognition in untreated control mice. By contrast, neither risperidone (0.03mg/kg, p.o.) nor olanzapine (0.03mg/kg, p.o.) altered dizocilpine-induced social recognition deficits. Finally, the effect of brexpiprazole on dizocilpine-induced social recognition deficits was antagonized by WAY-100,635, a selective serotonin 5-HT1A antagonist. These results suggest that brexpiprazole could improve dizocilpine-induced social recognition deficits via 5-HT1A receptor activation in mice. Therefore, brexpiprazole may confer a beneficial effect on social cognition deficits in patients with psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Interpersonal value profiles and analysis of adolescent academic performance and social thought

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Jesús eGázquez

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The purposes of this study were to identify interpersonal value profiles and find out whether there were any differences in academic performance and social thinking. The study sample was 885 high school students of whom 49.8% (N=441 were boys and 50.2% (N=444 were girls. The results show that students with low Benevolence and Conformity levels showed higher prevalence of failures and repeated the year more often. Furthermore, students with a high level of Recognition and Leadership and low Conformity and Benevolence are socially incompetent students. Intervention programs should to achieve high levels of kindness and consideration, respect for rules and generosity, and diminish the perception of recognition by others and exertion of authority. Thus, this study shows the values that must be worked on to improve students’ Academic Performance and social competence.

Social Recognition Memory Requires Two Stages of Protein Synthesis in Mice

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Gerald; Engelmann, Mario; Richter, Karin

2005-01-01

Olfactory recognition memory was tested in adult male mice using a social discrimination task. The testing was conducted to begin to characterize the role of protein synthesis and the specific brain regions associated with activity in this task. Long-term olfactory recognition memory was blocked when the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin was…

Social Hackers: Integration in the Host Chemical Recognition System by a Paper Wasp Social Parasite

Science.gov (United States)

Turillazzi, S.; Sledge, M. F.; Dani, F. R.; Cervo, R.; Massolo, A.; Fondelli, L.

Obligate social parasites in the social insects have lost the worker caste and the ability to establish nests. As a result, parasites must usurp a host nest, overcome the host recognition system, and depend on the host workers to rear their offspring. We analysed cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of live parasite females of the paper wasp social parasite Polistes sulcifer before and after usurpation of host nests, using the non-destructive technique of solid-phase micro-extraction. Our results reveal that hydrocarbon profiles of parasites change after usurpation of host nests to match the cuticular profile of the host species. Chemical evidence further shows that the parasite queen changes the odour of the nest by the addition of a parasite-specific hydrocarbon. We discuss the possible role of this in the recognition and acceptance of the parasite and its offspring in the host colony.

Is having similar eye movement patterns during face learning and recognition beneficial for recognition performance? Evidence from hidden Markov modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Chuk, Tim; Chan, Antoni B; Hsiao, Janet H

2017-12-01

The hidden Markov model (HMM)-based approach for eye movement analysis is able to reflect individual differences in both spatial and temporal aspects of eye movements. Here we used this approach to understand the relationship between eye movements during face learning and recognition, and its association with recognition performance. We discovered holistic (i.e., mainly looking at the face center) and analytic (i.e., specifically looking at the two eyes in addition to the face center) patterns during both learning and recognition. Although for both learning and recognition, participants who adopted analytic patterns had better recognition performance than those with holistic patterns, a significant positive correlation between the likelihood of participants' patterns being classified as analytic and their recognition performance was only observed during recognition. Significantly more participants adopted holistic patterns during learning than recognition. Interestingly, about 40% of the participants used different patterns between learning and recognition, and among them 90% switched their patterns from holistic at learning to analytic at recognition. In contrast to the scan path theory, which posits that eye movements during learning have to be recapitulated during recognition for the recognition to be successful, participants who used the same or different patterns during learning and recognition did not differ in recognition performance. The similarity between their learning and recognition eye movement patterns also did not correlate with their recognition performance. These findings suggested that perceptuomotor memory elicited by eye movement patterns during learning does not play an important role in recognition. In contrast, the retrieval of diagnostic information for recognition, such as the eyes for face recognition, is a better predictor for recognition performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Roles of the basolateral amygdala and hippocampus in social recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gispen, W.H.; Maaswinkel, H.; Baars, A.M.; Spruijt, B.M.

1996-01-01

Lesions of the amygdala or hippocampus have a large impact on social behavior of rats. In this study we investigated whether a social recognition test was also affected by those lesions. An NMDA-induced lesion of the basolateral amygdala did not impair the ability to distinguish a familiar from an

The Relationship between Emotion Recognition Ability and Social Skills in Young Children with Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Beth T.; Gray, Kylie M.

2013-01-01

This study assessed the relationship between emotion recognition ability and social skills in 42 young children with autistic disorder aged 4-7 years. The analyses revealed that accuracy in recognition of sadness, but not happiness, anger or fear, was associated with higher ratings on the Vineland-II Socialization domain, above and beyond the…

Overexpression of the NR2A subunit in the forebrain impairs long-term social recognition and non-social olfactory memory.

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Jacobs, S A; Tsien, J Z

2014-04-01

Animals must recognize and remember conspecifics and potential mates, and distinguish these animals from potential heterospecific competitors and predators. Despite its necessity, aged animals are known to exhibit impaired social recognition memory. As the brain ages, the ratio of NR2A:NR2B in the brain increases over time and has been postulated to underlie the cognitive decline observed during the aging process. Here, we test the hypothesis that an increased NR2A:NR2B subunit ratio underlies long-term social recognition memory. Using transgenic overexpression of NR2A in the forebrain regions, we investigated the ability of these mice to learn and remember male and female conspecifics, mice of another strain and animals of another rodent species, the rat. Furthermore, due to the importance of olfaction in social recognition, we tested the olfactory memory in the NR2A transgenic mice. Our series of behavioral experiments revealed significant impairments in the NR2A transgenic mice in long-term social memory of both male and female conspecifics. Additionally, the NR2A transgenic mice are unable to recognize mice of another strain or rats. The NR2A transgenic mice also exhibited long-term memory impairments in the olfactory recognition task. Taken together, our results provide evidence that an increased NR2A:NR2B ratio in the forebrain leads to reduced long-term memory function, including the ethologically important memories such as social recognition and olfactory memory.

The association between imitation recognition and socio-communicative competencies in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

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Pope, Sarah M; Russell, Jamie L; Hopkins, William D

2015-01-01

Imitation recognition provides a viable platform from which advanced social cognitive skills may develop. Despite evidence that non-human primates are capable of imitation recognition, how this ability is related to social cognitive skills is unknown. In this study, we compared imitation recognition performance, as indicated by the production of testing behaviors, with performance on a series of tasks that assess social and physical cognition in 49 chimpanzees. In the initial analyses, we found that males were more responsive than females to being imitated and engaged in significantly greater behavior repetitions and testing sequences. We also found that subjects who consistently recognized being imitated performed better on social but not physical cognitive tasks, as measured by the Primate Cognitive Test Battery. These findings suggest that the neural constructs underlying imitation recognition are likely associated with or among those underlying more general socio-communicative abilities in chimpanzees. Implications regarding how imitation recognition may facilitate other social cognitive processes, such as mirror self-recognition, are discussed.

Vasopressin infusion into the lateral septum of adult male rats rescues progesterone induced impairment in social recognition

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Bychowski, Meaghan E.; Mena, Jesus D.; Auger, Catherine J.

2013-01-01

It is well established that social recognition memory is mediated, in part, by arginine vasopressin (AVP). AVP cells within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and medial amygdala (MeA) send AVP-ergic projections to the lateral septum (LS). We have demonstrated that progesterone treatment decreases AVP immunoreactivity within the BST, the MeA and the LS, and that progesterone treatment impairs social recognition. These data suggested that progesterone may impair social recognition memory by decreasing AVP. In the present experiment, we hypothesized that infusions of AVP into the LS would rescue the progesterone induced impairment in social recognition within adult male rats. One week after adult male rats underwent cannula surgery, they were given systemic injections of either a physiological dose of progesterone or oil control for three days. Four hours after the last injection, we tested social recognition memory using the social discrimination paradigm, a two-trial test that is based on the natural propensity for rats to be highly motivated to investigate novel conspecifics. Immediately after the first exposure to a juvenile, each animal received bilateral infusions of either AVP or artificial CSF (aCSF) into the LS. Our results show that, as expected, control animals exhibited normal social discrimination. In corroboration with our previous results, animals given progesterone have impaired social discrimination. Interestingly, animals treated with progesterone and AVP exhibited normal social discrimination, suggesting that AVP treatment rescued the impairment in social recognition caused by progesterone. These data also further support a role for progesterone in modulating vasopressin dependent behavior within the male brain. PMID:23639881

Anisomycin administered in the olfactory bulb and dorsal hippocampus impaired social recognition memory consolidation in different time-points.

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Pena, R R; Pereira-Caixeta, A R; Moraes, M F D; Pereira, G S

2014-10-01

To identify an individual as familiar, rodents form a specific type of memory named social recognition memory. The olfactory bulb (OB) is an important structure for social recognition memory, while the hippocampus recruitment is still controversial. The present study was designed to elucidate the OB and the dorsal hippocampus contribution to the consolidation of social memory. For that purpose, we tested the effect of anisomycin (ANI), which one of the effects is the inhibition of protein synthesis, on the consolidation of social recognition memory. Swiss adult mice with cannulae implanted into the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus or into the OB were exposed to a juvenile during 5 min (training session; TR), and once again 1.5 h or 24 h later to test social short-term memory (S-STM) or social long-term memory (S-LTM), respectively. To study S-LTM consolidation, mice received intra-OB or intra-CA1 infusion of saline or ANI immediately, 3, 6 or 18 h after TR. ANI impaired S-LTM consolidation in the OB, when administered immediately or 6h after TR. In the dorsal hippocampus, ANI was amnesic only if administered 3 h after TR. Furthermore, the infusion of ANI in either OB or CA1, immediately after training, did not affect S-STM. Moreover, ANI administered into the OB did not alter the animal's performance in the buried food-finding task. Altogether, our results suggest the consolidation of S-LTM requires both OB and hippocampus participation, although in different time points. This study may help shedding light on the specific roles of the OB and dorsal hippocampus in social recognition memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Formal Implementation of a Performance Evaluation Model for the Face Recognition System

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Yong-Nyuo Shin

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Due to usability features, practical applications, and its lack of intrusiveness, face recognition technology, based on information, derived from individuals' facial features, has been attracting considerable attention recently. Reported recognition rates of commercialized face recognition systems cannot be admitted as official recognition rates, as they are based on assumptions that are beneficial to the specific system and face database. Therefore, performance evaluation methods and tools are necessary to objectively measure the accuracy and performance of any face recognition system. In this paper, we propose and formalize a performance evaluation model for the biometric recognition system, implementing an evaluation tool for face recognition systems based on the proposed model. Furthermore, we performed evaluations objectively by providing guidelines for the design and implementation of a performance evaluation system, formalizing the performance test process.

Vasopressin infusion into the lateral septum of adult male rats rescues progesterone-induced impairment in social recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Bychowski, M E; Mena, J D; Auger, C J

2013-08-29

It is well established that social recognition memory is mediated, in part, by arginine vasopressin (AVP). AVP cells within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and medial amygdala (MeA) send AVP-ergic projections to the lateral septum (LS). We have demonstrated that progesterone treatment decreases AVP immunoreactivity within the BST, the MeA and the LS, and that progesterone treatment impairs social recognition. These data suggested that progesterone may impair social recognition memory by decreasing AVP. In the present experiment, we hypothesized that infusions of AVP into the LS would rescue the progesterone-induced impairment in social recognition within adult male rats. One week after adult male rats underwent cannula surgery, they were given systemic injections of either a physiological dose of progesterone or oil control for 3 days. Four hours after the last injection, we tested social recognition memory using the social discrimination paradigm, a two-trial test that is based on the natural propensity for rats to be highly motivated to investigate novel conspecifics. Immediately after the first exposure to a juvenile, each animal received bilateral infusions of either AVP or artificial cerebrospinal fluid into the LS. Our results show that, as expected, control animals exhibited normal social discrimination. In corroboration with our previous results, animals given progesterone have impaired social discrimination. Interestingly, animals treated with progesterone and AVP exhibited normal social discrimination, suggesting that AVP treatment rescued the impairment in social recognition caused by progesterone. These data also further support a role for progesterone in modulating vasopressin-dependent behavior within the male brain. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Social Recognition Approach to Autonomy: The Role of Equality-Based Respect.

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Renger, Daniela; Renger, Sophus; Miché, Marcel; Simon, Bernd

2017-04-01

Inspired by philosophical reasoning about the connection between equality and freedom, we examined whether experiences of (equality-based) respect increase perceived autonomy. This link was tested with generalized experiences of respect and autonomy people make in their daily lives (Study 1) and with more specific experiences of employees at the workplace (Study 2). In both studies, respect strongly and independently contributed to perceived autonomy over and above other forms of social recognition (need-based care and achievement-based social esteem) and further affected (life/work) satisfaction. Study 3 experimentally confirmed the hypothesized causal influence of respect on perceived autonomy and demonstrated that this effect further translates into social cooperation. The respect-cooperation link was simultaneously mediated by perceived autonomy and superordinate collective identification. We discuss how the recognition approach, which differentiates between respect, care, and social esteem, can enrich research on autonomy.

Molecular recognition in myxobacterial outer membrane exchange: functional, social and evolutionary implications.

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Wall, Daniel

2014-01-01

Through cooperative interactions, bacteria can build multicellular communities. To ensure that productive interactions occur, bacteria must recognize their neighbours and respond accordingly. Molecular recognition between cells is thus a fundamental behaviour, and in bacteria important discoveries have been made. This MicroReview focuses on a recently described recognition system in myxobacteria that is governed by a polymorphic cell surface receptor called TraA. TraA regulates outer membrane exchange (OME), whereby myxobacterial cells transiently fuse their OMs to efficiently transfer proteins and lipids between cells. Unlike other transport systems, OME is rather indiscriminate in what OM goods are transferred. In contrast, the recognition of partnering cells is discriminatory and only occurs between cells that bear identical or closely related TraA proteins. Therefore TraA functions in kin recognition and, in turn, OME helps regulate social interactions between myxobacteria. Here, I discuss and speculate on the social and evolutionary implications of OME and suggest it helps to guide their transition from free-living cells into coherent and functional populations. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Transgenerational effects of prenatal bisphenol A on social recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolstenholme, Jennifer T; Goldsby, Jessica A; Rissman, Emilie F

2013-11-01

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a man-made endocrine disrupting compound used to manufacture polycarbonate plastics. It is found in plastic bottles, canned food linings, thermal receipts and other commonly used items. Over 93% of people have detectable BPA levels in their urine. Epidemiological studies report correlations between BPA levels during pregnancy and activity, anxiety, and depression in children. We fed female mice control or BPA-containing diets that produced plasma BPA concentrations similar to concentrations in humans. Females were mated and at birth, pups were fostered to control dams to limit BPA exposure to gestation in the first generation. Sibling pairs were bred to the third generation with no further BPA exposure. First (F1) and third (F3) generation juveniles were tested for social recognition and in the open field. Adult F3 mice were tested for olfactory discrimination. In both generations, BPA exposed juvenile mice displayed higher levels of investigation than controls in a social recognition task. In F3 BPA exposed mice, dishabituation to a novel female was impaired. In the open field, no differences were noted in F1 mice, while in F3, BPA lineage mice were more active than controls. No impairments were detected in F3 mice, all were able to discriminate different male urine pools and urine from water. No sex differences were found in any task. These results demonstrate that BPA exposure during gestation has long lasting, transgenerational effects on social recognition and activity in mice. These findings show that BPA exposure has transgenerational actions on behavior and have implications for human neurodevelopmental behavioral disorders. © 2013.

Common polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) is associated with human social recognition skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Skuse, David H; Lori, Adriana; Cubells, Joseph F; Lee, Irene; Conneely, Karen N; Puura, Kaija; Lehtimäki, Terho; Binder, Elisabeth B; Young, Larry J

2014-02-04

The neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin are evolutionarily conserved regulators of social perception and behavior. Evidence is building that they are critically involved in the development of social recognition skills within rodent species, primates, and humans. We investigated whether common polymorphisms in the genes encoding the oxytocin and vasopressin 1a receptors influence social memory for faces. Our sample comprised 198 families, from the United Kingdom and Finland, in whom a single child had been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. Previous research has shown that impaired social perception, characteristic of autism, extends to the first-degree relatives of autistic individuals, implying heritable risk. Assessments of face recognition memory, discrimination of facial emotions, and direction of gaze detection were standardized for age (7-60 y) and sex. A common SNP in the oxytocin receptor (rs237887) was strongly associated with recognition memory in combined probands, parents, and siblings after correction for multiple comparisons. Homozygotes for the ancestral A allele had impairments in the range -0.6 to -1.15 SD scores, irrespective of their diagnostic status. Our findings imply that a critical role for the oxytocin system in social recognition has been conserved across perceptual boundaries through evolution, from olfaction in rodents to visual memory in humans.

Towards social touch intelligence: developing a robust system for automatic touch recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jung, Merel Madeleine

2014-01-01

Touch behavior is of great importance during social interaction. Automatic recognition of social touch is necessary to transfer the touch modality from interpersonal interaction to other areas such as Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). This paper describes a PhD research program on the automatic

Social power and recognition of emotional prosody: High power is associated with lower recognition accuracy than low power.

Science.gov (United States)

Uskul, Ayse K; Paulmann, Silke; Weick, Mario

2016-02-01

Listeners have to pay close attention to a speaker's tone of voice (prosody) during daily conversations. This is particularly important when trying to infer the emotional state of the speaker. Although a growing body of research has explored how emotions are processed from speech in general, little is known about how psychosocial factors such as social power can shape the perception of vocal emotional attributes. Thus, the present studies explored how social power affects emotional prosody recognition. In a correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental study (Study 2), we show that high power is associated with lower accuracy in emotional prosody recognition than low power. These results, for the first time, suggest that individuals experiencing high or low power perceive emotional tone of voice differently. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

8 CFR 1292.2 - Organizations qualified for recognition; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

...; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. 1292.2...; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. (a) Qualifications of organizations. A non-profit religious, charitable, social service, or similar organization...

Vaginocervical stimulation enhances social recognition memory in rats via oxytocin release in the olfactory bulb.

Science.gov (United States)

Larrazolo-López, A; Kendrick, K M; Aburto-Arciniega, M; Arriaga-Avila, V; Morimoto, S; Frias, M; Guevara-Guzmán, R

2008-03-27

The ability of vaginocervical stimulation (VCS) to promote olfactory social recognition memory at different stages of the ovarian cycle was investigated in female rats. A juvenile social recognition paradigm was used and memory retention tested at 30 and 300 min after an adult was exposed to a juvenile during three 4-min trials. Results showed that an intact social recognition memory was present at 30 min in animals with or without VCS and at all stages of the estrus cycle. However, whereas no animals in any stage of the estrus cycle showed retention of the specific recognition memory at 300 min, those in the proestrus/estrus phase that received VCS 10 min before the trial started did. In vivo microdialysis studies showed that there was a significant release of oxytocin after VCS in the olfactory bulb during proestrus. There was also increased oxytocin immunoreactivity within the olfactory bulb after VCS in proestrus animals compared with diestrus ones. Furthermore, when animals received an infusion of an oxytocin antagonist directly into the olfactory bulb, or a systemic administration of alpha or beta noradrenaline-antagonists, they failed to show evidence for maintenance of a selective olfactory recognition memory at 300 min. Animals with vagus or pelvic nerve section also showed no memory retention when tested after 300 min. These results suggest that VCS releases oxytocin in the olfactory bulb to enhance the social recognition memory and that this may be due to modulatory actions on noradrenaline release. The vagus and pelvic nerves are responsible for carrying the information from the pelvic area to the CNS.

Performance appraisal and merit recognition exercise 2007

CERN Multimedia

HR Department

2006-01-01

The 2007 performance appraisal and merit recognition exercise will start in the usual way with annual interviews between staff and their supervisors. This year, these interviews should be held in the period from 8 January 2007 to 16 April 2007. Interconnection with the 5-yearly review, a number of modifications to the procedures relating to the performance appraisal and merit recognition are currently under study. Administrative Circular No. 26 (Procedures governing the Career Development of Staff Members) and the electronic MAPS form in EDH are being reviewed and will be available from January onwards. HR Department will shortly provide further information on this subject. Human Resources Department Tel. 73566

[Respiratory handicap. Recognition, evaluation and social benefits].

Science.gov (United States)

Marsac, J; Pujet, J C

1983-01-01

The medico-social aspects of respiratory handicap pose some perplexing problems, notably in their recognition, rigorous evaluation and in the granting of social security benefits. The clinical and respiratory function data should be standardised and classified according to type and significance of respiratory disease and also according to the degree of co-operation and understanding of the patient. The respiratory handicap should be evaluated after considering the functional disability engendered by the disorder and their socio-professional repercussions. The abnormality in the lungs should be measured by resting tests; the degree of disability by exercise studies; the socio-professional handicap by ergonometric tests to assess the scale of the demands and requirements of family and social and professional life, indeed the cultural and economic style of the individual concerned. Such combined studies would enable recognition of severe chronic respiratory handicap leading to decisions for exemption certificates, such as cases of severe respiratory failure in patients requiring supplementary treatment for oxygen therapy or assisted ventilation. The benefits and grants offered to those with respiratory handicaps would involve a number of rights relating to: care, work, costs of replacement of workers in the event of prolonged sick leave or the benefits of an invalidity pension. There will be other allowances such as invalidity cards, lodging special studies and other rights particularly relating to lodging and special equipment. The present scale is difficult to use both because of its lack of specificity and its ill-chosen terminology. For better balance between the handicap and the benefits offered, a common and more flexible system, with a printed table should be at hand for the doctor to use for certain decisions: long term illness, period of invalidity or early retirement because of medical incapacity. Within each table a sub-section should exist to allow for

The Influence of Recognition and Social Support on European Health Professionals' Occupational Stress: A Demands-Control-Social Support-Recognition Bayesian Network Model.

Science.gov (United States)

García-Herrero, Susana; Lopez-Garcia, Jose R; Herrera, Sixto; Fontaneda, Ignacio; Báscones, Sonia Muñoz; Mariscal, Miguel A

2017-01-01

Healthcare professionals undergo high levels of occupational stress as a result of their working conditions. Thus, the aim of this study is to develop a model that focuses on healthcare professionals so as to analyze the influence that job demands, control, social support, and recognition have on the likelihood that a worker will experience stress. The data collected correspond to 2,211 healthcare workers from 35 countries, as reported in the sixth European Working Condition Survey (EWCS). The results obtained from this study allow us to infer stress under several working condition scenarios and to identify the more relevant variables in order to reduce this stress in healthcare professionals, which is of paramount importance to managing the stress of workers in this sector. The Bayesian network proposed indicates that emotional demands have a greater influence on raising the likelihood of stress due to workload than do family demands. The results show that the support of colleagues, in general, has less effect on reducing stress than social support from superiors. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis shows that, in high-demand and low-control situations, recognition clearly impacts stress, drastically reducing it.

Selection to outsmart the germs: The evolution of disease recognition and social cognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Kessler, Sharon E; Bonnell, Tyler R; Byrne, Richard W; Chapman, Colin A

2017-07-01

The emergence of providing care to diseased conspecifics must have been a turning point during the evolution of hominin sociality. On a population level, care may have minimized the costs of socially transmitted diseases at a time of increasing social complexity, although individual care-givers probably incurred increased transmission risks. We propose that care-giving likely originated within kin networks, where the costs may have been balanced by fitness increases obtained through caring for ill kin. We test a novel hypothesis of hominin cognitive evolution in which disease may have selected for the cognitive ability to recognize when a conspecific is infected. Because diseases may produce symptoms that are likely detectable via the perceptual-cognitive pathways integral to social cognition, we suggest that disease recognition and social cognition may have evolved together. Using agent-based modeling, we test 1) under what conditions disease can select for increasing disease recognition and care-giving among kin, 2) whether providing care produces greater selection for cognition than an avoidance strategy, and 3) whether care-giving alters the progression of the disease through the population. The greatest selection was produced by diseases with lower risks to the care-giver and prevalences low enough not to disrupt the kin networks. When care-giving and avoidance strategies were compared, only care-giving reduced the severity of the disease outbreaks and subsequent population crashes. The greatest selection for increased cognitive abilities occurred early in the model runs when the outbreaks and population crashes were most severe. Therefore, over the course of human evolution, repeated introductions of novel diseases into naïve populations could have produced sustained selection for increased disease recognition and care-giving behavior, leading to the evolution of increased cognition, social complexity, and, eventually, medical care in humans. Finally, we lay

8 CFR 292.2 - Organizations qualified for recognition; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

...; requests for recognition; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. 292.2...; withdrawal of recognition; accreditation of representatives; roster. (a) Qualifications of organizations. A non-profit religious, charitable, social service, or similar organization established in the United...

Social phobia in Brazilian university students: prevalence, under-recognition and academic impairment in women.

Science.gov (United States)

Baptista, Carlos Alberto; Loureiro, Sonia Regina; de Lima Osório, Flávia; Zuardi, Antonio Waldo; Magalhães, Pedro V; Kapczinski, Flávio; Filho, Alaor Santos; Freitas-Ferrari, Maria Cecília; Crippa, José Alexandre S

2012-02-01

Despite the fact that public speaking is a common academic activity and that social phobia has been associated with lower educational achievement and impaired academic performance, little research has examined the prevalence of social phobia in college students. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of social phobia in a large sample of Brazilian college students and to examine the academic impact of this disorder. The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and the MINI-SPIN, used as the indicator of social phobia in the screening phase, were applied to 2319 randomly selected students from two Brazilian universities. For the second phase (diagnostic confirmation), four psychiatrists and one clinical psychologist administered the SCID-IV to subjects with MINI-SPIN scores of 6 or higher. The prevalence of social phobia among the university students was 11.6%. Women with social phobia had significantly lower grades than those without the disorder. Fear of public speaking was the most common social fear. Only two of the 237 students with social phobia (0.8%) had previously received a diagnosis of social phobia and were under treatment. Social phobia comorbidities were not evaluated in this study. The methods of assessment employed by the universities (written exams) may mask the presence of social phobia. This was not a population-based study, and thus the results are not generalizable to the entire population with social phobia. Preventive strategies are recommended to reduce the under-recognition and the adverse impact of social phobia on academic performance and overall quality of life of university students. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

UNCONSTRAINED HANDWRITING RECOGNITION : LANGUAGE MODELS, PERPLEXITY, AND SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marti, U-V.; Bunke, H.

2004-01-01

In this paper we present a number of language models and their behavior in the recognition of unconstrained handwritten English sentences. We use the perplexity to compare the different models and their prediction power, and relate it to the performance of a recognition system under different

Involvement of the oxytocin system in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the sex-specific regulation of social recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Dumais, Kelly M.; Alonso, Andrea G.; Immormino, Marisa A.; Bredewold, Remco; Veenema, Alexa H.

2015-01-01

Sex differences in the oxytocin (OT) system in the brain may explain why OT often regulates social behaviors in sex-specific ways. However, a link between sex differences in the OT system and sex-specific regulation of social behavior has not been tested. Here, we determined whether sex differences in the OT receptor (OTR) or in OT release in the posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (pBNST) mediates sex-specific regulation of social recognition in rats. We recently showed that, compared to female rats, male rats have a three-fold higher OTR binding density in the pBNST, a sexually dimorphic area implicated in the regulation of social behaviors. We now demonstrate that OTR antagonist (5 ng/0.5 μl/side) administration into the pBNST impairs social recognition in both sexes, while OT (100 pg/0.5 μl/side) administration into the pBNST prolongs the duration of social recognition in males only. These effects seem specific to social recognition, as neither treatment altered total social investigation time in either sex. Moreover, baseline OT release in the pBNST, as measured with in vivo microdialysis, did not differ between the sexes. However, males showed higher OT release in the pBNST during social recognition compared to females. These findings suggest a sex-specific role of the OT system in the pBNST in the regulation of social recognition. PMID:26630388

Involvement of the oxytocin system in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the sex-specific regulation of social recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Dumais, Kelly M; Alonso, Andrea G; Immormino, Marisa A; Bredewold, Remco; Veenema, Alexa H

2016-02-01

Sex differences in the oxytocin (OT) system in the brain may explain why OT often regulates social behaviors in sex-specific ways. However, a link between sex differences in the OT system and sex-specific regulation of social behavior has not been tested. Here, we determined whether sex differences in the OT receptor (OTR) or in OT release in the posterior bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (pBNST) mediates sex-specific regulation of social recognition in rats. We recently showed that, compared to female rats, male rats have a three-fold higher OTR binding density in the pBNST, a sexually dimorphic area implicated in the regulation of social behaviors. We now demonstrate that OTR antagonist (5 ng/0.5 μl/side) administration into the pBNST impairs social recognition in both sexes, while OT (100 pg/0.5 μl/side) administration into the pBNST prolongs the duration of social recognition in males only. These effects seem specific to social recognition, as neither treatment altered total social investigation time in either sex. Moreover, baseline OT release in the pBNST, as measured with in vivo microdialysis, did not differ between the sexes. However, males showed higher OT release in the pBNST during social recognition compared to females. These findings suggest a sex-specific role of the OT system in the pBNST in the regulation of social recognition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-performance speech recognition using consistency modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Digalakis, Vassilios; Murveit, Hy; Monaco, Peter; Neumeyer, Leo; Sankar, Ananth

1994-12-01

The goal of SRI's consistency modeling project is to improve the raw acoustic modeling component of SRI's DECIPHER speech recognition system and develop consistency modeling technology. Consistency modeling aims to reduce the number of improper independence assumptions used in traditional speech recognition algorithms so that the resulting speech recognition hypotheses are more self-consistent and, therefore, more accurate. At the initial stages of this effort, SRI focused on developing the appropriate base technologies for consistency modeling. We first developed the Progressive Search technology that allowed us to perform large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) experiments. Since its conception and development at SRI, this technique has been adopted by most laboratories, including other ARPA contracting sites, doing research on LVSR. Another goal of the consistency modeling project is to attack difficult modeling problems, when there is a mismatch between the training and testing phases. Such mismatches may include outlier speakers, different microphones and additive noise. We were able to either develop new, or transfer and evaluate existing, technologies that adapted our baseline genonic HMM recognizer to such difficult conditions.

The influence of combined cognitive plus social-cognitive training on amygdala response during face emotion recognition in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Christine I; Bruce, Lori; Fisher, Melissa; Verosky, Sara C; Miyakawa, Asako; D'Esposito, Mark; Vinogradov, Sophia

2013-08-30

Both cognitive and social-cognitive deficits impact functional outcome in schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation studies indicate that targeted cognitive and/or social-cognitive training improves behavioral performance on trained skills. However, the neural effects of training in schizophrenia and their relation to behavioral gains are largely unknown. This study tested whether a 50-h intervention which included both cognitive and social-cognitive training would influence neural mechanisms that support social ccognition. Schizophrenia participants completed a computer-based intervention of either auditory-based cognitive training (AT) plus social-cognition training (SCT) (N=11) or non-specific computer games (CG) (N=11). Assessments included a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of facial emotion recognition, and behavioral measures of cognition, social cognition, and functional outcome. The fMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Results were strongest for emotion recognition of happy, surprise and fear: relative to CG participants, AT+SCT participants showed a neural activity increase in bilateral amygdala, right putamen and right medial prefrontal cortex. Across all participants, pre-to-post intervention neural activity increase in these regions predicted behavioral improvement on an independent emotion perception measure (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Among AT+SCT participants alone, neural activity increase in right amygdala predicted behavioral improvement in emotion perception. The findings indicate that combined cognition and social-cognition training improves neural systems that support social-cognition skills. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Description and Recognition of the Concept of Social Capital in Higher Education System

Science.gov (United States)

Tonkaboni, Forouzan; Yousefy, Alireza; Keshtiaray, Narges

2013-01-01

The current research is intended to describe and recognize the concept of social capital in higher education based on theoretical method in a descriptive-analytical approach. Description and Recognition of the data, gathered from theoretical and experimental studies, indicated that social capital is one of the most important indices for…

Clinical Strategies for Sampling Word Recognition Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Schlauch, Robert S; Carney, Edward

2018-04-17

Computer simulation was used to estimate the statistical properties of searches for maximum word recognition ability (PB max). These involve presenting multiple lists and discarding all scores but that of the 1 list that produced the highest score. The simulations, which model limitations inherent in the precision of word recognition scores, were done to inform clinical protocols. A secondary consideration was a derivation of 95% confidence intervals for significant changes in score from phonemic scoring of a 50-word list. The PB max simulations were conducted on a "client" with flat performance intensity functions. The client's performance was assumed to be 60% initially and 40% for a second assessment. Thousands of estimates were obtained to examine the precision of (a) single lists and (b) multiple lists using a PB max procedure. This method permitted summarizing the precision for assessing a 20% drop in performance. A single 25-word list could identify only 58.4% of the cases in which performance fell from 60% to 40%. A single 125-word list identified 99.8% of the declines correctly. Presenting 3 or 5 lists to find PB max produced an undesirable finding: an increase in the word recognition score. A 25-word list produces unacceptably low precision for making clinical decisions. This finding holds in both single and multiple 25-word lists, as in a search for PB max. A table is provided, giving estimates of 95% critical ranges for successive presentations of a 50-word list analyzed by the number of phonemes correctly identified.

Effects of Power on Mental Rotation and Emotion Recognition in Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Nissan, Tali; Shapira, Oren; Liberman, Nira

2015-10-01

Based on construal-level theory (CLT) and its view of power as an instance of social distance, we predicted that high, relative to low power would enhance women's mental-rotation performance and impede their emotion-recognition performance. The predicted effects of power emerged both when it was manipulated via a recall priming task (Study 1) and environmental cues (Studies 2 and 3). Studies 3 and 4 found evidence for mediation by construal level of the effect of power on emotion recognition but not on mental rotation. We discuss potential mediating mechanisms for these effects based on both the social distance/construal level and the approach/inhibition views of power. We also discuss implications for optimizing performance on mental rotation and emotion recognition in everyday life. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Emotion Recognition and Social/Role Dysfunction in Non-Clinical Psychosis

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Pelletier, Andrea L.; Dean, Derek J.; Lunsford-Avery, Jessica R.; Smith, Ashley K.; Orr, Joseph M.; Gupta, Tina; Millman, Zachary B.; Mittal, Vijay A.

2013-01-01

As researchers continue to understand non-clinical psychosis (NCP- brief psychotic-like experiences occurring in 5–7% of the general population; van Os et al., 2009), it is becoming evident that functioning deficits and facial emotion recognition (FER) impairment characterize this phenomenon. However, the extent to which these domains are related remains unclear. Social/role functioning and FER were assessed in 65 adolescents/young adults exhibiting Low and High-NCP. Results indicate that FER and social/role functioning deficits were present in the High-NCP group, and that the domains were associated in this group alone. Taken together, findings suggest that a core emotive deficit is tied to broader social/role dysfunction in NCP. PMID:23182437

Neural activity during emotion recognition after combined cognitive plus social-cognitive training in schizophrenia

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Christine I.; Bruce, Lori; Fisher, Melissa; Verosky, Sara C.; Miyakawa, Asako; Vinogradov, Sophia

2012-01-01

Cognitive remediation training has been shown to improve both cognitive and social-cognitive deficits in people with schizophrenia, but the mechanisms that support this behavioral improvement are largely unknown. One hypothesis is that intensive behavioral training in cognition and/or social-cognition restores the underlying neural mechanisms that support targeted skills. However, there is little research on the neural effects of cognitive remediation training. This study investigated whether a 50 hour (10-week) remediation intervention which included both cognitive and social-cognitive training would influence neural function in regions that support social-cognition. Twenty-two stable, outpatient schizophrenia participants were randomized to a treatment condition consisting of auditory-based cognitive training (AT) [Brain Fitness Program/auditory module ~60 minutes/day] plus social-cognition training (SCT) which was focused on emotion recognition [~5–15 minutes per day] or a placebo condition of non-specific computer games (CG) for an equal amount of time. Pre and post intervention assessments included an fMRI task of positive and negative facial emotion recognition, and standard behavioral assessments of cognition, emotion processing, and functional outcome. There were no significant intervention-related improvements in general cognition or functional outcome. FMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Specifically, in comparison to CG, AT+SCT participants had a greater pre-to-post intervention increase in postcentral gyrus activity during emotion recognition of both positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, among all participants, the increase in postcentral gyrus activity predicted behavioral improvement on a standardized test of emotion processing (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Results indicate that combined cognition and social-cognition training impacts neural mechanisms that support social-cognition skills. PMID:22695257

[Face recognition in patients with autism spectrum disorders].

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Kita, Yosuke; Inagaki, Masumi

2012-07-01

The present study aimed to review previous research conducted on face recognition in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Face recognition is a key question in the ASD research field because it can provide clues for elucidating the neural substrates responsible for the social impairment of these patients. Historically, behavioral studies have reported low performance and/or unique strategies of face recognition among ASD patients. However, the performance and strategy of ASD patients is comparable to those of the control group, depending on the experimental situation or developmental stage, suggesting that face recognition of ASD patients is not entirely impaired. Recent brain function studies, including event-related potential and functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, have investigated the cognitive process of face recognition in ASD patients, and revealed impaired function in the brain's neural network comprising the fusiform gyrus and amygdala. This impaired function is potentially involved in the diminished preference for faces, and in the atypical development of face recognition, eliciting symptoms of unstable behavioral characteristics in these patients. Additionally, face recognition in ASD patients is examined from a different perspective, namely self-face recognition, and facial emotion recognition. While the former topic is intimately linked to basic social abilities such as self-other discrimination, the latter is closely associated with mentalizing. Further research on face recognition in ASD patients should investigate the connection between behavioral and neurological specifics in these patients, by considering developmental changes and the spectrum clinical condition of ASD.

Vasopressin regulates social recognition in juvenile and adult rats of both sexes, but in sex- and age-specific ways.

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Veenema, A H; Bredewold, R; De Vries, G J

2012-01-01

In adult male rats, vasopressin (AVP) facilitates social recognition via activation of V1a receptors within the lateral septum. Much less is known about how AVP affects social recognition in adult females or in juvenile animals of either sex. We found that administration of the specific V1a receptor antagonist d(CH(2))(5)[Tyr(Me)(2)]AVP into the lateral septum of adult rats impaired, whereas AVP extended, social discrimination in both sexes. In juveniles, however, we detected a sex difference, such that males but not females showed social discrimination. Interestingly, administration of the V1a receptor antagonist to juveniles (either intracerebroventricularly or locally in the lateral septum) did not prevent social discrimination, but instead significantly decreased the investigation of a novel as opposed to a familiar animal in both sexes, with stronger effects in males. V1a receptors were found to be abundantly expressed in the lateral septum with higher binding density in females than in males. These findings demonstrate that activation of V1a receptors in the lateral septum is important for social recognition in both sexes, and that the roles of septal V1a receptors in social recognition change during development. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hessian-regularized co-training for social activity recognition.

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Liu, Weifeng; Li, Yang; Lin, Xu; Tao, Dacheng; Wang, Yanjiang

2014-01-01

Co-training is a major multi-view learning paradigm that alternately trains two classifiers on two distinct views and maximizes the mutual agreement on the two-view unlabeled data. Traditional co-training algorithms usually train a learner on each view separately and then force the learners to be consistent across views. Although many co-trainings have been developed, it is quite possible that a learner will receive erroneous labels for unlabeled data when the other learner has only mediocre accuracy. This usually happens in the first rounds of co-training, when there are only a few labeled examples. As a result, co-training algorithms often have unstable performance. In this paper, Hessian-regularized co-training is proposed to overcome these limitations. Specifically, each Hessian is obtained from a particular view of examples; Hessian regularization is then integrated into the learner training process of each view by penalizing the regression function along the potential manifold. Hessian can properly exploit the local structure of the underlying data manifold. Hessian regularization significantly boosts the generalizability of a classifier, especially when there are a small number of labeled examples and a large number of unlabeled examples. To evaluate the proposed method, extensive experiments were conducted on the unstructured social activity attribute (USAA) dataset for social activity recognition. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms baseline methods, including the traditional co-training and LapCo algorithms.

Hessian-regularized co-training for social activity recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weifeng Liu

Full Text Available Co-training is a major multi-view learning paradigm that alternately trains two classifiers on two distinct views and maximizes the mutual agreement on the two-view unlabeled data. Traditional co-training algorithms usually train a learner on each view separately and then force the learners to be consistent across views. Although many co-trainings have been developed, it is quite possible that a learner will receive erroneous labels for unlabeled data when the other learner has only mediocre accuracy. This usually happens in the first rounds of co-training, when there are only a few labeled examples. As a result, co-training algorithms often have unstable performance. In this paper, Hessian-regularized co-training is proposed to overcome these limitations. Specifically, each Hessian is obtained from a particular view of examples; Hessian regularization is then integrated into the learner training process of each view by penalizing the regression function along the potential manifold. Hessian can properly exploit the local structure of the underlying data manifold. Hessian regularization significantly boosts the generalizability of a classifier, especially when there are a small number of labeled examples and a large number of unlabeled examples. To evaluate the proposed method, extensive experiments were conducted on the unstructured social activity attribute (USAA dataset for social activity recognition. Our results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms baseline methods, including the traditional co-training and LapCo algorithms.

Loss of GluN2D subunit results in social recognition deficit, social stress, 5-HT2C receptor dysfunction, and anhedonia in mice.

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Yamamoto, Hideko; Kamegaya, Etsuko; Hagino, Yoko; Takamatsu, Yukio; Sawada, Wakako; Matsuzawa, Maaya; Ide, Soichiro; Yamamoto, Toshifumi; Mishina, Masayoshi; Ikeda, Kazutaka

2017-01-01

The N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor channel is involved in various physiological functions, including learning and memory. The GluN2D subunit of the NMDA receptor has low expression in the mature brain, and its role is not fully understood. In the present study, the effects of GluN2D subunit deficiency on emotional and cognitive function were investigated in GluN2D knockout (KO) mice. We found a reduction of motility (i.e., a depressive-like state) in the tail suspension test and a reduction of sucrose preference (i.e., an anhedonic state) in GluN2D KO mice that were group-housed with littermates. Despite apparently normal olfactory function and social interaction, GluN2D KO mice exhibited a decrease in preference for social novelty, suggesting a deficit in social recognition or memory. Golgi-Cox staining revealed a reduction of the complexity of dendritic trees in the accessory olfactory bulb in GluN2D KO mice, suggesting a deficit in pheromone processing pathway activation, which modulates social recognition. The deficit in social recognition may result in social stress in GluN2D KO mice. Isolation housing is a procedure that has been shown to reduce stress in mice. Interestingly, 3-week isolation and treatment with agomelatine or the 5-hydroxytryptamine-2C (5-HT 2C ) receptor antagonist SB242084 reversed the anhedonic-like state in GluN2D KO mice. In contrast, treatment with the 5-HT 2C receptor agonist CP809101 induced depressive- and anhedonic-like states in isolated GluN2D KO mice. These results suggest that social stress that is caused by a deficit in social recognition desensitizes 5-HT 2c receptors, followed by an anhedonic- and depressive-like state, in GluN2D KO mice. The GluN2D subunit of the NMDA receptor appears to be important for the recognition of individuals and development of normal emotionality in mice. 5-HT 2C receptor antagonism may be a therapeutic target for treating social stress-induced anhedonia. This article is part of the Special

The SocioBox: A novel paradigm to assess complex social recognition in male mice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dilja Krueger-Burg

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Impairments in social skills are central to mental disease, and developing tools for their assessment in mouse models is essential. Here we present the SocioBox, a new behavioral paradigm to measure social recognition memory. Using this paradigm, we show that male wildtype mice of different strains can readily identify an unfamiliar mouse among 5 newly acquainted animals. In contrast, female mice exhibit lower locomotor activity during social exploration in the SocioBox compared to males and do not seem to discriminate between acquainted and unfamiliar mice, likely reflecting inherent differences in gender-specific territorial tasks. In addition to a simple quantification of social interaction time of mice grounded on predefined spatial zones (zone-based method, we developed a set of unbiased, data-driven analysis tools based on heat map representations and characterized by greater sensitivity. First proof-of-principle that the SocioBox allows diagnosis of social recognition memory deficits is provided using male PSD-95 heterozygous knockout mice, a mouse model related to psychiatric pathophysiology.

Cataract influence on iris recognition performance

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Trokielewicz, Mateusz; Czajka, Adam; Maciejewicz, Piotr

2014-11-01

This paper presents the experimental study revealing weaker performance of the automatic iris recognition methods for cataract-affected eyes when compared to healthy eyes. There is little research on the topic, mostly incorporating scarce databases that are often deficient in images representing more than one illness. We built our own database, acquiring 1288 eye images of 37 patients of the Medical University of Warsaw. Those images represent several common ocular diseases, such as cataract, along with less ordinary conditions, such as iris pattern alterations derived from illness or eye trauma. Images were captured in near-infrared light (used in biometrics) and for selected cases also in visible light (used in ophthalmological diagnosis). Since cataract is a disorder that is most populated by samples in the database, in this paper we focus solely on this illness. To assess the extent of the performance deterioration we use three iris recognition methodologies (commercial and academic solutions) to calculate genuine match scores for healthy eyes and those influenced by cataract. Results show a significant degradation in iris recognition reliability manifesting by worsening the genuine scores in all three matchers used in this study (12% of genuine score increase for an academic matcher, up to 175% of genuine score increase obtained for an example commercial matcher). This increase in genuine scores affected the final false non-match rate in two matchers. To our best knowledge this is the only study of such kind that employs more than one iris matcher, and analyzes the iris image segmentation as a potential source of decreased reliability

Oxytocin (OT) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) act on OT receptors and not AVP V1a receptors to enhance social recognition in adult Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).

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Song, Zhimin; Larkin, Tony E; Malley, Maureen O'; Albers, H Elliott

2016-05-01

Social recognition is a fundamental requirement for all forms of social relationships. A majority of studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying social recognition in rodents have investigated relatively neutral social stimuli such as juveniles or ovariectomized females over short time intervals (e.g., 2h). The present study developed a new testing model to study social recognition among adult males using a potent social stimulus. Flank gland odors are used extensively in social communication in Syrian hamsters and convey important information such as dominance status. We found that the recognition of flank gland odors after a 3min exposure lasted for at least 24h, substantially longer than the recognition of other social cues in rats and mice. Intracerebroventricular injections of OT and AVP prolonged the recognition of flank gland odor for up to 48h. Selective OTR but not V1aR agonists, mimicked these enhancing effects of OT and AVP. Similarly, selective OTR but not V1aR antagonists blocked recognition of the odors after 20min. In contrast, the recognition of non-social stimuli was not blocked by either the OTR or the V1aR antagonists. Our findings suggest both OT and AVP enhance social recognition via acting on OTRs and not V1aRs and that the recognition enhancing effects of OT and AVP are limited to social stimuli. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Social and attention-to-detail subclusters of autistic traits differentially predict looking at eyes and face identity recognition ability.

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Davis, Joshua; McKone, Elinor; Zirnsak, Marc; Moore, Tirin; O'Kearney, Richard; Apthorp, Deborah; Palermo, Romina

2017-02-01

This study distinguished between different subclusters of autistic traits in the general population and examined the relationships between these subclusters, looking at the eyes of faces, and the ability to recognize facial identity. Using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) measure in a university-recruited sample, we separate the social aspects of autistic traits (i.e., those related to communication and social interaction; AQ-Social) from the non-social aspects, particularly attention-to-detail (AQ-Attention). We provide the first evidence that these social and non-social aspects are associated differentially with looking at eyes: While AQ-Social showed the commonly assumed tendency towards reduced looking at eyes, AQ-Attention was associated with increased looking at eyes. We also report that higher attention-to-detail (AQ-Attention) was then indirectly related to improved face recognition, mediated by increased number of fixations to the eyes during face learning. Higher levels of socially relevant autistic traits (AQ-Social) trended in the opposite direction towards being related to poorer face recognition (significantly so in females on the Cambridge Face Memory Test). There was no evidence of any mediated relationship between AQ-Social and face recognition via reduced looking at the eyes. These different effects of AQ-Attention and AQ-Social suggest face-processing studies in Autism Spectrum Disorder might similarly benefit from considering symptom subclusters. Additionally, concerning mechanisms of face recognition, our results support the view that more looking at eyes predicts better face memory. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Neural activity during emotion recognition after combined cognitive plus social cognitive training in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Christine I; Bruce, Lori; Fisher, Melissa; Verosky, Sara C; Miyakawa, Asako; Vinogradov, Sophia

2012-08-01

Cognitive remediation training has been shown to improve both cognitive and social cognitive deficits in people with schizophrenia, but the mechanisms that support this behavioral improvement are largely unknown. One hypothesis is that intensive behavioral training in cognition and/or social cognition restores the underlying neural mechanisms that support targeted skills. However, there is little research on the neural effects of cognitive remediation training. This study investigated whether a 50 h (10-week) remediation intervention which included both cognitive and social cognitive training would influence neural function in regions that support social cognition. Twenty-two stable, outpatient schizophrenia participants were randomized to a treatment condition consisting of auditory-based cognitive training (AT) [Brain Fitness Program/auditory module ~60 min/day] plus social cognition training (SCT) which was focused on emotion recognition [~5-15 min per day] or a placebo condition of non-specific computer games (CG) for an equal amount of time. Pre and post intervention assessments included an fMRI task of positive and negative facial emotion recognition, and standard behavioral assessments of cognition, emotion processing, and functional outcome. There were no significant intervention-related improvements in general cognition or functional outcome. fMRI results showed the predicted group-by-time interaction. Specifically, in comparison to CG, AT+SCT participants had a greater pre-to-post intervention increase in postcentral gyrus activity during emotion recognition of both positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, among all participants, the increase in postcentral gyrus activity predicted behavioral improvement on a standardized test of emotion processing (MSCEIT: Perceiving Emotions). Results indicate that combined cognition and social cognition training impacts neural mechanisms that support social cognition skills. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All

LSD Acutely Impairs Fear Recognition and Enhances Emotional Empathy and Sociality.

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Dolder, Patrick C; Schmid, Yasmin; Müller, Felix; Borgwardt, Stefan; Liechti, Matthias E

2016-10-01

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is used recreationally and has been evaluated as an adjunct to psychotherapy to treat anxiety in patients with life-threatening illness. LSD is well-known to induce perceptual alterations, but unknown is whether LSD alters emotional processing in ways that can support psychotherapy. We investigated the acute effects of LSD on emotional processing using the Face Emotion Recognition Task (FERT) and Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). The effects of LSD on social behavior were tested using the Social Value Orientation (SVO) test. Two similar placebo-controlled, double-blind, random-order, crossover studies were conducted using 100 μg LSD in 24 subjects and 200 μg LSD in 16 subjects. All of the subjects were healthy and mostly hallucinogen-naive 25- to 65-year-old volunteers (20 men, 20 women). LSD produced feelings of happiness, trust, closeness to others, enhanced explicit and implicit emotional empathy on the MET, and impaired the recognition of sad and fearful faces on the FERT. LSD enhanced the participants' desire to be with other people and increased their prosocial behavior on the SVO test. These effects of LSD on emotion processing and sociality may be useful for LSD-assisted psychotherapy.

Evaluation of Activity Recognition Algorithms for Employee Performance Monitoring

OpenAIRE

Mehreen Mumtaz; Hafiz Adnan Habib

2012-01-01

Successful Human Resource Management plays a key role in success of any organization. Traditionally, human resource managers rely on various information technology solutions such as Payroll and Work Time Systems incorporating RFID and biometric technologies. This research evaluates activity recognition algorithms for employee performance monitoring. An activity recognition algorithm has been implemented that categorized the activity of employee into following in to classes: job activities and...

Facial Emotion Recognition in Children with High Functioning Autism and Children with Social Phobia

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Nina; Beidel, Deborah C.; Sarver, Dustin E.; Sims, Valerie

2012-01-01

Recognizing facial affect is essential for effective social functioning. This study examines emotion recognition abilities in children aged 7-13 years with High Functioning Autism (HFA = 19), Social Phobia (SP = 17), or typical development (TD = 21). Findings indicate that all children identified certain emotions more quickly (e.g., happy [less…

Who is the boss? Individual recognition memory and social hierarchy formation in crayfish.

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Jiménez-Morales, Nayeli; Mendoza-Ángeles, Karina; Porras-Villalobos, Mercedes; Ibarra-Coronado, Elizabeth; Roldán-Roldán, Gabriel; Hernández-Falcón, Jesús

2018-01-01

Under laboratory conditions, crayfish establish hierarchical orders through agonistic encounters whose outcome defines the dominant one and one, or more, submissive animals. These agonistic encounters are ritualistic, based on threats, pushes, attacks, grabs, and avoidance behaviors that include retreats and escape responses. Agonistic behavior in a triad of unfamiliar, size-matched animals is intense on the first day of social interaction and the intensity fades on daily repetitions. The dominant animal keeps its status for long periods, and the submissive ones seem to remember 'who the boss is'. It has been assumed that animals remember and recognize their hierarchical status by urine signals, but the putative substance mediating this recognition has not been reported. The aim of this work was to characterize this hierarchical recognition memory. Triads of unfamiliar crayfish (male animals, size and weight-matched) were faced during standardized agonistic protocols for five consecutive days to analyze memory acquisition dynamics (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, dominant crayfish were shifted among triads to disclose whether hierarchy depended upon individual recognition memory or recognition of status. The maintenance of the hierarchical structure without behavioral reinforcement was assessed by immobilizing the dominant animal during eleven daily agonistic encounters, and considering any shift in the dominance order (Experiment 3). Standard amnesic treatments (anisomycin, scopolamine or cold-anesthesia) were given to all members of the triads immediately after the first interaction session to prevent individual recognition memory consolidation and evaluate its effect on the hierarchical order (Experiment 4). Acquisition of hierarchical recognition occurs at the first agonistic encounter and agonistic behavior gradually diminishes in the following days; animals keep their hierarchical order despite the inability of the dominant crayfish to attack the submissive

Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C. Bradler (Christiane); A.J. Dur (Robert); S. Neckermann (Susanne); J.A. Non (Arjan)

2013-01-01

textabstractThis paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly

Employee recognition and performance: A field experiment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bradler, C.; Dur, R.; Neckermann, S.; Non, J.A.

2013-01-01

This paper reports the results from a controlled field experiment designed to investigate the causal effect of public recognition on employee performance. We hired more than 300 employees to work on a three-hour data-entry task. In a random sample of work groups, workers unexpectedly received

Social Cognition in Borderline Personality Disorder: Evidence for Disturbed Recognition of the Emotions, Thoughts, and Intentions of Others

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Preißler

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Disturbed relatedness is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD, and impaired social cognition or deficits in mentalization are hypothesized to underlie this feature. To date, only weak empirical evidence argues for impairment in the recognition of emotions, thoughts, or intentions in BPD. Data from facial emotion recognition research indicate that these abilities are altered in BPD only if tasks are complex. The present study aims to assess social cognitive abilities in BPD. Sixty-four women with BPD and 38 healthy controls watched the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC, a newly developed film displaying social interactions, and asking for an assessment of the intentions, emotions, and thoughts of the characters. In addition, participants completed an established but less ecologically valid measure of social cognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes; RME. In the RME task, BPD patients did not display impairment in social cognition compared to healthy controls. By contrast, on the more sensitive MASC, women with BPD showed significantly impaired abilities in social cognition compared to healthy controls in their recognition of emotions, thoughts, and intentions. Comorbid PTSD, intrusions, and sexual trauma negatively predicted social cognitive abilities on the more sensitive MASC. Thus, our results suggest impaired social cognitive abilities in BPD. Especially for comorbid PTSD, intrusive symptoms and history of sexual trauma predicted poor outcomes on social cognition tasks.

Face recognition performance of individuals with Asperger syndrome on the Cambridge Face Memory Test.

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Hedley, Darren; Brewer, Neil; Young, Robyn

2011-12-01

Although face recognition deficits in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including Asperger syndrome (AS), are widely acknowledged, the empirical evidence is mixed. This in part reflects the failure to use standardized and psychometrically sound tests. We contrasted standardized face recognition scores on the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) for 34 individuals with AS with those for 42, IQ-matched non-ASD individuals, and age-standardized scores from a large Australian cohort. We also examined the influence of IQ, autistic traits, and negative affect on face recognition performance. Overall, participants with AS performed significantly worse on the CFMT than the non-ASD participants and when evaluated against standardized test norms. However, while 24% of participants with AS presented with severe face recognition impairment (>2 SDs below the mean), many individuals performed at or above the typical level for their age: 53% scored within +/- 1 SD of the mean and 9% demonstrated superior performance (>1 SD above the mean). Regression analysis provided no evidence that IQ, autistic traits, or negative affect significantly influenced face recognition: diagnostic group membership was the only significant predictor of face recognition performance. In sum, face recognition performance in ASD is on a continuum, but with average levels significantly below non-ASD levels of performance. Copyright © 2011, International Society for Autism Research, Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Primate Auditory Recognition Memory Performance Varies With Sound Type

OpenAIRE

Chi-Wing, Ng; Bethany, Plakke; Amy, Poremba

2009-01-01

Neural correlates of auditory processing, including for species-specific vocalizations that convey biological and ethological significance (e.g. social status, kinship, environment),have been identified in a wide variety of areas including the temporal and frontal cortices. However, few studies elucidate how non-human primates interact with these vocalization signals when they are challenged by tasks requiring auditory discrimination, recognition, and/or memory. The present study employs a de...

Primate auditory recognition memory performance varies with sound type.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Chi-Wing; Plakke, Bethany; Poremba, Amy

2009-10-01

Neural correlates of auditory processing, including for species-specific vocalizations that convey biological and ethological significance (e.g., social status, kinship, environment), have been identified in a wide variety of areas including the temporal and frontal cortices. However, few studies elucidate how non-human primates interact with these vocalization signals when they are challenged by tasks requiring auditory discrimination, recognition and/or memory. The present study employs a delayed matching-to-sample task with auditory stimuli to examine auditory memory performance of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), wherein two sounds are determined to be the same or different. Rhesus macaques seem to have relatively poor short-term memory with auditory stimuli, and we examine if particular sound types are more favorable for memory performance. Experiment 1 suggests memory performance with vocalization sound types (particularly monkey), are significantly better than when using non-vocalization sound types, and male monkeys outperform female monkeys overall. Experiment 2, controlling for number of sound exemplars and presentation pairings across types, replicates Experiment 1, demonstrating better performance or decreased response latencies, depending on trial type, to species-specific monkey vocalizations. The findings cannot be explained by acoustic differences between monkey vocalizations and the other sound types, suggesting the biological, and/or ethological meaning of these sounds are more effective for auditory memory. 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Long-term cannabidiol treatment prevents the development of social recognition memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease transgenic mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, David; Spiro, Adena S; Jenner, Andrew M; Garner, Brett; Karl, Tim

2014-01-01

Impairments in cognitive ability and widespread pathophysiological changes caused by neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation, oxidative damage, and altered cholesterol homeostasis are associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cannabidiol (CBD) has been shown to reverse cognitive deficits of AD transgenic mice and to exert neuroprotective, anti-oxidative, and anti-inflammatory properties in vitro and in vivo. Here we evaluate the preventative properties of long-term CBD treatment in male AβPPSwe/PS1ΔE9 (AβPP × PS1) mice, a transgenic model of AD. Control and AD transgenic mice were treated orally from 2.5 months of age with CBD (20 mg/kg) daily for 8 months. Mice were then assessed in the social preference test, elevated plus maze, and fear conditioning paradigms, before cortical and hippocampal tissues were analyzed for amyloid load, oxidative damage, cholesterol, phytosterols, and inflammation. We found that AβPP × PS1 mice developed a social recognition deficit, which was prevented by CBD treatment. CBD had no impact on anxiety or associative learning. The prevention of the social recognition deficit was not associated with any changes in amyloid load or oxidative damage. However, the study revealed a subtle impact of CBD on neuroinflammation, cholesterol, and dietary phytosterol retention, which deserves further investigation. This study is the first to demonstrate CBD's ability to prevent the development of a social recognition deficit in AD transgenic mice. Our findings provide the first evidence that CBD may have potential as a preventative treatment for AD with a particular relevance for symptoms of social withdrawal and facial recognition.

MK-801-induced deficits in social recognition in rats: reversal by aripiprazole, but not olanzapine, risperidone, or cannabidiol.

Science.gov (United States)

Deiana, Serena; Watanabe, Akihito; Yamasaki, Yuki; Amada, Naoki; Kikuchi, Tetsuro; Stott, Colin; Riedel, Gernot

2015-12-01

Deficiencies in social activities are hallmarks of numerous brain disorders. With respect to schizophrenia, social withdrawal belongs to the category of negative symptoms and is associated with deficits in the cognitive domain. Here, we used the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801) for induction of social withdrawal in rats and assessed the efficacy of several atypical antipsychotics with different pharmacological profiles as putative treatment. In addition, we reasoned that the marijuana constituent cannabidiol (CBD) may provide benefit or could be proposed as an adjunct treatment in combination with antipsychotics. Hooded Lister rats were tested in the three-chamber version for social interaction, with an initial novelty phase, followed after 3 min by a short-term recognition memory phase. No drug treatment affected sociability. However, distinct effects on social recognition were revealed. MK-801 reduced social recognition memory at all doses (>0.03 mg/kg). Predosing with aripiprazole dose-dependently (2 or 10 mg/kg) prevented the memory decline, but doses of 0.1 mg/kg risperidone or 1 mg/kg olanzapine did not. Intriguingly, CBD impaired social recognition memory (12 and 30 mg/kg) but did not rescue the MK-801-induced deficits. When CBD was combined with protective doses of aripiprazole (CBD-aripiprazole at 12 :  or 5 : 2 mg/kg) the benefit of the antipsychotic was lost. At the same time, activity-related changes in behaviour were excluded as underlying reasons for these pharmacological effects. Collectively, the combined activity of aripiprazole on dopamine D2 and serotonin 5HT1A receptors appears to provide a significant advantage over risperidone and olanzapine with respect to the rescue of cognitive deficits reminiscent of schizophrenia. The differential pharmacological properties of CBD, which are seemingly beneficial in human patients, did not back-translate and rescue the MK-801-induced social memory deficit.

Joint Attention, Social-Cognition, and Recognition Memory in Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kwanguk; Mundy, Peter

2012-01-01

The early emerging capacity for Joint Attention (JA), or socially coordinated visual attention, is thought to be integral to the development of social-cognition in childhood. Recent studies have also begun to suggest that JA affects adult cognition as well, but methodological limitations hamper research on this topic. To address this issue we developed a novel virtual reality paradigm that integrates eye-tracking and virtual avatar technology to measure two types of JA in adults, Initiating Joint Attention (IJA) and Responding to Joint Attention (RJA). Distinguishing these types of JA in research is important because they are thought to reflect unique, as well as common constellations of processes involved in human social-cognition and social learning. We tested the validity of the differentiation of IJA and RJA in our paradigm in two studies of picture recognition memory in undergraduate students. Study 1 indicated that young adults correctly identified more pictures they had previously viewed in an IJA condition (67%) than in a RJA (58%) condition, η2 = 0.57. Study 2 controlled for IJA and RJA stimulus viewing time differences, and replicated the findings of Study 1. The implications of these results for the validity of the paradigm and research on the affects of JA on adult social-cognition are discussed. PMID:22712011

Job stress, recognition, job performance and intention to stay at work among Jordanian hospital nurses.

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AbuAlRub, Raeda Fawzi; Al-Zaru, Ibtisam Moawiah

2008-04-01

To investigate: (1) relationships between job stress, recognition of nurses' performance, job performance and intention to stay among hospital nurses; and (2) the buffering effect of recognition of staff performance on the 'stress-intention to stay at work' relationship. Workplace stress tremendously affects today's workforce. Recognition of nurses' performance needs further investigation to determine if it enhances the level of intention to stay at work and if it can buffer the negative effects of stress on nurses' intention to stay at work. The sample of the present study was a convenience one. It consisted of 206 Jordanian staff nurses who completed a structured questionnaire. The findings of the study indicated a direct and a buffering effect of recognition of nurses' performance on job stress and the level of intention to stay at work. The results of the study indicated the importance of recognition for outstanding performance as well as achievements. Implications for nursing management The results of this study support the need to focus on the implementation of recognition strategies in the workplace to reduce job stress and enhance retention.

The Interplay between Gaze Following, Emotion Recognition, and Empathy across Adolescence; a Pubertal Dip in Performance?

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Rianne van Rooijen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available During puberty a dip in face recognition is often observed, possibly caused by heightened levels of gonadal hormones which in turn affects the re-organization of relevant cortical circuitry. In the current study we investigated whether a pubertal dip could be observed in three other abilities related to social information processing: gaze following, emotion recognition from the eyes, and empathizing abilities. Across these abilities we further explored whether these measurements revealed sex differences as another way to understand how gonadal hormones affect processing of social information. Results show that across adolescence, there are improvements in emotion recognition from the eyes and in empathizing abilities. These improvements did not show a dip, but are more plateau-like. The gaze cueing effect did not change over adolescence. We only observed sex differences in empathizing abilities, with girls showing higher scores than boys. Based on these results it appears that gonadal hormones are not exerting a unified influence on higher levels of social information processing. Further research should also explore changes in (visual information processing around puberty onset to find a more fitted explanation for changes in social behavior across adolescence.

Impaired recognition of social emotion in patients with complex regional pain syndrome.

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Shin, Na Young; Kang, Do-Hyung; Jang, Joon Hwan; Park, Soo Young; Hwang, Jae Yeon; Kim, Sung Nyun; Byun, Min Soo; Park, Hye Youn; Kim, Yong Chul

2013-11-01

Multiple brain areas involved in nociceptive, autonomic, and social-emotional processing are disproportionally changed in patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). Little empirical evidence is available involving social cognitive functioning in patients with chronic pain conditions. We investigated the ability of patients with CRPS to recognize the mental/emotional states of other people. Forty-three patients with CRPS and 30 healthy controls performed the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test, which consists of photos in which human eyes express various emotional and mental states. Neuropsychological tests, including the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the stop-signal test, and the reaction time test, were administered to evaluate other cognitive functions. Patients with CRPS were significantly less accurate at recognizing emotional states in other persons, but not on other cognitive tests, compared with control subjects. We found a significant association between the deficit in social-emotion recognition and the affective dimension of pain, whereas this deficit was not related to the sensory dimension of pain. Our findings suggest a disrupted ability to recognize others' mental/emotional states in patients with CRPS. This article demonstrated a deficit in inferring mental/emotional states of others in patients with CRPS that was related to pain affect. Our study suggests that additional interventions directed toward reducing distressful affective pain may be helpful to restore social cognitive processing in patients with CRPS. Copyright © 2013 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Corporate social Responsibility : Linkage Business Performance and Social Performance

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Tengku Ezni Balqiah

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Various types of corporate social responsibility (CSR are perceived differently by parties associated with those activities because CSR is driven by different motives. This study investigates how CSR activities – CSR activities concerning health and well-being of mothers and children – act as liaisons between business performance (brand attitude and loyalty and social performance (children’s quality of life. A survey was conducted in Indonesia on 450 respondents–customers of firms in industries related to natural resources and in regards to children’s well-being. The data were considered via factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. The results show business, stakeholder, and moral motives. Brand attitude and loyalty can influence perceptions toward these motive. Further, these motives could increase or decrease social performance. Companies should consider the type of CSR activities to engage in because the activities can be perceived as being driven by different motives and have different impacts on social performance. This result suggests that companies can harmonize business aspects and social aspects of CSR in creating value.

Neural basis of distorted self-face recognition in social anxiety disorder

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Min-Kyeong Kim

2016-01-01

Conclusion: Patients with SAD have a positive point of view of their own face and experience self-relevance for the attractively transformed self-faces. This distorted cognition may be based on dysfunctions in the frontal and inferior parietal regions. The abnormal engagement of the fronto-parietal attentional network during processing face stimuli in non-social situations may be linked to distorted self-recognition in SAD.

Theory of mind and its relationship with executive functions and emotion recognition in borderline personality disorder.

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Baez, Sandra; Marengo, Juan; Perez, Ana; Huepe, David; Font, Fernanda Giralt; Rial, Veronica; Gonzalez-Gadea, María Luz; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2015-09-01

Impaired social cognition has been claimed to be a mechanism underlying the development and maintenance of borderline personality disorder (BPD). One important aspect of social cognition is the theory of mind (ToM), a complex skill that seems to be influenced by more basic processes, such as executive functions (EF) and emotion recognition. Previous ToM studies in BPD have yielded inconsistent results. This study assessed the performance of BPD adults on ToM, emotion recognition, and EF tasks. We also examined whether EF and emotion recognition could predict the performance on ToM tasks. We evaluated 15 adults with BPD and 15 matched healthy controls using different tasks of EF, emotion recognition, and ToM. The results showed that BPD adults exhibited deficits in the three domains, which seem to be task-dependent. Furthermore, we found that EF and emotion recognition predicted the performance on ToM. Our results suggest that tasks that involve real-life social scenarios and contextual cues are more sensitive to detect ToM and emotion recognition deficits in BPD individuals. Our findings also indicate that (a) ToM variability in BPD is partially explained by individual differences on EF and emotion recognition; and (b) ToM deficits of BPD patients are partially explained by the capacity to integrate cues from face, prosody, gesture, and social context to identify the emotions and others' beliefs. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

The Impact of Image Quality on the Performance of Face Recognition

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Dutta, A.; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Spreeuwers, Lieuwe Jan

The performance of a face recognition system depends on the quality of both test and reference images participating in the face comparison process. In a forensic evaluation case involving face recognition, we do not have any control over the quality of the trace (image captured by a CCTV at a crime

Recognizing "me" benefits "we": Investigating the positive spillover effects of formal individual recognition in teams.

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Li, Ning; Zheng, Xiaoming; Harris, T Brad; Liu, Xin; Kirkman, Bradley L

2016-07-01

Many organizations use formal recognition programs (e.g., "employee of the month") as a way to publically acknowledge an individual employee's outstanding performance and motivate continued high performance. However, it remains unclear whether emphasizing individual achievement in a team context is beneficial or detrimental for recipients' teammates and, by extension, the team as a whole. Drawing on a social influence perspective, we examine potential spillover effects of individual formal recognition programs in teams. We hypothesize that a single team member's recognition will produce positive spillover effects on other team members' performance, as well as overall team performance, via social influence processes, especially when the award recipient is located in a central position in a team. Findings from 2 lab experiments of 24 teams and 40 teams (Study 1 and Study 2, respectively) and a field experiment of 52 manufacturing teams (Study 3) reveal that formally recognizing a team member leads to positive changes in her/his teammates' individual and collective performance. Thus, formal social recognition programs can potentially provide a motivational effect beyond individual recipients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of repeated 9 and 30-day exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on social recognition behavior and estrogen receptors expression in olfactory bulb of Wistar female rats.

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Bernal-Mondragón, C; Arriaga-Avila, V; Martínez-Abundis, E; Barrera-Mera, B; Mercado-Gómez, O; Guevara-Guzmán, R

2017-02-01

We investigated the short- and long-term effects of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (EMF) on social recognition behavior and expression of α- and β-estrogen receptors (ER). Rats were exposed to 60-Hz electromagnetic fields for 9 or 30 days and tested for social recognition behavior. Immunohistochemistry and western blot assays were performed to evaluate α- and β-ER expression in the olfactory bulb of intact, ovariectomized (OVX), and ovariectomized+estradiol (E2) replacement (OVX+E2). Ovariectomization showed impairment of social recognition after 9 days of EMF exposure and a complete recovery after E2 replacement and so did those after 30 days. Short EMF exposure increased expression of β-ER in intact, but not in the others. Longer exposure produced a decrease in intact but an increase in OVX and OVX+E2. Our findings suggest a significant role for β-estrogen receptors and a lack of effect for α-estrogen receptors on a social recognition task. EMF: extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields; ERs: estrogen receptors; OB: olfactory bulb; OVX: ovariectomized; OVX + E 2 : ovariectomized + estradiol replacement; IEI: interexposure interval; β-ER: beta estrogen receptor; E 2 : replacement of estradiol; GAPDH: glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; WB: Western blot; PBS: phosphate-buffer saline; PB: phosphate-buffer.

Joint attention, social cognition and recognition memory in adults

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Kwanguk eKim

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The early emerging capacity for Joint Attention, or socially coordinated visual attention, is thought to be integral to the development of social-cognition in childhood. Recent studies have also begun to suggest that joint attention affects adult cognition as well, but methodological limitations hamper research on this topic. To address this issue we developed a novel virtual reality (VR paradigm that integrates eye-tracking and virtual avatar technology to measure two types of joint attention in adults, Initiating Joint Attention (IJA and Responding to Joint Attention (RJA. Distinguishing these types of joint attention in research is important because they are thought to reflect unique, as well as common constellations of processes involved in human social-cognition and social learning. We tested the validity of the differentiation of IJA and RJA in our paradigm in two studies of picture recognition memory in undergraduate students. Study 1 indicated that young adults correctly identified more pictures they had previously viewed in an IJA condition (67% than in a RJA (58% condition, η2 = .57. Study 2 controlled for IJA and RJA stimulus viewing time differences, and replicated the findings of Study 1. The implications of these results for the validity of the paradigm and research on the affects of joint attention on adult social-cognition are discussed.

Digital Technologies for Social Innovation: An Empirical Recognition on the New Enablers

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Riccardo Maiolini

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Even though scholars’ attention has been placed on Social Innovation (SI, little evidence has been provided with regards to which tools are actually used to address social needs and foster Social Innovation initiatives. The purpose of the article is twofold. Firstly, the article offers empirical recognition to SI by investigating, on a large-scale, social and innovative activities conducted by start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs across the world between 2001 and 2014. Secondly, the article intends to capture SI core businesses and underlying complementarities between products, markets, and technologies and show in which way digital media and IT are essentially tracing innovation trajectories over a multitude of industries, leading the current industrial patterns of SI, and continually fostering its cross-industry nature.

Friends with Faces: How Social Networks Can Enhance Face Recognition and Vice Versa

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Mavridis, Nikolaos; Kazmi, Wajahat; Toulis, Panos

The "friendship" relation, a social relation among individuals, is one of the primary relations modeled in some of the world's largest online social networking sites, such as "FaceBook." On the other hand, the "co-occurrence" relation, as a relation among faces appearing in pictures, is one that is easily detectable using modern face detection techniques. These two relations, though appearing in different realms (social vs. visual sensory), have a strong correlation: faces that co-occur in photos often belong to individuals who are friends. Using real-world data gathered from "Facebook," which were gathered as part of the "FaceBots" project, the world's first physical face-recognizing and conversing robot that can utilize and publish information on "Facebook" was established. We present here methods as well as results for utilizing this correlation in both directions. Both algorithms for utilizing knowledge of the social context for faster and better face recognition are given, as well as algorithms for estimating the friendship network of a number of individuals given photos containing their faces. The results are quite encouraging. In the primary example, doubling of the recognition accuracy as well as a sixfold improvement in speed is demonstrated. Various improvements, interesting statistics, as well as an empirical investigation leading to predictions of scalability to much bigger data sets are discussed.

[Comparative studies of face recognition].

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Kawai, Nobuyuki

2012-07-01

Every human being is proficient in face recognition. However, the reason for and the manner in which humans have attained such an ability remain unknown. These questions can be best answered-through comparative studies of face recognition in non-human animals. Studies in both primates and non-primates show that not only primates, but also non-primates possess the ability to extract information from their conspecifics and from human experimenters. Neural specialization for face recognition is shared with mammals in distant taxa, suggesting that face recognition evolved earlier than the emergence of mammals. A recent study indicated that a social insect, the golden paper wasp, can distinguish their conspecific faces, whereas a closely related species, which has a less complex social lifestyle with just one queen ruling a nest of underlings, did not show strong face recognition for their conspecifics. Social complexity and the need to differentiate between one another likely led humans to evolve their face recognition abilities.

Gender recognition from unconstrained and articulated human body.

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Wu, Qin; Guo, Guodong

2014-01-01

Gender recognition has many useful applications, ranging from business intelligence to image search and social activity analysis. Traditional research on gender recognition focuses on face images in a constrained environment. This paper proposes a method for gender recognition in articulated human body images acquired from an unconstrained environment in the real world. A systematic study of some critical issues in body-based gender recognition, such as which body parts are informative, how many body parts are needed to combine together, and what representations are good for articulated body-based gender recognition, is also presented. This paper also pursues data fusion schemes and efficient feature dimensionality reduction based on the partial least squares estimation. Extensive experiments are performed on two unconstrained databases which have not been explored before for gender recognition.

Gender Recognition from Unconstrained and Articulated Human Body

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Wu, Qin; Guo, Guodong

2014-01-01

Gender recognition has many useful applications, ranging from business intelligence to image search and social activity analysis. Traditional research on gender recognition focuses on face images in a constrained environment. This paper proposes a method for gender recognition in articulated human body images acquired from an unconstrained environment in the real world. A systematic study of some critical issues in body-based gender recognition, such as which body parts are informative, how many body parts are needed to combine together, and what representations are good for articulated body-based gender recognition, is also presented. This paper also pursues data fusion schemes and efficient feature dimensionality reduction based on the partial least squares estimation. Extensive experiments are performed on two unconstrained databases which have not been explored before for gender recognition. PMID:24977203

Computer-Assisted Face Processing Instruction Improves Emotion Recognition, Mentalizing, and Social Skills in Students with ASD

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Rice, Linda Marie; Wall, Carla Anne; Fogel, Adam; Shic, Frederick

2015-01-01

This study examined the extent to which a computer-based social skills intervention called "FaceSay"™ was associated with improvements in affect recognition, mentalizing, and social skills of school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). "FaceSay"™ offers students simulated practice with eye gaze, joint attention,…

How fast is famous face recognition?

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Gladys eBarragan-Jason

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The rapid recognition of familiar faces is crucial for social interactions. However the actual speed with which recognition can be achieved remains largely unknown as most studies have been carried out without any speed constraints. Different paradigms have been used, leading to conflicting results, and although many authors suggest that face recognition is fast, the speed of face recognition has not been directly compared to fast visual tasks. In this study, we sought to overcome these limitations. Subjects performed three tasks, a familiarity categorization task (famous faces among unknown faces, a superordinate categorization task (human faces among animal ones and a gender categorization task. All tasks were performed under speed constraints. The results show that, despite the use of speed constraints, subjects were slow when they had to categorize famous faces: minimum reaction time was 467 ms, which is 180 ms more than during superordinate categorization and 160 ms more than in the gender condition. Our results are compatible with a hierarchy of face processing from the superordinate level to the familiarity level. The processes taking place between detection and recognition need to be investigated in detail.

Attention to Social Stimuli and Facial Identity Recognition Skills in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Wilson, C. E.; Brock, J.; Palermo, R.

2010-01-01

Background: Previous research suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a reduced preference for viewing social stimuli in the environment and impaired facial identity recognition. Methods: Here, we directly tested a link between these two phenomena in 13 ASD children and 13 age-matched typically developing (TD) controls.…

Support vector machine for automatic pain recognition

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Monwar, Md Maruf; Rezaei, Siamak

2009-02-01

Facial expressions are a key index of emotion and the interpretation of such expressions of emotion is critical to everyday social functioning. In this paper, we present an efficient video analysis technique for recognition of a specific expression, pain, from human faces. We employ an automatic face detector which detects face from the stored video frame using skin color modeling technique. For pain recognition, location and shape features of the detected faces are computed. These features are then used as inputs to a support vector machine (SVM) for classification. We compare the results with neural network based and eigenimage based automatic pain recognition systems. The experiment results indicate that using support vector machine as classifier can certainly improve the performance of automatic pain recognition system.

Automatic target recognition performance losses in the presence of atmospheric and camera effects

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Chen, Xiaohan; Schmid, Natalia A.

2010-04-01

The importance of networked automatic target recognition systems for surveillance applications is continuously increasing. Because of the requirement of a low cost and limited payload, these networks are traditionally equipped with lightweight, low-cost sensors such as electro-optical (EO) or infrared sensors. The quality of imagery acquired by these sensors critically depends on the environmental conditions, type and characteristics of sensors, and absence of occluding or concealing objects. In the past, a large number of efficient detection, tracking, and recognition algorithms have been designed to operate on imagery of good quality. However, detection and recognition limits under nonideal environmental and/or sensor-based distortions have not been carefully evaluated. We introduce a fully automatic target recognition system that involves a Haar-based detector to select potential regions of interest within images, performs adjustment of detected regions, segments potential targets using a region-based approach, identifies targets using Bessel K form-based encoding, and performs clutter rejection. We investigate the effects of environmental and camera conditions on target detection and recognition performance. Two databases are involved. One is a simulated database generated using a 3-D tool. The other database is formed by imaging 10 die-cast models of military vehicles from different elevation and orientation angles. The database contains imagery acquired both indoors and outdoors. The indoors data set is composed of clear and distorted images. The distortions include defocus blur, sided illumination, low contrast, shadows, and occlusions. All images in this database, however, have a uniform (blue) background. The indoors database is applied to evaluate the degradations of recognition performance due to camera and illumination effects. The database collected outdoors includes a real background and is much more complex to process. The numerical results

Emotional facial expressions differentially influence predictions and performance for face recognition.

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Nomi, Jason S; Rhodes, Matthew G; Cleary, Anne M

2013-01-01

This study examined how participants' predictions of future memory performance are influenced by emotional facial expressions. Participants made judgements of learning (JOLs) predicting the likelihood that they would correctly identify a face displaying a happy, angry, or neutral emotional expression in a future two-alternative forced-choice recognition test of identity (i.e., recognition that a person's face was seen before). JOLs were higher for studied faces with happy and angry emotional expressions than for neutral faces. However, neutral test faces with studied neutral expressions had significantly higher identity recognition rates than neutral test faces studied with happy or angry expressions. Thus, these data are the first to demonstrate that people believe happy and angry emotional expressions will lead to better identity recognition in the future relative to neutral expressions. This occurred despite the fact that neutral expressions elicited better identity recognition than happy and angry expressions. These findings contribute to the growing literature examining the interaction of cognition and emotion.

[Neurological disease and facial recognition].

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Kawamura, Mitsuru; Sugimoto, Azusa; Kobayakawa, Mutsutaka; Tsuruya, Natsuko

2012-07-01

To discuss the neurological basis of facial recognition, we present our case reports of impaired recognition and a review of previous literature. First, we present a case of infarction and discuss prosopagnosia, which has had a large impact on face recognition research. From a study of patient symptoms, we assume that prosopagnosia may be caused by unilateral right occipitotemporal lesion and right cerebral dominance of facial recognition. Further, circumscribed lesion and degenerative disease may also cause progressive prosopagnosia. Apperceptive prosopagnosia is observed in patients with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), pathologically considered as Alzheimer's disease, and associative prosopagnosia in frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). Second, we discuss face recognition as part of communication. Patients with Parkinson disease show social cognitive impairments, such as difficulty in facial expression recognition and deficits in theory of mind as detected by the reading the mind in the eyes test. Pathological and functional imaging studies indicate that social cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease is possibly related to damages in the amygdalae and surrounding limbic system. The social cognitive deficits can be observed in the early stages of Parkinson disease, and even in the prodromal stage, for example, patients with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) show impairment in facial expression recognition. Further, patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM 1), which is a multisystem disease that mainly affects the muscles, show social cognitive impairment similar to that of Parkinson disease. Our previous study showed that facial expression recognition impairment of DM 1 patients is associated with lesion in the amygdalae and insulae. Our study results indicate that behaviors and personality traits in DM 1 patients, which are revealed by social cognitive impairment, are attributable to dysfunction of the limbic system.

Effects of compression and individual variability on face recognition performance

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McGarry, Delia P.; Arndt, Craig M.; McCabe, Steven A.; D'Amato, Donald P.

2004-08-01

The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 requires that the Visa Waiver Program be available only to countries that have a program to issue to their nationals machine-readable passports incorporating biometric identifiers complying with applicable standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In June 2002, the New Technologies Working Group of ICAO unanimously endorsed the use of face recognition (FR) as the globally interoperable biometric for machine-assisted identity confirmation with machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs), although Member States may elect to use fingerprint and/or iris recognition as additional biometric technologies. The means and formats are still being developed through which biometric information might be stored in the constrained space of integrated circuit chips embedded within travel documents. Such information will be stored in an open, yet unalterable and very compact format, probably as digitally signed and efficiently compressed images. The objective of this research is to characterize the many factors that affect FR system performance with respect to the legislated mandates concerning FR. A photograph acquisition environment and a commercial face recognition system have been installed at Mitretek, and over 1,400 images have been collected of volunteers. The image database and FR system are being used to analyze the effects of lossy image compression, individual differences, such as eyeglasses and facial hair, and the acquisition environment on FR system performance. Images are compressed by varying ratios using JPEG2000 to determine the trade-off points between recognition accuracy and compression ratio. The various acquisition factors that contribute to differences in FR system performance among individuals are also being measured. The results of this study will be used to refine and test efficient face image interchange standards that ensure highly accurate recognition, both

Changing facial affect recognition in schizophrenia: Effects of training on brain dynamics

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Petia Popova

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Deficits in social cognition including facial affect recognition and their detrimental effects on functional outcome are well established in schizophrenia. Structured training can have substantial effects on social cognitive measures including facial affect recognition. Elucidating training effects on cortical mechanisms involved in facial affect recognition may identify causes of dysfunctional facial affect recognition in schizophrenia and foster remediation strategies. In the present study, 57 schizophrenia patients were randomly assigned to (a computer-based facial affect training that focused on affect discrimination and working memory in 20 daily 1-hour sessions, (b similarly intense, targeted cognitive training on auditory-verbal discrimination and working memory, or (c treatment as usual. Neuromagnetic activity was measured before and after training during a dynamic facial affect recognition task (5 s videos showing human faces gradually changing from neutral to fear or to happy expressions. Effects on 10–13 Hz (alpha power during the transition from neutral to emotional expressions were assessed via MEG based on previous findings that alpha power increase is related to facial affect recognition and is smaller in schizophrenia than in healthy subjects. Targeted affect training improved overt performance on the training tasks. Moreover, alpha power increase during the dynamic facial affect recognition task was larger after affect training than after treatment-as-usual, though similar to that after targeted perceptual–cognitive training, indicating somewhat nonspecific benefits. Alpha power modulation was unrelated to general neuropsychological test performance, which improved in all groups. Results suggest that specific neural processes supporting facial affect recognition, evident in oscillatory phenomena, are modifiable. This should be considered when developing remediation strategies targeting social cognition in schizophrenia.

Viewpoint Integration for Hand-Based Recognition of Social Interactions from a First-Person View.

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Bambach, Sven; Crandall, David J; Yu, Chen

2015-11-01

Wearable devices are becoming part of everyday life, from first-person cameras (GoPro, Google Glass), to smart watches (Apple Watch), to activity trackers (FitBit). These devices are often equipped with advanced sensors that gather data about the wearer and the environment. These sensors enable new ways of recognizing and analyzing the wearer's everyday personal activities, which could be used for intelligent human-computer interfaces and other applications. We explore one possible application by investigating how egocentric video data collected from head-mounted cameras can be used to recognize social activities between two interacting partners (e.g. playing chess or cards). In particular, we demonstrate that just the positions and poses of hands within the first-person view are highly informative for activity recognition, and present a computer vision approach that detects hands to automatically estimate activities. While hand pose detection is imperfect, we show that combining evidence across first-person views from the two social partners significantly improves activity recognition accuracy. This result highlights how integrating weak but complimentary sources of evidence from social partners engaged in the same task can help to recognize the nature of their interaction.

Vomeronasal organ lesion disrupts social odor recognition, behaviors and fitness in golden hamsters.

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Liu, Yingjuan; Zhang, Jinhua; Liu, Dingzhen; Zhang, Jianxu

2014-06-01

Most studies support the viewpoint that the vomeronasal organ has a profound effect on conspecific odor recognition, scent marking and mating behavior in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). However, the role of the vomeronasal organ in social odor recognition, social interaction and fitness is not well understood. Therefore, we conducted a series of behavioral and physiological tests to examine the referred points in golden hamster. We found that male hamsters with vomeronasal organ lesion showed no preference between a predator odor (the anal gland secretion of the Siberian weasels (Mustela sibirica) and putative female pheromone components (myristic acid and palmitic acid), but were still able to discriminate between these 2 kinds of odors. In behavioral tests of anxiety, we found that vomeronasal organ removal causes female hamsters to spend much less time in center grids and to cross fewer center grids and males to make fewer crossings between light and dark boxes than sham-operated controls. This indicates that a chronic vomeronasal organ lesion induced anxious responses in females. In aggressive behavioral tests, we found that a chronic vomeronasal organ lesion decreased agonistic behavior in female hamsters but not in males. The pup growth and litter size show no differences between the 2 groups. All together, our data suggested that vomeronasal organ ablation disrupted the olfactory recognition of social chemosignals in males, and induced anxiety-like and aggressive behavior changes in females. However, a vomeronasal organ lesion did not affect the reproductive capacity and fitness of hamsters. Our studies may have important implications concerning the role of the vomeronasal organ in golden hamsters and also in rodents. © 2013 International Society of Zoological Sciences, Institute of Zoology/Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Helping, mediating, and gaining recognition: The everyday identity work of Romanian health social workers.

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Ciocănel, Alexandra; Lazăr, Florin; Munch, Shari; Harmon, Cara; Rentea, Georgiana-Cristina; Gaba, Daniela; Mihai, Anca

2018-03-01

Health social work is a field with challenges, opportunities, and ways of professing social work that may vary between different national contexts. In this article, we look at how Romanian health social workers construct their professional identity through their everyday identity work. Drawing on a qualitative study based on interviews with 21 health social workers working in various organizational contexts, we analyze what health social workers say they do and how this shapes their self-conception as professionals. Four main themes emerged from participants' descriptions: being a helping professional, being a mediator, gaining recognition, and contending with limits. Through these themes, participants articulated the everyday struggles and satisfactions specific to working as recently recognized professionals in Romanian health and welfare systems not always supportive of their work.

Predicting Performance of a Face Recognition System Based on Image Quality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dutta, A.

2015-01-01

In this dissertation, we focus on several aspects of models that aim to predict performance of a face recognition system. Performance prediction models are commonly based on the following two types of performance predictor features: a) image quality features; and b) features derived solely from

Indomethacin counteracts the effects of chronic social defeat stress on emotional but not recognition memory in mice.

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Duque, Aránzazu; Vinader-Caerols, Concepción; Monleón, Santiago

2017-01-01

We have previously observed the impairing effects of chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) on emotional memory in mice. Given the relation between stress and inflammatory processes, we sought to study the effectiveness of the anti-inflammatory indomethacin in reversing the detrimental effects of CSDS on emotional memory in mice. The effects of CSDS and indomethacin on recognition memory were also evaluated. Male CD1 mice were randomly divided into four groups: non-stressed + saline (NS+SAL); non-stressed + indomethacin (NS+IND); stressed + saline (S+SAL); and stressed + indomethacin (S+IND). Stressed animals were exposed to a daily 10 min agonistic confrontation (CSDS) for 20 days. All subjects were treated daily with saline or indomethacin (10 mg/kg, i.p.). 24 h after the CSDS period, all the mice were evaluated in a social interaction test to distinguish between those that were resilient or susceptible to social stress. All subjects (n = 10-12 per group) were then evaluated in inhibitory avoidance (IA), novel object recognition (NOR), elevated plus maze and hot plate tests. As in control animals (NS+SAL group), IA learning was observed in the resilient groups, as well as in the susceptible mice treated with indomethacin (S+IND group). Recognition memory was observed in the non-stressed and the resilient mice, but not in the susceptible animals. Also, stressed mice exhibited higher anxiety levels. No significant differences were observed in locomotor activity or analgesia. In conclusion, CSDS induces anxiety in post-pubertal mice and impairs emotional and recognition memory in the susceptible subjects. The effects of CSDS on emotional memory, but not on recognition memory and anxiety, are reversed by indomethacin. Moreover, memory impairment is not secondary to the effects of CSDS on locomotor activity, emotionality or pain sensitivity.

Indomethacin counteracts the effects of chronic social defeat stress on emotional but not recognition memory in mice.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aránzazu Duque

Full Text Available We have previously observed the impairing effects of chronic social defeat stress (CSDS on emotional memory in mice. Given the relation between stress and inflammatory processes, we sought to study the effectiveness of the anti-inflammatory indomethacin in reversing the detrimental effects of CSDS on emotional memory in mice. The effects of CSDS and indomethacin on recognition memory were also evaluated. Male CD1 mice were randomly divided into four groups: non-stressed + saline (NS+SAL; non-stressed + indomethacin (NS+IND; stressed + saline (S+SAL; and stressed + indomethacin (S+IND. Stressed animals were exposed to a daily 10 min agonistic confrontation (CSDS for 20 days. All subjects were treated daily with saline or indomethacin (10 mg/kg, i.p.. 24 h after the CSDS period, all the mice were evaluated in a social interaction test to distinguish between those that were resilient or susceptible to social stress. All subjects (n = 10-12 per group were then evaluated in inhibitory avoidance (IA, novel object recognition (NOR, elevated plus maze and hot plate tests. As in control animals (NS+SAL group, IA learning was observed in the resilient groups, as well as in the susceptible mice treated with indomethacin (S+IND group. Recognition memory was observed in the non-stressed and the resilient mice, but not in the susceptible animals. Also, stressed mice exhibited higher anxiety levels. No significant differences were observed in locomotor activity or analgesia. In conclusion, CSDS induces anxiety in post-pubertal mice and impairs emotional and recognition memory in the susceptible subjects. The effects of CSDS on emotional memory, but not on recognition memory and anxiety, are reversed by indomethacin. Moreover, memory impairment is not secondary to the effects of CSDS on locomotor activity, emotionality or pain sensitivity.

Interpersonal value profiles and analysis of adolescent academic performance and social thinking

OpenAIRE

Gázquez, José J.; Sainz, Jorge; Pérez-Fuentes, María del C.; Molero, María del M.; Soler, Francisco J.

2015-01-01

The purposes of this study were to identify interpersonal value profiles and find out whether there were any differences in academic performance and social thinking. The study sample was 885 high school students of whom 49.8% (N = 441) were boys and 50.2% (N = 444) were girls. The results show that students with low Benevolence and Conformity levels showed higher prevalence of failures and repeated the year more often. Furthermore, students with a high level of Recognition and Leadership and ...

Predicting automatic speech recognition performance over communication channels from instrumental speech quality and intelligibility scores

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gallardo, L.F.; Möller, S.; Beerends, J.

2017-01-01

The performance of automatic speech recognition based on coded-decoded speech heavily depends on the quality of the transmitted signals, determined by channel impairments. This paper examines relationships between speech recognition performance and measurements of speech quality and intelligibility

Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-01-01

Abstract Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal

Gender differences in recognition of toy faces suggest a contribution of experience

OpenAIRE

Ryan, Kaitlin F.; Gauthier, Isabel

2016-01-01

When there is a gender effect, women perform better then men in face recognition tasks. Prior work has not documented a male advantage on a face recognition task, suggesting that women may outperform men at face recognition generally either due to evolutionary reasons or the influence of social roles. Here, we question the idea that women excel at all face recognition and provide a proof of concept based on a face category for which men outperform women. We developed a test of face learning t...

Effects of X-ray radiation on complex visual discrimination learning and social recognition memory in rats.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine M Davis

Full Text Available The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal. One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min, while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation.

Effects of X-ray radiation on complex visual discrimination learning and social recognition memory in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Catherine M; Roma, Peter G; Armour, Elwood; Gooden, Virginia L; Brady, Joseph V; Weed, Michael R; Hienz, Robert D

2014-01-01

The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal). One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min), while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation.

Effects of X-Ray Radiation on Complex Visual Discrimination Learning and Social Recognition Memory in Rats

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Catherine M.; Roma, Peter G.; Armour, Elwood; Gooden, Virginia L.; Brady, Joseph V.; Weed, Michael R.; Hienz, Robert D.

2014-01-01

The present report describes an animal model for examining the effects of radiation on a range of neurocognitive functions in rodents that are similar to a number of basic human cognitive functions. Fourteen male Long-Evans rats were trained to perform an automated intra-dimensional set shifting task that consisted of their learning a basic discrimination between two stimulus shapes followed by more complex discrimination stages (e.g., a discrimination reversal, a compound discrimination, a compound reversal, a new shape discrimination, and an intra-dimensional stimulus discrimination reversal). One group of rats was exposed to head-only X-ray radiation (2.3 Gy at a dose rate of 1.9 Gy/min), while a second group received a sham-radiation exposure using the same anesthesia protocol. The irradiated group responded less, had elevated numbers of omitted trials, increased errors, and greater response latencies compared to the sham-irradiated control group. Additionally, social odor recognition memory was tested after radiation exposure by assessing the degree to which rats explored wooden beads impregnated with either their own odors or with the odors of novel, unfamiliar rats; however, no significant effects of radiation on social odor recognition memory were observed. These data suggest that rodent tasks assessing higher-level human cognitive domains are useful in examining the effects of radiation on the CNS, and may be applicable in approximating CNS risks from radiation exposure in clinical populations receiving whole brain irradiation. PMID:25099152

Impact of eye detection error on face recognition performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dutta, A.; Günther, Manuel; El Shafey, Laurent; Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Spreeuwers, Lieuwe Jan

2015-01-01

The locations of the eyes are the most commonly used features to perform face normalisation (i.e. alignment of facial features), which is an essential preprocessing stage of many face recognition systems. In this study, the authors study the sensitivity of open source implementations of five face

Performance systems and social capital

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Grane Mikael Gregaard; Edwards, Kasper

2014-01-01

Performance systems and social capital are considered mutually exclusive. Contemporary studies show that social capital is essential in generating performance improvement. This raises an important question: “How do performance systems and social capital correspond?” This study draws on findings...... from a study on implementation of a performance system in Danish construction. The results show causalities between implementing the performance system and the emergence of social capital in construction projects. Results indicate that performance systems and social capital is not mutually exclusive...

Facing the Problem: Impaired Emotion Recognition During Multimodal Social Information Processing in Borderline Personality Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Niedtfeld, Inga; Defiebre, Nadine; Regenbogen, Christina; Mier, Daniela; Fenske, Sabrina; Kirsch, Peter; Lis, Stefanie; Schmahl, Christian

2017-04-01

Previous research has revealed alterations and deficits in facial emotion recognition in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). During interpersonal communication in daily life, social signals such as speech content, variation in prosody, and facial expression need to be considered simultaneously. We hypothesized that deficits in higher level integration of social stimuli contribute to difficulties in emotion recognition in BPD, and heightened arousal might explain this effect. Thirty-one patients with BPD and thirty-one healthy controls were asked to identify emotions in short video clips, which were designed to represent different combinations of the three communication channels: facial expression, speech content, and prosody. Skin conductance was recorded as a measure of sympathetic arousal, while controlling for state dissociation. Patients with BPD showed lower mean accuracy scores than healthy control subjects in all conditions comprising emotional facial expressions. This was true for the condition with facial expression only, and for the combination of all three communication channels. Electrodermal responses were enhanced in BPD only in response to auditory stimuli. In line with the major body of facial emotion recognition studies, we conclude that deficits in the interpretation of facial expressions lead to the difficulties observed in multimodal emotion processing in BPD.

Making Employee Recognition a Tool for Achieving Improved Performance: Implication for Ghanaian Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Amoatemaa, Abena Serwaa; Kyeremeh, Dorcas Darkoah

2016-01-01

Many organisations are increasingly making use of employee recognition to motivate employees to achieve high performance and productivity. Research has shown that effective recognition occurs in organisations that have strong supportive culture, understand the psychology of praising employees for their good work, and apply the principles of…

Organisational Social Capital through Corporate Social Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adrian Henorel Niţu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to identify the correlation between the corporate social responsibility performance and the Organisational Social Capital. Inductively, through grounded theory, this paper uses secondary data to develop a theoretical model which presents the relationship between the following concepts: business codes, stakeholders, Corporate Social Performance (CSP and Organisational Social Capital (OSC. This study brings together two main areas of research, namely: Organisational Social Capital and business ethics. This represents a gap in the literature, to which this research will address. Three propositions are put forward and discussed using secondary data collection methods. The findings suggest that there is a strong correlation between the characteristics which improve the quality of organisation-stakeholders relationship and the effectiveness of implementing business codes and, therefore, the increasing Corporate Social Performance. The proposed ethical framework has, at the same time, a similar effect by incrementing Organisational Social Capital, because it shares similar features with the relation between organisation-stakeholders, business codes and CSP.

Organisational Social Capital through Corporate Social Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.H. Niţu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to identify the correlation between the corporate social responsibility performance and the Organisational Social Capital. Inductively, through grounded theory, this paper uses secondary data to develop a theoretical model which presents the relationship between the following concepts: business codes, stakeholders, Corporate Social Performance (CSP and Organisational Social Capital (OSC. This study brings together two main areas of research, namely: Organisational Social Capital and business ethics. This represents a gap in the literature, to which this research will address. Three propositions are put forward and discussed using secondary data collection methods. The findings suggest that there is a strong correlation between the characteristics which improve the quality of organisation-stakeholders relationship and the effectiveness of implementing business codes and, therefore, the increasing Corporate Social Performance. The proposed ethical framework has, at the same time, a similar effect by incrementing Organisational Social Capital, because it shares similar features with the relation between organisation-stakeholders, business codes and CSP.

Computerised working memory based cognitive remediation therapy does not affect Reading the Mind in the Eyes test performance or neural activity during a Facial Emotion Recognition test in psychosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Mothersill, David; Dillon, Rachael; Hargreaves, April; Castorina, Marco; Furey, Emilia; Fagan, Andrew J; Meaney, James F; Fitzmaurice, Brian; Hallahan, Brian; McDonald, Colm; Wykes, Til; Corvin, Aiden; Robertson, Ian H; Donohoe, Gary

2018-05-27

Working memory based cognitive remediation therapy (CT) for psychosis has recently been associated with broad improvements in performance on untrained tasks measuring working memory, episodic memory and IQ, and changes in associated brain regions. However, it is unclear if these improvements transfer to the domain of social cognition and neural activity related to performance on social cognitive tasks. We examined performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (Eyes test) in a large sample of participants with psychosis who underwent working memory based CT (N = 43) compared to a Control Group of participants with psychosis (N = 35). In a subset of this sample, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine changes in neural activity during a facial emotion recognition task in participants who underwent CT (N = 15) compared to a Control Group (N = 15). No significant effects of CT were observed on Eyes test performance or on neural activity during facial emotion recognition, either at pworking memory based CT does not significantly impact an aspect of social cognition which was measured behaviourally and neurally. It provides further evidence that deficits in the ability to decode mental state from facial expressions are dissociable from working memory deficits, and suggests that future CT programs should target social cognition in addition to working memory for the purposes of further enhancing social function. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Social competence in children with brain disorders : A meta-analytic review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, Tessa B; Post, Wendy J; Tucha, Oliver; de Bont, Eveline S J M; Kamps, Willem A; Kingma, Annette

Social competence, i.e. appropriate or effective social functioning, is an important determinant of quality of life. Social competence consists of social skills, social performance and social adjustment. The current paper reviews social skills, in particular emotion recognition performance and its

Comparison of Emotion Recognition and Mind Reading Abilities in Opium Abusers and Healthy Matched Individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vahid Nejati

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The purpose of this study is to compare the emotion recognition and mind reading in opium abusers and healthy individuals. Method: In this causative-comparative study, with a non probability sampling method, 30 opium abusers compared with 30 healthy individuals that were matched in sex and education. Neurocognitive tests of reading mind from eyes and emotion recognition from face were used for evaluation. Independent T-Test was used for analysis. Findings: The results showed that opium abusers had significantly lower abilities in mind reading than healthy matched individuals. Also opium abusers had significantly lower performance in recognition of emotional experience of happy, sad and angry faces. Conclusion: Based on weak performance of mind reading and emotion recognition in addicts, it is advised that social cognition evaluation considered in drug abusers evaluation. Future interventional study could propose social cognition rehabilitation programs for addicts.

Assessment of the Metrological Performance of Seismic Tables for a QMS Recognition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ribeiro, A Silva; Costa, A Campos; Candeias, P; Martins, L Lages; Martins, A C Freitas; Ferreira, A C; Sousa, J Alves e

2016-01-01

Seismic testing and analysis using large infrastructures, such as shaking tables and reaction walls, is performed worldwide requiring the use of complex instrumentation systems. To assure the accuracy of these systems, conformity assessment is needed to verify the compliance with standards and applications, and the Quality Management Systems (QMS) is being increasingly applied to domains where risk analysis is critical as a way to provide a formal recognition. This paper describes an approach to the assessment of the metrological performance of seismic shake tables as part of a QMS recognition, with the analysis of a case study of LNEC Seismic shake table. (paper)

Assessment of the Metrological Performance of Seismic Tables for a QMS Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Silva Ribeiro, A.; Campos Costa, A.; Candeias, P.; Sousa, J. Alves e.; Lages Martins, L.; Freitas Martins, A. C.; Ferreira, A. C.

2016-11-01

Seismic testing and analysis using large infrastructures, such as shaking tables and reaction walls, is performed worldwide requiring the use of complex instrumentation systems. To assure the accuracy of these systems, conformity assessment is needed to verify the compliance with standards and applications, and the Quality Management Systems (QMS) is being increasingly applied to domains where risk analysis is critical as a way to provide a formal recognition. This paper describes an approach to the assessment of the metrological performance of seismic shake tables as part of a QMS recognition, with the analysis of a case study of LNEC Seismic shake table.

The relationship between face recognition ability and socioemotional functioning throughout adulthood.

Science.gov (United States)

Turano, Maria Teresa; Viggiano, Maria Pia

2017-11-01

The relationship between face recognition ability and socioemotional functioning has been widely explored. However, how aging modulates this association regarding both objective performance and subjective-perception is still neglected. Participants, aged between 18 and 81 years, performed a face memory test and completed subjective face recognition and socioemotional questionnaires. General and social anxiety, and neuroticism traits account for the individual variation in face recognition abilities during adulthood. Aging modulates these relationships because as they age, individuals that present a higher level of these traits also show low-level face recognition ability. Intriguingly, the association between depression and face recognition abilities is evident with increasing age. Overall, the present results emphasize the importance of embedding face metacognition measurement into the context of these studies and suggest that aging is an important factor to be considered, which seems to contribute to the relationship between socioemotional and face-cognitive functioning.

Culture/Religion and Identity: Social Justice versus Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Bekerman, Zvi

2012-01-01

Recognition is the main word attached to multicultural perspectives. The multicultural call for recognition, the one calling for the recognition of cultural minorities and identities, the one now voiced by liberal states all over and also in Israel was a more difficult one. It took the author some time to realize that calling for the recognition…

Improved Social Interaction, Recognition and Working Memory with Cannabidiol Treatment in a Prenatal Infection (poly I:C) Rat Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Osborne, Ashleigh L; Solowij, Nadia; Babic, Ilijana; Huang, Xu-Feng; Weston-Green, Katrina

2017-06-01

Neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia are associated with cognitive impairment, including learning, memory and attention deficits. Antipsychotic drugs are limited in their efficacy to improve cognition; therefore, new therapeutic agents are required. Cannabidiol (CBD), the non-intoxicating component of cannabis, has anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and antipsychotic-like properties; however, its ability to improve the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia remains unclear. Using a prenatal infection model, we examined the effect of chronic CBD treatment on cognition and social interaction. Time-mated pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats (n=16) were administered polyinosinic-polycytidilic acid (poly I:C) (POLY; 4 mg/kg) or saline (CONT) at gestation day 15. Male offspring (PN56) were injected twice daily with 10 mg/kg CBD (CONT+CBD, POLY+CBD; n=12 per group) or vehicle (VEH; CONT+VEH, POLY+VEH; n=12 per group) for 3 weeks. Body weight, food and water intake was measured weekly. The Novel Object Recognition and rewarded T-maze alternation tests assessed recognition and working memory, respectively, and the social interaction test assessed sociability. POLY+VEH offspring exhibited impaired recognition and working memory, and reduced social interaction compared to CONT+VEH offspring (psocial interaction deficits in the poly I:C model (p0.05). In conclusion, chronic CBD administration can attenuate the social interaction and cognitive deficits induced by prenatal poly I:C infection. These novel findings present interesting implications for potential use of CBD in treating the cognitive deficits and social withdrawal of schizophrenia.

Does cortisol modulate emotion recognition and empathy?

Science.gov (United States)

Duesenberg, Moritz; Weber, Juliane; Schulze, Lars; Schaeuffele, Carmen; Roepke, Stefan; Hellmann-Regen, Julian; Otte, Christian; Wingenfeld, Katja

2016-04-01

Emotion recognition and empathy are important aspects in the interaction and understanding of other people's behaviors and feelings. The Human environment comprises of stressful situations that impact social interactions on a daily basis. Aim of the study was to examine the effects of the stress hormone cortisol on emotion recognition and empathy. In this placebo-controlled study, 40 healthy men and 40 healthy women (mean age 24.5 years) received either 10mg of hydrocortisone or placebo. We used the Multifaceted Empathy Test to measure emotional and cognitive empathy. Furthermore, we examined emotion recognition from facial expressions, which contained two emotions (anger and sadness) and two emotion intensities (40% and 80%). We did not find a main effect for treatment or sex on either empathy or emotion recognition but a sex × emotion interaction on emotion recognition. The main result was a four-way-interaction on emotion recognition including treatment, sex, emotion and task difficulty. At 40% task difficulty, women recognized angry faces better than men in the placebo condition. Furthermore, in the placebo condition, men recognized sadness better than anger. At 80% task difficulty, men and women performed equally well in recognizing sad faces but men performed worse compared to women with regard to angry faces. Apparently, our results did not support the hypothesis that increases in cortisol concentration alone influence empathy and emotion recognition in healthy young individuals. However, sex and task difficulty appear to be important variables in emotion recognition from facial expressions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Wanting it Too Much: An Inverse Relation Between Social Motivation and Facial Emotion Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder

OpenAIRE

Garman, Heather D.; Spaulding, Christine J.; Webb, Sara Jane; Mikami, Amori Yee; Morris, James P.; Lerner, Matthew D.

2016-01-01

This study examined social motivation and early-stage face perception as frameworks for understanding impairments in facial emotion recognition (FER) in a well-characterized sample of youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Early-stage face perception (N170 event-related potential latency) was recorded while participants completed a standardized FER task, while social motivation was obtained via parent report. Participants with greater social motivation exhibited poorer FER, while those w...

Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-01-01

Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal lobe is

The Doors and People Test: The effect of frontal lobe lesions on recall and recognition memory performance.

Science.gov (United States)

MacPherson, Sarah E; Turner, Martha S; Bozzali, Marco; Cipolotti, Lisa; Shallice, Tim

2016-03-01

Memory deficits in patients with frontal lobe lesions are most apparent on free recall tasks that require the selection, initiation, and implementation of retrieval strategies. The effect of frontal lesions on recognition memory performance is less clear with some studies reporting recognition memory impairments but others not. The majority of these studies do not directly compare recall and recognition within the same group of frontal patients, assessing only recall or recognition memory performance. Other studies that do compare recall and recognition in the same frontal group do not consider recall or recognition tests that are comparable for difficulty. Recognition memory impairments may not be reported because recognition memory tasks are less demanding. This study aimed to investigate recall and recognition impairments in the same group of 47 frontal patients and 78 healthy controls. The Doors and People Test was administered as a neuropsychological test of memory as it assesses both verbal and visual recall and recognition using subtests that are matched for difficulty. Significant verbal and visual recall and recognition impairments were found in the frontal patients. These results demonstrate that when frontal patients are assessed on recall and recognition memory tests of comparable difficulty, memory impairments are found on both types of episodic memory test. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A reciprocal model of face recognition and autistic traits: evidence from an individual differences perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Halliday, Drew W R; MacDonald, Stuart W S; Scherf, K Suzanne; Sherf, Suzanne K; Tanaka, James W

2014-01-01

Although not a core symptom of the disorder, individuals with autism often exhibit selective impairments in their face processing abilities. Importantly, the reciprocal connection between autistic traits and face perception has rarely been examined within the typically developing population. In this study, university participants from the social sciences, physical sciences, and humanities completed a battery of measures that assessed face, object and emotion recognition abilities, general perceptual-cognitive style, and sub-clinical autistic traits (the Autism Quotient (AQ)). We employed separate hierarchical multiple regression analyses to evaluate which factors could predict face recognition scores and AQ scores. Gender, object recognition performance, and AQ scores predicted face recognition behaviour. Specifically, males, individuals with more autistic traits, and those with lower object recognition scores performed more poorly on the face recognition test. Conversely, university major, gender and face recognition performance reliably predicted AQ scores. Science majors, males, and individuals with poor face recognition skills showed more autistic-like traits. These results suggest that the broader autism phenotype is associated with lower face recognition abilities, even among typically developing individuals.

Social cognition intervention in schizophrenia: Description of the training of affect recognition program - Indian version.

Science.gov (United States)

Thonse, Umesh; Behere, Rishikesh V; Frommann, Nicole; Sharma, Psvn

2018-01-01

Social cognition refers to mental operations involved in processing of social cues and includes the domains of emotion processing, Theory of Mind (ToM), social perception, social knowledge and attributional bias. Significant deficits in ToM, emotion perception and social perception have been demonstrated in schizophrenia which can have an impact on socio-occupational functioning. Intervention modules for social cognition have demonstrated moderate effect sizes for improving emotion identification and discrimination. We describe the Indian version of the Training of Affect Recognition (TAR) program and a pilot study to demonstrate the feasibility of administering this intervention program in the Indian population. We also discuss the cultural sensibilities in adopting an intervention program for the Indian setting. To the best of our knowledge this is the first intervention program for social cognition for use in persons with schizophrenia in India. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

77 FR 9590 - Recognition and Accreditation

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-17

..., or social service purpose? 5. Discussion of withdrawal of recognition. Are the current procedures for withdrawal of recognition for an organization effective? See 8 CFR 1292.2(c). If not, how can the process be... services in order to ensure that they are serving a non-profit, religious, charitable, or social service...

The relation between the secrecy rate of biometric template protection and biometric recognition performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.

2015-01-01

A theoretical result relating the maximum achievable security of the family of biometric template protection systems known as key-binding systems to the recognition performance of a biometric recognition system that is optimal in Neyman-Pearson sense is derived. The relation allows for the

Neonatal paternal deprivation impairs social recognition and alters levels of oxytocin and estrogen receptor α mRNA expression in the MeA and NAcc, and serum oxytocin in mandarin voles.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Yan; Wu, Ruiyong; Tai, Fadao; Zhang, Xia; Yu, Peng; An, Xiaolei; Qiao, Xufeng; Hao, Ping

2014-01-01

Paternal care is necessary for the healthy development of social behavior in monogamous rodents and social recognition underpins social behavior in these animals. The effects of paternal care on the development of social recognition and underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms, especially the involvement of oxytocin and estrogen pathways, remain poorly understood. We investigated the effects of paternal deprivation (PD: father was removed from neonatal pups and mother alone raised the offspring) on social recognition in mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus), a socially monogamous rodent. Paternal deprivation was found to inhibit the development of social recognition in female and male offspring according to a habituation-dishabituation paradigm. Paternal deprivation resulted in increased inactivity and reduced investigation during new encounters with other animals. Paternal deprivation reduced oxytocin receptor (OTR) and estrogen receptor α (ERα) mRNA expression in the medial amygdala and nucleus accumbens. Paternal deprivation reduced serum oxytocin (OT) concentration in females, but had no effect on males. Our results provide substantial evidence that paternal deprivation inhibits the development of social recognition in female and male mandarin voles and alters social behavior later in life. This is possibly the result of altered expression of central OTR and ERα and serum OT levels caused by paternal deprivation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Different importance of the volatile and non-volatile fractions of an olfactory signature for individual social recognition in rats versus mice and short-term versus long-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Noack, Julia; Richter, Karin; Laube, Gregor; Haghgoo, Hojjat Allah; Veh, Rüdiger W; Engelmann, Mario

2010-11-01

When tested in the olfactory cued social recognition/discrimination test, rats and mice differ in their retention of a recognition memory for a previously encountered conspecific juvenile: Rats are able to recognize a given juvenile for approximately 45 min only whereas mice show not only short-term, but also long-term recognition memory (≥ 24 h). Here we modified the social recognition/social discrimination procedure to investigate the neurobiological mechanism(s) underlying the species differences. We presented a conspecific juvenile repeatedly to the experimental subjects and monitored the investigation duration as a measure for recognition. Presentation of only the volatile fraction of the juvenile olfactory signature was sufficient for both short- and long-term recognition in mice but not rats. Applying additional volatile, mono-molecular odours to the "to be recognized" juveniles failed to affect short-term memory in both species, but interfered with long-term recognition in mice. Finally immunocytochemical analysis of c-Fos as a marker for cellular activation, revealed that juvenile exposure stimulated areas involved in the processing of olfactory signals in both the main and the accessory olfactory bulb in mice. In rats, we measured an increased c-Fos synthesis almost exclusively in cells of the accessory olfactory bulb. Our data suggest that the species difference in the retention of social recognition memory is based on differences in the processing of the volatile versus non-volatile fraction of the individuals' olfactory signature. The non-volatile fraction is sufficient for retaining a short-term social memory only. Long-term social memory - as observed in mice - requires a processing of both the volatile and non-volatile fractions of the olfactory signature. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Pilot Study Examining a Computer-Based Intervention to Improve Recognition and Understanding of Emotions in Young Children with Communication and Social Deficits.

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Romero, Neri L

2017-06-01

A common social impairment in individuals with ASD is difficulty interpreting and or predicting emotions of others. To date, several interventions targeting teaching emotion recognition and understanding have been utilized both by researchers and practitioners. The results suggest that teaching emotion recognition is possible, but that the results do not generalize to non-instructional contexts. This study sought to replicate earlier findings of a positive impact of teaching emotion recognition using a computer-based intervention and to extend it by testing for generalization on live models in the classroom setting. Two boys and one girl, four to eight years in age, educated in self-contained classrooms for students with communication and social skills deficits, participated in this study. A multiple probe across participants design was utilized. Measures of emotion recognition and understanding were assessed at baseline, intervention, and one month post-intervention to determine maintenance effects. Social validity was assessed through parent and teacher questionnaires. All participants showed improvements in measures assessing their recognition of emotions in faces, generalized knowledge to live models, and maintained gains one month post intervention. These preliminary results are encouraging and should be utilized to inform a group design, in order to test efficacy with a larger population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does the presence of priming hinder subsequent recognition or recall performance?

Science.gov (United States)

Stark, Shauna M; Gordon, Barry; Stark, Craig E L

2008-02-01

Declarative and non-declarative memories are thought be supported by two distinct memory systems that are often posited not to interact. However, Wagner, Maril, and Schacter (2000a) reported that at the time priming was assessed, greater behavioural and neural priming was associated with lower levels of subsequent recognition memory, demonstrating an interaction between declarative and non-declarative memory. We examined this finding using a similar paradigm, in which participants made the same or different semantic word judgements following a short or long lag and subsequent memory test. We found a similar overall pattern of results, with greater behavioural priming associated with a decrease in recognition and recall performance. However, neither various within-participant nor various between-participant analyses revealed significant correlations between priming and subsequent memory performance. These data suggest that both lag and task have effects on priming and declarative memory performance, but that they are largely independent and occur in parallel.

Stereotype Associations and Emotion Recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bijlstra, Gijsbert; Holland, Rob W.; Dotsch, Ron; Hugenberg, Kurt; Wigboldus, Daniel H. J.

We investigated whether stereotype associations between specific emotional expressions and social categories underlie stereotypic emotion recognition biases. Across two studies, we replicated previously documented stereotype biases in emotion recognition using both dynamic (Study 1) and static

A meta-analysis and scoping review of social cognition performance in social phobia, posttraumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Plana, India; Lavoie, Marie-Audrey; Battaglia, Marco; Achim, Amélie M

2014-03-01

Social cognition deficits are observed in a variety of psychiatric illnesses. However, data concerning anxiety disorders are sparse and difficult to interpret. This meta-analysis aims at determining if social cognition is affected in social phobia (SP) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to non-clinical controls and the specificity of such deficits relatively to other anxiety disorders. The scoping review aims to identify research gaps in the field. Forty studies assessing mentalizing, emotion recognition, social perception/knowledge or attributional style in anxiety disorders were included, totalizing 1417 anxious patients and 1321 non-clinical controls. Results indicate distinct patterns of social cognition impairments: people with PTSD show deficits in mentalizing (effect size d = -1.13) and emotion recognition (d = -1.6) while other anxiety disorders including SP showed attributional biases (d = -0.53 to d = -1.15). The scoping review identified several under investigated domains of social cognition in anxiety disorders. Some recommendations are expressed for future studies to explore the full range of social cognition in anxiety disorders and allow direct comparisons between different disorders. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Document recognition serving people with disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Fruchterman, James R.

2007-01-01

Document recognition advances have improved the lives of people with print disabilities, by providing accessible documents. This invited paper provides perspectives on the author's career progression from document recognition professional to social entrepreneur applying this technology to help people with disabilities. Starting with initial thoughts about optical character recognition in college, it continues with the creation of accurate omnifont character recognition that did not require training. It was difficult to make a reading machine for the blind in a commercial setting, which led to the creation of a nonprofit social enterprise to deliver these devices around the world. This network of people with disabilities scanning books drove the creation of Bookshare.org, an online library of scanned books. Looking forward, the needs for improved document recognition technology to further lower the barriers to reading are discussed. Document recognition professionals should be proud of the positive impact their work has had on some of society's most disadvantaged communities.

Performative Social Science and Psychology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary Gergen

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This article presents an overview of "Performative Social Science," which is defined as the deployment of different forms of artistic performance in the execution of a scientific project. Such forms may include art, theater, poetry, music, dance, photography, fiction writing, and multi-media applications. Performative research practices are in their developmental stage, with most of the major work appearing in the last two decades. Frequently based on a social constructionist metatheory, supporters reject a realist, or mapping view of representation, and explore varieties of expressive forms for constructing worlds relevant to the social sciences. The performative orientation often relies on a dramaturgical approach that encompasses value-laden, emotionally charged topics and presentations. Social scientists invested in social justice issues and political perspectives have been especially drawn to this approach. Performative social science invites productive collaborations among various disciplinary fields and between the sciences and arts. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101119

Own-Group Face Recognition Bias: The Effects of Location and Reputation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Linlin Yan

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In the present study, we examined whether social categorization based on university affiliation can induce an advantage in recognizing faces. Moreover, we investigated how the reputation or location of the university affected face recognition performance using an old/new paradigm. We assigned five different university labels to the faces: participants’ own university and four other universities. Among the four other university labels, we manipulated the academic reputation and geographical location of these universities relative to the participants’ own university. The results showed that an own-group face recognition bias emerged for faces with own-university labels comparing to those with other-university labels. Furthermore, we found a robust own-group face recognition bias only when the other university was located in a different city far away from participants’ own university. Interestingly, we failed to find the influence of university reputation on own-group face recognition bias. These results suggest that categorizing a face as a member of one’s own university is sufficient to enhance recognition accuracy and the location will play a more important role in the effect of social categorization on face recognition than reputation. The results provide insight into the role of motivational factors underlying the university membership in face perception.

An Investigation of a New Social Networks Contact Suggestion Based on Face Recognition Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Zelinka

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Automated comparison of faces in the photographs is a well established discipline. The main aim of this paper is to describe an approach whereby face recognition can be used in suggestion of a new contacts. The new contact suggestion is a common technique used across all main social networks. Our approach uses a freely available face comparison called "Betaface" together with our automated processig of the user´s Facebook profile. The research´s main point of interest is the comparison of friend´s facial images in a social network itself, how to process such a great amount of photos and what additional sources of data should be used. In this approach we used our automated processing algorithm Betaface in the social network Facebook and for the additional data, the Flickr social network was used. The results and their quality are discussed at the end.

Meta-Analysis of Social Cognition in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bora, Emre; Yener, Görsev G

2017-07-01

Social cognitive abilities are impaired in Alzheimer disease and other dementias. Recent studies suggested that social cognitive abilities might be also impaired in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Current meta-analysis aimed to summarize available evidence for deficits in theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition in MCI. In this meta-analysis of 17 studies, facial emotion recognition and ToM performances of 513 individuals with MCI and 693 healthy controls were compared. Mild cognitive impairment was associated with significant impairments falling in the medium effect sizes range in ToM ( d = 0.63) and facial emotion recognition ( d = 0.58). Among individual emotions, recognition of fear and sadness were particularly impaired. There were no significant between-group differences in recognition of disgust, happiness, and surprise. Social cognitive deficits were more severe in multidomain MCI. There is a need for longitudinal studies investigating the potential role of social cognitive impairment in predicting conversion to dementia.

The effect of Trier Social Stress Test (TSST on item and associative recognition of words and pictures in healthy participants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan eGuez

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Psychological stress, induced by the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST, has repeatedly been shown to alter memory performance. Although factors influencing memory performance such as stimulus nature (verbal /pictorial and emotional valence have been extensively studied, results whether stress impairs or improves memory are still inconsistent. This study aimed at exploring the effect of TSST on item versus associative memory for neutral, verbal, and pictorial stimuli. 48 healthy subjects were recruited, 24 participants were randomly assigned to the TSST group and the remaining 24 participants were assigned to the control group. Stress reactivity was measured by psychological (subjective state anxiety ratings and physiological (Galvanic skin response recording measurements. Subjects performed an item-association memory task for both stimulus types (words, pictures simultaneously, before, and after the stress/non-stress manipulation. The results showed that memory recognition for pictorial stimuli was higher than for verbal stimuli. Memory for both words and pictures was impaired following TSST; while the source for this impairment was specific to associative recognition in pictures, a more general deficit was observed for verbal material, as expressed in decreased recognition for both items and associations following TSST. Response latency analysis indicated that the TSST manipulation decreased response time but at the cost of memory accuracy. We conclude that stress does not uniformly affect memory; rather it interacts with the task’s cognitive load and stimulus type. Applying the current study results to patients diagnosed with disorders associated with traumatic stress, our findings in healthy subjects under acute stress provide further support for our assertion that patients’ impaired memory originates in poor recollection processing following depletion of attentional resources.

Lessons from Philippines MPA Management: Social Ecological Interactions, Participation, and MPA Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Twichell, Julia; Pollnac, Richard; Christie, Patrick

2018-06-01

International interest in increasing marine protected area (MPA) coverage reflects broad recognition of the MPA as a key tool for marine ecosystems and fisheries management. Nevertheless, effective management remains a significant challenge. The present study contributes to enriching an understanding of best practices for MPA management through analysis of archived community survey data collected in the Philippines by the Learning Project (LP), a collaboration with United States Coral Triangle Initiative (USCTI), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and partners. We evaluate stakeholder participation and social ecological interactions among resource users in MPA programs in the Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, and Batangas provinces in the Philippines. Analysis indicates that a complex suite of social ecological factors, including demographics, conservation beliefs, and scientifically correct knowledge influence participation, which in turn is related to perceived MPA performance. Findings indicate positive feedbacks within the system that have potential to strengthen perceptions of MPA success. The results of this evaluation provide empirical reinforcement to current inquiries concerning the role of participation in influencing MPA performance.

Lessons from Philippines MPA Management: Social Ecological Interactions, Participation, and MPA Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Twichell, Julia; Pollnac, Richard; Christie, Patrick

2018-06-01

International interest in increasing marine protected area (MPA) coverage reflects broad recognition of the MPA as a key tool for marine ecosystems and fisheries management. Nevertheless, effective management remains a significant challenge. The present study contributes to enriching an understanding of best practices for MPA management through analysis of archived community survey data collected in the Philippines by the Learning Project (LP), a collaboration with United States Coral Triangle Initiative (USCTI), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and partners. We evaluate stakeholder participation and social ecological interactions among resource users in MPA programs in the Palawan, Occidental Mindoro, and Batangas provinces in the Philippines. Analysis indicates that a complex suite of social ecological factors, including demographics, conservation beliefs, and scientifically correct knowledge influence participation, which in turn is related to perceived MPA performance. Findings indicate positive feedbacks within the system that have potential to strengthen perceptions of MPA success. The results of this evaluation provide empirical reinforcement to current inquiries concerning the role of participation in influencing MPA performance.

Social Performance vs. Financial Performance: CSR Disclosures as an indicator of social performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

İlker Yılmaz

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, it is gaining more and more dominance in both academic and business life that the company exists for and has responsibilities toward a wider group of stakeholders and it must have some objectives other than profitability. To achieve sustainable development and growth, the companies must assume more duties, which is called the term “corporate social responsibility (CSR.” In the literature, it is questioned whether CSR activities benefit the company or not; whether there is any relationship exists between CSR activities and the company’s financial performance and the direction of the relationship. We aimed to explore that whether there is any effect corporate social performance (CSP on financial performance and position and vice versa. We performed content analysis through annual reports and derived a social score composed of the items included in disclosure guidelines and some criteria used in CSR ratings. We also used several financial position and financial performance indicators. In order to explore the relationship between CSP and financial indicators, we run panel data regressions. We found significant results for some of the indicators, where some of the indicators gave insignificant results. The reporting of CSR activities is in very low levels. The conscious toward CSR and sustainability must be promoted and the companies must assume more active roles. The reporting of those activities is also important.

Oxytocin Promotes Facial Emotion Recognition and Amygdala Reactivity in Adults with Asperger Syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

Domes, Gregor; Kumbier, Ekkehardt; Heinrichs, Markus; Herpertz, Sabine C

2014-01-01

The neuropeptide oxytocin has recently been shown to enhance eye gaze and emotion recognition in healthy men. Here, we report a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that examined the neural and behavioral effects of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin on emotion recognition in individuals with Asperger syndrome (AS), a clinical condition characterized by impaired eye gaze and facial emotion recognition. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined whether oxytocin would enhance emotion recognition from facial sections of the eye vs the mouth region and modulate regional activity in brain areas associated with face perception in both adults with AS, and a neurotypical control group. Intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin improved performance in a facial emotion recognition task in individuals with AS. This was linked to increased left amygdala reactivity in response to facial stimuli and increased activity in the neural network involved in social cognition. Our data suggest that the amygdala, together with functionally associated cortical areas mediate the positive effect of oxytocin on social cognitive functioning in AS. PMID:24067301

Global precedence effects account for individual differences in both face and object recognition performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerlach, Christian; Starrfelt, Randi

2018-03-20

There has been an increase in studies adopting an individual difference approach to examine visual cognition and in particular in studies trying to relate face recognition performance with measures of holistic processing (the face composite effect and the part-whole effect). In the present study we examine whether global precedence effects, measured by means of non-face stimuli in Navon's paradigm, can also account for individual differences in face recognition and, if so, whether the effect is of similar magnitude for faces and objects. We find evidence that global precedence effects facilitate both face and object recognition, and to a similar extent. Our results suggest that both face and object recognition are characterized by a coarse-to-fine temporal dynamic, where global shape information is derived prior to local shape information, and that the efficiency of face and object recognition is related to the magnitude of the global precedence effect.

What is the relationship between the recognition of emotions and core beliefs: Associations between the recognition of emotions in facial expressions and the maladaptive schemas in depressed patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Csukly, Gábor; Telek, Rita; Filipovits, Dóra; Takács, Barnabás; Unoka, Zsolt; Simon, Lajos

2011-03-01

Depressed patients are both characterized by social reality distorting maladaptive schemas and facial expression recognition impairments. The aim of the present study was to identify specific associations among symptom severity of depression, early maladaptive schemas and recognition patterns of facially expressed emotions. The subjects were inpatients, diagnosed with depression. We used 2 virtual humans for presenting the basic emotions to assess emotion recognition. The Symptom Check List 90 (SCL-90) was used as a self-report measure of psychiatric symptoms and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was applied to assess symptoms of depression. The Young Schema Questionnaire Long Form (YSQ-L) was used to assess the presence of early maladaptive schemas. The recognition rate for happiness showed significant associations with both the BDI and the depression subscale of the SCL-90. After performing the second order factor analysis of the YSQ-L, we found statistically significant associations between the recognition indices of specific emotions and the main factors of the YSQ-L. In this study we found correlations between maladaptive schemas and emotion recognition impairments. While both domains likely contribute to the symptoms of depression, we believe that the results will help us to better understand the social cognitive deficits of depressed patients at the schema level and at the emotion recognition level. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Towards NIRS-based hand movement recognition.

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Paleari, Marco; Luciani, Riccardo; Ariano, Paolo

2017-07-01

This work reports on preliminary results about on hand movement recognition with Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) and surface ElectroMyoGraphy (sEMG). Either basing on physical contact (touchscreens, data-gloves, etc.), vision techniques (Microsoft Kinect, Sony PlayStation Move, etc.), or other modalities, hand movement recognition is a pervasive function in today environment and it is at the base of many gaming, social, and medical applications. Albeit, in recent years, the use of muscle information extracted by sEMG has spread out from the medical applications to contaminate the consumer world, this technique still falls short when dealing with movements of the hand. We tested NIRS as a technique to get another point of view on the muscle phenomena and proved that, within a specific movements selection, NIRS can be used to recognize movements and return information regarding muscles at different depths. Furthermore, we propose here three different multimodal movement recognition approaches and compare their performances.

Oxytocin improves emotion recognition for older males.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Anna; Ruffman, Ted; Murray, Janice E; Glue, Paul

2014-10-01

Older adults (≥60 years) perform worse than young adults (18-30 years) when recognizing facial expressions of emotion. The hypothesized cause of these changes might be declines in neurotransmitters that could affect information processing within the brain. In the present study, we examined the neuropeptide oxytocin that functions to increase neurotransmission. Research suggests that oxytocin benefits the emotion recognition of less socially able individuals. Men tend to have lower levels of oxytocin and older men tend to have worse emotion recognition than older women; therefore, there is reason to think that older men will be particularly likely to benefit from oxytocin. We examined this idea using a double-blind design, testing 68 older and 68 young adults randomly allocated to receive oxytocin nasal spray (20 international units) or placebo. Forty-five minutes afterward they completed an emotion recognition task assessing labeling accuracy for angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, neutral, and sad faces. Older males receiving oxytocin showed improved emotion recognition relative to those taking placebo. No differences were found for older females or young adults. We hypothesize that oxytocin facilitates emotion recognition by improving neurotransmission in the group with the worst emotion recognition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional recognition in depressed epilepsy patients.

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Brand, Jesse G; Burton, Leslie A; Schaffer, Sarah G; Alper, Kenneth R; Devinsky, Orrin; Barr, William B

2009-07-01

The current study examined the relationship between emotional recognition and depression using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Second Edition (MMPI-2), in a population with epilepsy. Participants were a mixture of surgical candidates in addition to those receiving neuropsychological testing as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Results suggested that patients with epilepsy reporting increased levels of depression (Scale D) performed better than those patients reporting low levels of depression on an index of simple facial recognition, and depression was associated with poor prosody discrimination. Further, it is notable that more than half of the present sample had significantly elevated Scale D scores. The potential effects of a mood-congruent bias and implications for social functioning in depressed patients with epilepsy are discussed.

The Doors and People Test: The effect of frontal lobe lesions on recall and recognition memory performance

OpenAIRE

MacPherson, S. E.; Turner, M. S.; Bozzali, M.; Cipolotti, L.; Shallice, T.

2016-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Memory deficits in patients with frontal lobe lesions are most apparent on free recall tasks that require the selection, initiation, and implementation of retrieval strategies. The effect of frontal lesions on recognition memory performance is less clear with some studies reporting recognition memory impairments but others not. The majority of these studies do not directly compare recall and recognition within the same group of frontal patients, assessing only recall or recognition...

Deep Belief Networks Based Toponym Recognition for Chinese Text

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu Wang

2018-06-01

Full Text Available In Geographical Information Systems, geo-coding is used for the task of mapping from implicitly geo-referenced data to explicitly geo-referenced coordinates. At present, an enormous amount of implicitly geo-referenced information is hidden in unstructured text, e.g., Wikipedia, social data and news. Toponym recognition is the foundation of mining this useful geo-referenced information by identifying words as toponyms in text. In this paper, we propose an adapted toponym recognition approach based on deep belief network (DBN by exploring two key issues: word representation and model interpretation. A Skip-Gram model is used in the word representation process to represent words with contextual information that are ignored by current word representation models. We then determine the core hyper-parameters of the DBN model by illustrating the relationship between the performance and the hyper-parameters, e.g., vector dimensionality, DBN structures and probability thresholds. The experiments evaluate the performance of the Skip-Gram model implemented by the Word2Vec open-source tool, determine stable hyper-parameters and compare our approach with a conditional random field (CRF based approach. The experimental results show that the DBN model outperforms the CRF model with smaller corpus. When the corpus size is large enough, their statistical metrics become approaching. However, their recognition results express differences and complementarity on different kinds of toponyms. More importantly, combining their results can directly improve the performance of toponym recognition relative to their individual performances. It seems that the scale of the corpus has an obvious effect on the performance of toponym recognition. Generally, there is no adequate tagged corpus on specific toponym recognition tasks, especially in the era of Big Data. In conclusion, we believe that the DBN-based approach is a promising and powerful method to extract geo

The effects of initial testing on false recall and false recognition in the social contagion of memory paradigm.

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Huff, Mark J; Davis, Sara D; Meade, Michelle L

2013-08-01

In three experiments, participants studied photographs of common household scenes. Following study, participants completed a category-cued recall test without feedback (Exps. 1 and 3), a category-cued recall test with feedback (Exp. 2), or a filler task (no-test condition). Participants then viewed recall tests from fictitious previous participants that contained erroneous items presented either one or four times, and then completed final recall and source recognition tests. The participants in all conditions reported incorrect items during final testing (a social contagion effect), and across experiments, initial testing had no impact on false recall of erroneous items. However, on the final source-monitoring recognition test, initial testing had a protective effect against false source recognition: Participants who were initially tested with and without feedback on category-cued initial tests attributed fewer incorrect items to the original event on the final source-monitoring recognition test than did participants who were not initially tested. These data demonstrate that initial testing may protect individuals' memories from erroneous suggestions.

Timing of presentation and nature of stimuli determine retroactive interference with social recognition memory in mice.

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Perna, Judith Camats; Wotjak, Carsten T; Stork, Oliver; Engelmann, Mario

2015-05-01

The present study was designed to further investigate the nature of stimuli and the timing of their presentation, which can induce retroactive interference with social recognition memory in mice. In accordance with our previous observations, confrontation with an unfamiliar conspecific juvenile 3h and 6h, but not 22 h, after the initial learning session resulted in retroactive interference. The same effect was observed with the exposure to both enantiomers of the monomolecular odour carvone, and with a novel object. Exposure to a loud tone (12 KHz, 90 dB) caused retroactive interference at 6h, but not 3h and 22 h, after sampling. Our data show that retroactive interference of social recognition memory can be induced by exposing the experimental subjects to the defined stimuli presented <22 h after learning in their home cage. The distinct interference triggered by the tone presentation at 6h after sampling may be linked to the intrinsic aversiveness of the loud tone and suggests that at this time point memory consolidation is particularly sensitive to stress. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Action adaptation during natural unfolding social scenes influences action recognition and inferences made about actor beliefs.

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Keefe, Bruce D; Wincenciak, Joanna; Jellema, Tjeerd; Ward, James W; Barraclough, Nick E

2016-07-01

When observing another individual's actions, we can both recognize their actions and infer their beliefs concerning the physical and social environment. The extent to which visual adaptation influences action recognition and conceptually later stages of processing involved in deriving the belief state of the actor remains unknown. To explore this we used virtual reality (life-size photorealistic actors presented in stereoscopic three dimensions) to see how visual adaptation influences the perception of individuals in naturally unfolding social scenes at increasingly higher levels of action understanding. We presented scenes in which one actor picked up boxes (of varying number and weight), after which a second actor picked up a single box. Adaptation to the first actor's behavior systematically changed perception of the second actor. Aftereffects increased with the duration of the first actor's behavior, declined exponentially over time, and were independent of view direction. Inferences about the second actor's expectation of box weight were also distorted by adaptation to the first actor. Distortions in action recognition and actor expectations did not, however, extend across different actions, indicating that adaptation is not acting at an action-independent abstract level but rather at an action-dependent level. We conclude that although adaptation influences more complex inferences about belief states of individuals, this is likely to be a result of adaptation at an earlier action recognition stage rather than adaptation operating at a higher, more abstract level in mentalizing or simulation systems.

Face identity recognition in autism spectrum disorders: a review of behavioral studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Weigelt, Sarah; Koldewyn, Kami; Kanwisher, Nancy

2012-03-01

Face recognition--the ability to recognize a person from their facial appearance--is essential for normal social interaction. Face recognition deficits have been implicated in the most common disorder of social interaction: autism. Here we ask: is face identity recognition in fact impaired in people with autism? Reviewing behavioral studies we find no strong evidence for a qualitative difference in how facial identity is processed between those with and without autism: markers of typical face identity recognition, such as the face inversion effect, seem to be present in people with autism. However, quantitatively--i.e., how well facial identity is remembered or discriminated--people with autism perform worse than typical individuals. This impairment is particularly clear in face memory and in face perception tasks in which a delay intervenes between sample and test, and less so in tasks with no memory demand. Although some evidence suggests that this deficit may be specific to faces, further evidence on this question is necessary. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Social Responsibility Performance Outcomes Model: Building Socially Responsible Companies through Performance Improvement Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatcher, Tim

2000-01-01

Considers the role of performance improvement professionals and human resources development professionals in helping organizations realize the ethical and financial power of corporate social responsibility. Explains the social responsibility performance outcomes model, which incorporates the concepts of societal needs and outcomes. (LRW)

Kin-informative recognition cues in ants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nehring, Volker; Evison, Sophie E F; Santorelli, Lorenzo A

2011-01-01

behaviour is thought to be rare in one of the classic examples of cooperation--social insect colonies--because the colony-level costs of individual selfishness select against cues that would allow workers to recognize their closest relatives. In accord with this, previous studies of wasps and ants have...... found little or no kin information in recognition cues. Here, we test the hypothesis that social insects do not have kin-informative recognition cues by investigating the recognition cues and relatedness of workers from four colonies of the ant Acromyrmex octospinosus. Contrary to the theoretical...... prediction, we show that the cuticular hydrocarbons of ant workers in all four colonies are informative enough to allow full-sisters to be distinguished from half-sisters with a high accuracy. These results contradict the hypothesis of non-heritable recognition cues and suggest that there is more potential...

Rapid and reversible impairments of short- and long-term social recognition memory are caused by acute isolation of adult rats via distinct mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahar-Gold, Hadar; Gur, Rotem; Wagner, Shlomo

2013-01-01

Mammalian social organizations require the ability to recognize and remember individual conspecifics. This social recognition memory (SRM) can be examined in rodents using their innate tendency to investigate novel conspecifics more persistently than familiar ones. Here we used the SRM paradigm to examine the influence of housing conditions on the social memory of adult rats. We found that acute social isolation caused within few days a significant impairment in acquisition of short-term SRM of male and female rats. Moreover, SRM consolidation into long-term memory was blocked following only one day of social isolation. Both impairments were reversible, but with different time courses. Furthermore, only the impairment in SRM consolidation was reversed by systemic administration of arginine-vasopressin (AVP). In contrast to SRM, object recognition memory was not affected by social isolation. We conclude that acute social isolation rapidly induces reversible changes in the brain neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying SRM, which hamper its acquisition and completely block its consolidation. These changes occur via distinct, AVP sensitive and insensitive mechanisms. Thus, acute social isolation of rats swiftly causes changes in their brain and interferes with their normal social behavior.

Rapid and reversible impairments of short- and long-term social recognition memory are caused by acute isolation of adult rats via distinct mechanisms.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hadar Shahar-Gold

Full Text Available Mammalian social organizations require the ability to recognize and remember individual conspecifics. This social recognition memory (SRM can be examined in rodents using their innate tendency to investigate novel conspecifics more persistently than familiar ones. Here we used the SRM paradigm to examine the influence of housing conditions on the social memory of adult rats. We found that acute social isolation caused within few days a significant impairment in acquisition of short-term SRM of male and female rats. Moreover, SRM consolidation into long-term memory was blocked following only one day of social isolation. Both impairments were reversible, but with different time courses. Furthermore, only the impairment in SRM consolidation was reversed by systemic administration of arginine-vasopressin (AVP. In contrast to SRM, object recognition memory was not affected by social isolation. We conclude that acute social isolation rapidly induces reversible changes in the brain neuronal and molecular mechanisms underlying SRM, which hamper its acquisition and completely block its consolidation. These changes occur via distinct, AVP sensitive and insensitive mechanisms. Thus, acute social isolation of rats swiftly causes changes in their brain and interferes with their normal social behavior.

Recognition of Prior Learning, Self-Realisation and Identity within Axel Honneth's Theory of Recognition

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Sandberg, Fredrik; Kubiak, Chris

2013-01-01

This paper argues for the significance of Axel Honneth's theory of recognition for understanding recognition of prior learning (RPL). Case studies of the experiences of RPL by paraprofessional workers in health and social care in the UK and Sweden are used to explicate this significance. The results maintain that there are varying conditions of…

Within-individual variation in bullfrog vocalizations: implications for a vocally mediated social recognition system.

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Bee, Mark A

2004-12-01

Acoustic signals provide a basis for social recognition in a wide range of animals. Few studies, however, have attempted to relate the patterns of individual variation in signals to behavioral discrimination thresholds used by receivers to discriminate among individuals. North American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) discriminate among familiar and unfamiliar individuals based on individual variation in advertisement calls. The sources, patterns, and magnitudes of variation in eight acoustic properties of multiple-note advertisement calls were examined to understand how patterns of within-individual variation might either constrain, or provide additional cues for, vocal recognition. Six of eight acoustic properties exhibited significant note-to-note variation within multiple-note calls. Despite this source of within-individual variation, all call properties varied significantly among individuals, and multivariate analyses indicated that call notes were individually distinct. Fine-temporal and spectral call properties exhibited less within-individual variation compared to gross-temporal properties and contributed most toward statistically distinguishing among individuals. Among-individual differences in the patterns of within-individual variation in some properties suggest that within-individual variation could also function as a recognition cue. The distributions of among-individual and within-individual differences were used to generate hypotheses about the expected behavioral discrimination thresholds of receivers.

Age differences in right-wing authoritarianism and their relation to emotion recognition.

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Ruffman, Ted; Wilson, Marc; Henry, Julie D; Dawson, Abigail; Chen, Yan; Kladnitski, Natalie; Myftari, Ella; Murray, Janice; Halberstadt, Jamin; Hunter, John A

2016-03-01

This study examined the correlates of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) in older adults. Participants were given tasks measuring emotion recognition, executive functions and fluid IQ and questionnaires measuring RWA, perceived threat and social dominance orientation. Study 1 established higher age-related RWA across the age span in more than 2,600 New Zealanders. Studies 2 to 4 found that threat, education, social dominance and age all predicted unique variance in older adults' RWA, but the most consistent predictor was emotion recognition, predicting unique variance in older adults' RWA independent of all other variables. We argue that older adults' worse emotion recognition is associated with a more general change in social judgment. Expression of extreme attitudes (right- or left-wing) has the potential to antagonize others, but worse emotion recognition means that subtle signals will not be perceived, making the expression of extreme attitudes more likely. Our findings are consistent with other studies showing that worsening emotion recognition underlies age-related declines in verbosity, understanding of social gaffes, and ability to detect lies. Such results indicate that emotion recognition is a core social insight linked to many aspects of social cognition. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Recognition of face and non-face stimuli in autistic spectrum disorder.

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Arkush, Leo; Smith-Collins, Adam P R; Fiorentini, Chiara; Skuse, David H

2013-12-01

The ability to remember faces is critical for the development of social competence. From childhood to adulthood, we acquire a high level of expertise in the recognition of facial images, and neural processes become dedicated to sustaining competence. Many people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have poor face recognition memory; changes in hairstyle or other non-facial features in an otherwise familiar person affect their recollection skills. The observation implies that they may not use the configuration of the inner face to achieve memory competence, but bolster performance in other ways. We aimed to test this hypothesis by comparing the performance of a group of high-functioning unmedicated adolescents with ASD and a matched control group on a "surprise" face recognition memory task. We compared their memory for unfamiliar faces with their memory for images of houses. To evaluate the role that is played by peripheral cues in assisting recognition memory, we cropped both sets of pictures, retaining only the most salient central features. ASD adolescents had poorer recognition memory for faces than typical controls, but their recognition memory for houses was unimpaired. Cropping images of faces did not disproportionately influence their recall accuracy, relative to controls. House recognition skills (cropped and uncropped) were similar in both groups. In the ASD group only, performance on both sets of task was closely correlated, implying that memory for faces and other complex pictorial stimuli is achieved by domain-general (non-dedicated) cognitive mechanisms. Adolescents with ASD apparently do not use domain-specialized processing of inner facial cues to support face recognition memory. © 2013 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Discrete Neural Correlates for the Recognition of Negative Emotions: Insights from Frontotemporal Dementia

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Kumfor, Fiona; Irish, Muireann; Hodges, John R.; Piguet, Olivier

2013-01-01

Patients with frontotemporal dementia have pervasive changes in emotion recognition and social cognition, yet the neural changes underlying these emotion processing deficits remain unclear. The multimodal system model of emotion proposes that basic emotions are dependent on distinct brain regions, which undergo significant pathological changes in frontotemporal dementia. As such, this syndrome may provide important insight into the impact of neural network degeneration upon the innate ability to recognise emotions. This study used voxel-based morphometry to identify discrete neural correlates involved in the recognition of basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise and happiness) in frontotemporal dementia. Forty frontotemporal dementia patients (18 behavioural-variant, 11 semantic dementia, 11 progressive nonfluent aphasia) and 27 healthy controls were tested on two facial emotion recognition tasks: The Ekman 60 and Ekman Caricatures. Although each frontotemporal dementia group showed impaired recognition of negative emotions, distinct associations between emotion-specific task performance and changes in grey matter intensity emerged. Fear recognition was associated with the right amygdala; disgust recognition with the left insula; anger recognition with the left middle and superior temporal gyrus; and sadness recognition with the left subcallosal cingulate, indicating that discrete neural substrates are necessary for emotion recognition in frontotemporal dementia. The erosion of emotion-specific neural networks in neurodegenerative disorders may produce distinct profiles of performance that are relevant to understanding the neurobiological basis of emotion processing. PMID:23805313

[Face recognition in patients with schizophrenia].

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Doi, Hirokazu; Shinohara, Kazuyuki

2012-07-01

It is well known that patients with schizophrenia show severe deficiencies in social communication skills. These deficiencies are believed to be partly derived from abnormalities in face recognition. However, the exact nature of these abnormalities exhibited by schizophrenic patients with respect to face recognition has yet to be clarified. In the present paper, we review the main findings on face recognition deficiencies in patients with schizophrenia, particularly focusing on abnormalities in the recognition of facial expression and gaze direction, which are the primary sources of information of others' mental states. The existing studies reveal that the abnormal recognition of facial expression and gaze direction in schizophrenic patients is attributable to impairments in both perceptual processing of visual stimuli, and cognitive-emotional responses to social information. Furthermore, schizophrenic patients show malfunctions in distributed neural regions, ranging from the fusiform gyrus recruited in the structural encoding of facial stimuli, to the amygdala which plays a primary role in the detection of the emotional significance of stimuli. These findings were obtained from research in patient groups with heterogeneous characteristics. Because previous studies have indicated that impairments in face recognition in schizophrenic patients might vary according to the types of symptoms, it is of primary importance to compare the nature of face recognition deficiencies and the impairments of underlying neural functions across sub-groups of patients.

Invariant recognition drives neural representations of action sequences.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrea Tacchetti

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Recognizing the actions of others from visual stimuli is a crucial aspect of human perception that allows individuals to respond to social cues. Humans are able to discriminate between similar actions despite transformations, like changes in viewpoint or actor, that substantially alter the visual appearance of a scene. This ability to generalize across complex transformations is a hallmark of human visual intelligence. Advances in understanding action recognition at the neural level have not always translated into precise accounts of the computational principles underlying what representations of action sequences are constructed by human visual cortex. Here we test the hypothesis that invariant action discrimination might fill this gap. Recently, the study of artificial systems for static object perception has produced models, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs, that achieve human level performance in complex discriminative tasks. Within this class, architectures that better support invariant object recognition also produce image representations that better match those implied by human and primate neural data. However, whether these models produce representations of action sequences that support recognition across complex transformations and closely follow neural representations of actions remains unknown. Here we show that spatiotemporal CNNs accurately categorize video stimuli into action classes, and that deliberate model modifications that improve performance on an invariant action recognition task lead to data representations that better match human neural recordings. Our results support our hypothesis that performance on invariant discrimination dictates the neural representations of actions computed in the brain. These results broaden the scope of the invariant recognition framework for understanding visual intelligence from perception of inanimate objects and faces in static images to the study of human perception of action sequences.

Superior recognition performance for happy masked and unmasked faces in both younger and older adults.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joakim eSvard

2012-11-01

Full Text Available In the aging literature it has been shown that even though emotion recognition performance decreases with age, the decrease is less for happiness than other facial expressions. Studies in younger adults have also revealed that happy faces are more strongly attended to and better recognized than other emotional facial expressions. Thus, there might be a more age independent happy face advantage in facial expression recognition. By using a backward masking paradigm and varying stimulus onset asynchronies (17–267 ms the temporal development of a happy face advantage, on a continuum from low to high levels of visibility, was examined in younger and older adults. Results showed that across age groups, recognition performance for happy faces was better than for neutral and fearful faces at durations longer than 50 ms. Importantly, the results showed a happy face advantage already during early processing of emotional faces in both younger and older adults. This advantage is discussed in terms of processing of salient perceptual features and elaborative processing of the happy face. We also investigate the combined effect of age and neuroticism on emotional face processing. The rationale was previous findings of age related differences in physiological arousal to emotional pictures and a relation between arousal and neuroticism. Across all durations, there was an interaction between age and neuroticism, showing that being high in neuroticism might be disadvantageous for younger, but not older adults’ emotion recognition performance during arousal enhancing tasks. These results indicate that there is a relation between aging, neuroticism, and performance, potentially related to physiological arousal.

Performance Comparison of Assorted Color Spaces for Multilevel Block Truncation Coding based Face Recognition

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H.B. Kekre; Sudeep Thepade; Karan Dhamejani; Sanchit Khandelwal; Adnan Azmi

2012-01-01

The paper presents a performance analysis of Multilevel Block Truncation Coding based Face Recognition among widely used color spaces. In [1], Multilevel Block Truncation Coding was applied on the RGB color space up to four levels for face recognition. Better results were obtained when the proposed technique was implemented using Kekre’s LUV (K’LUV) color space [25]. This was the motivation to test the proposed technique using assorted color spaces. For experimental analysis, two face databas...

Disentangling environmental and heritable nestmate recognition cues in a carpenter ant

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van Zweden, Jelle S; Dreier, Stephanie; d'Ettorre, Patrizia

2009-01-01

Discriminating between group members and strangers is a key feature of social life. Nestmate recognition is very effective in social insects and is manifested by aggression and rejection of alien individuals, which are prohibited to enter the nest. Nestmate recognition is based on the quantitative...... variation in cuticular hydrocarbons, which can include heritable cues from the workers, as well as acquired cues from the environment or queen-derived cues. We tracked the profile of six colonies of the ant Camponotus aethiops for a year under homogeneous laboratory conditions. We performed chemical...... diagnostic power between colonies. The presence of a queen had little influence on nestmate discrimination abilities. Our results suggest that heritable cues of workers are the dominant factor influencing nestmate discrimination in these carpenter ants and highlight the importance of colony kin structure...

Chronic cannabidiol treatment improves social and object recognition in double transgenic APPswe/PS1∆E9 mice.

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Cheng, David; Low, Jac Kee; Logge, Warren; Garner, Brett; Karl, Tim

2014-08-01

Patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibit a decline in cognitive abilities including an inability to recognise familiar faces. Hallmark pathological changes in AD include the aggregation of amyloid-β (Aβ), tau protein hyperphosphorylation as well as pronounced neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, neurotoxicity and oxidative damage. The non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) exerts neuroprotective, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and promotes neurogenesis. CBD also reverses Aβ-induced spatial memory deficits in rodents. Thus we determined the therapeutic-like effects of chronic CBD treatment (20 mg/kg, daily intraperitoneal injections for 3 weeks) on the APPswe/PS1∆E9 (APPxPS1) transgenic mouse model for AD in a number of cognitive tests, including the social preference test, the novel object recognition task and the fear conditioning paradigm. We also analysed the impact of CBD on anxiety behaviours in the elevated plus maze. Vehicle-treated APPxPS1 mice demonstrated impairments in social recognition and novel object recognition compared to wild type-like mice. Chronic CBD treatment reversed these cognitive deficits in APPxPS1 mice without affecting anxiety-related behaviours. This is the first study to investigate the effect of chronic CBD treatment on cognition in an AD transgenic mouse model. Our findings suggest that CBD may have therapeutic potential for specific cognitive impairments associated with AD.

Work and Recognition. Reviewing New Forms of Pathological Developments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Anders; Willig, Rasmus

2004-01-01

-Pierre Le Goff, Christophe Dejours and Emmanuel Renault. In spite of many differences, their work is united by a critical description of the logic of work and its consequences for individual individuation. These theorists agree that the growth of autonomy, flexibility and mobility has destabilised......The article deals with the relationship between work and recognition, taking Axel Honneth’s social-philosophical theory of the struggle for recognition as its point of departure. In order to give sociological substance to Honneth’s theory, we turn to three contemporary social theorists - Jean...... individual and collective identity formation and has led to an increase in social pathological illnesses such as stress and depression. By juxtaposing these analyses with Honneth’s theory on recognition, we conclude that the contemporary logic of work is unable to provide adequate forms of recognition...

Challenging ocular image recognition

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Pauca, V. Paúl; Forkin, Michael; Xu, Xiao; Plemmons, Robert; Ross, Arun A.

2011-06-01

Ocular recognition is a new area of biometric investigation targeted at overcoming the limitations of iris recognition performance in the presence of non-ideal data. There are several advantages for increasing the area beyond the iris, yet there are also key issues that must be addressed such as size of the ocular region, factors affecting performance, and appropriate corpora to study these factors in isolation. In this paper, we explore and identify some of these issues with the goal of better defining parameters for ocular recognition. An empirical study is performed where iris recognition methods are contrasted with texture and point operators on existing iris and face datasets. The experimental results show a dramatic recognition performance gain when additional features are considered in the presence of poor quality iris data, offering strong evidence for extending interest beyond the iris. The experiments also highlight the need for the direct collection of additional ocular imagery.

A Compact Methodology to Understand, Evaluate, and Predict the Performance of Automatic Target Recognition

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Li, Yanpeng; Li, Xiang; Wang, Hongqiang; Chen, Yiping; Zhuang, Zhaowen; Cheng, Yongqiang; Deng, Bin; Wang, Liandong; Zeng, Yonghu; Gao, Lei

2014-01-01

This paper offers a compacted mechanism to carry out the performance evaluation work for an automatic target recognition (ATR) system: (a) a standard description of the ATR system's output is suggested, a quantity to indicate the operating condition is presented based on the principle of feature extraction in pattern recognition, and a series of indexes to assess the output in different aspects are developed with the application of statistics; (b) performance of the ATR system is interpreted by a quality factor based on knowledge of engineering mathematics; (c) through a novel utility called “context-probability” estimation proposed based on probability, performance prediction for an ATR system is realized. The simulation result shows that the performance of an ATR system can be accounted for and forecasted by the above-mentioned measures. Compared to existing technologies, the novel method can offer more objective performance conclusions for an ATR system. These conclusions may be helpful in knowing the practical capability of the tested ATR system. At the same time, the generalization performance of the proposed method is good. PMID:24967605

Environmental Identity Development through Social Interactions, Action, and Recognition

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Stapleton, Sarah Riggs

2015-01-01

This article uses sociocultural identity theory to explore how practice, action, and recognition can facilitate environmental identity development. Recognition, a construct not previously explored in environmental identity literature, is particularly examined. The study is based on a group of diverse teens who traveled to South Asia to participate…

Deep Recurrent Convolutional Neural Network: Improving Performance For Speech Recognition

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Zewang; Sun, Zheng; Liu, Jiaqi; Chen, Jingwen; Huo, Zhao; Zhang, Xiao

2016-01-01

A deep learning approach has been widely applied in sequence modeling problems. In terms of automatic speech recognition (ASR), its performance has significantly been improved by increasing large speech corpus and deeper neural network. Especially, recurrent neural network and deep convolutional neural network have been applied in ASR successfully. Given the arising problem of training speed, we build a novel deep recurrent convolutional network for acoustic modeling and then apply deep resid...

The Relationship between Binaural Benefit and Difference in Unilateral Speech Recognition Performance for Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users

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Yoon, Yang-soo; Li, Yongxin; Kang, Hou-Yong; Fu, Qian-Jie

2011-01-01

Objective The full benefit of bilateral cochlear implants may depend on the unilateral performance with each device, the speech materials, processing ability of the user, and/or the listening environment. In this study, bilateral and unilateral speech performances were evaluated in terms of recognition of phonemes and sentences presented in quiet or in noise. Design Speech recognition was measured for unilateral left, unilateral right, and bilateral listening conditions; speech and noise were presented at 0° azimuth. The “binaural benefit” was defined as the difference between bilateral performance and unilateral performance with the better ear. Study Sample 9 adults with bilateral cochlear implants participated. Results On average, results showed a greater binaural benefit in noise than in quiet for all speech tests. More importantly, the binaural benefit was greater when unilateral performance was similar across ears. As the difference in unilateral performance between ears increased, the binaural advantage decreased; this functional relationship was observed across the different speech materials and noise levels even though there was substantial intra- and inter-subject variability. Conclusions The results indicate that subjects who show symmetry in speech recognition performance between implanted ears in general show a large binaural benefit. PMID:21696329

Recognition judgments and the performance of the recognition heuristic depend on the size of the reference class

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Ulrich Hoffrage

2011-02-01

Full Text Available In a series of three experiments, participants made inferences about which one of a pair of two objects scored higher on a criterion. The first experiment was designed to contrast the prediction of Probabilistic Mental Model theory (Gigerenzer, Hoffrage, and Kleinbolting, 1991 concerning sampling procedure with the hard-easy effect. The experiment failed to support the theory's prediction that a particular pair of randomly sampled item sets would differ in percentage correct; but the observation that German participants performed practically as well on comparisons between U.S. cities (many of which they did not even recognize than on comparisons between German cities (about which they knew much more ultimately led to the formulation of the recognition heuristic. Experiment 2 was a second, this time successful, attempt to unconfound item difficulty and sampling procedure. In Experiment 3, participants' knowledge and recognition of each city was elicited, and how often this could be used to make an inference was manipulated. Choices were consistent with the recognition heuristic in about 80% of the cases when it discriminated and people had no additional knowledge about the recognized city (and in about 90% when they had such knowledge. The frequency with which the heuristic could be used affected the percentage correct, mean confidence, and overconfidence as predicted. The size of the reference class, which was also manipulated, modified these effects in meaningful and theoretically important ways.

'Blue' social capital and work performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøn, Sisse; Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase

2012-01-01

(Progoulaki & Roe 2011). This challenges social capital on board, i.e. the resources inherent in network cooperation associated with norms of reciprocity and trust (Putnam 2000: 19). Fragmentizing ‘blue’ social capital should however be restored, because work performance depends on the quality of cooperation...... findings suggest that a balance between three types of social capital – bonding, bridging and linking – is needed to achieve a high-performance work system (Gittell et al. 2010). Hence, main actors within the shipping sector should take ‘blue’ social capital into account in order to increase work...... efficiency and economic performance....

Verbal memory and Performance IQ predict theory of mind and emotion recognition ability in children with autistic spectrum disorders and in psychiatric control children.

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Buitelaar, J K; van der Wees, M; Swaab-Barneveld, H; van der Gaag, R J

1999-09-01

This study was designed to examine the developmental and cognitive correlates of theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition ability in children with autism (N = 20), with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) (N = 20), and in psychiatric control children (N = 20). The diagnostic groups were person-to-person matched on age and verbal IQ. The age of the children was between 8 and 18 years; their Full Scale IQ was at least 65. The test battery included tasks for the matching and the context recognition of emotional expressions, and a set of first- and second-order ToM tasks. The relationships between composite domain scores and the subjects' age, Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, verbal memory, visual memory, and gender were examined in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Further, the subjects who reliably and consistently passed the tasks of a domain and those who could not were compared on developmental and cognitive characteristics. Overall, the results of the various analyses converged and indicated that verbal memory, Performance IQ, age and gender were the best predictors of social cognitive ability.

Genetic mapping in mice reveals the involvement of Pcdh9 in long-term social and object recognition and sensorimotor development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruining, Hilgo; Matsui, Asuka; Oguro-Ando, Asami; Kahn, René S.; Van'T Spijker, Heleen M.; Akkermans, Guus; Stiedl, Oliver; Van Engeland, Herman; Koopmans, Bastijn; Van Lith, Hein A.; Oppelaar, Hugo; Tieland, Liselotte; Nonkes, Lourens J.; Yagi, Takeshi; Kaneko, Ryosuke; Burbach, J. Peter H; Yamamoto, Nobuhiko; Kas, Martien J.

2015-01-01

Background Quantitative genetic analysis of basic mouse behaviors is a powerful tool to identify novel genetic phenotypes contributing to neurobehavioral disorders. Here, we analyzed genetic contributions to single-trial, long-term social and nonsocial recognition and subsequently studied the

Genetic Mapping in Mice Reveals the Involvement of Pcdh9 in Long-Term Social and Object Recognition and Sensorimotor Development

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bruining, Hilgo; Matsui, Asuka; Oguro-Ando, Asami; Kahn, René S; Van't Spijker, Heleen M; Akkermans, Guus; Stiedl, Oliver; van Engeland, Herman; Koopmans, Bastijn; van Lith, Hein A; Oppelaar, Hugo; Tieland, Liselotte; Nonkes, Lourens J; Yagi, Takeshi; Kaneko, Ryosuke; Burbach, J Peter H; Yamamoto, Nobuhiko; Kas, Martien J

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Quantitative genetic analysis of basic mouse behaviors is a powerful tool to identify novel genetic phenotypes contributing to neurobehavioral disorders. Here, we analyzed genetic contributions to single-trial, long-term social and nonsocial recognition and subsequently studied the

Pattern recognition in cyclic and discrete skills performance from inertial measurement units

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seifert, Ludovic; L'Hermette, Maxime; Komar, John; Orth, Dominic; Mell, Florian; Merriaux, Pierre; Grenet, Pierre; Caritu, Yanis; Hérault, Romain; Dovgalecs, Vladislavs; Davids, Keith

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to compare and validate an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) relative to an optic system, and to propose methods for pattern recognition to capture behavioural dynamics during sport performance. IMU validation was conducted by comparing the motions of the two arms of a

Transnational Geographies of Academic Distinction: The Role of Social Capital in the Recognition and Evaluation of "Overseas" Credentials

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Waters, Johanna L.

2009-01-01

This paper examines the role of specific and place-based social capital in the recognition and evaluation of international credentials. Whilst research on labour market segmentation has contributed towards an understanding of the spatial variability of the value of human capital, very little attention has been paid to the ways in which the…

Meta-analysis of social cognition in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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Bora, Emre

2017-03-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is associated with executive dysfunction and behavioural impairment. Recent studies suggested that social cognitive deficits might also be a prominent feature of ALS. Current meta-analysis aimed to summarize available evidence for deficits in social cognition including theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition in ALS. In this meta-analysis of 15 studies, facial emotion recognition and ToM performances of 389 patients with ALS and 471 healthy controls were compared. ALS was associated with significant impairments with medium effect sizes in ToM (d = .65) and facial emotion recognition (d = .69). Among individual emotions recognition of disgust and surprise were particularly impaired. Deficits in perspective taking (d = .73) aspects of ToM (ToM-PT) was more pronounced in comparison to decoding (d = .28) aspects of ToM (ToM-decoding). The severity of social cognitive impairment was similar to level of executive dysfunction and there was a significant relationship between social cognition and executive dysfunction. Deficits in social cognition are part of the cognitive phenotype of ALS. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Deficits in facial emotion recognition indicate behavioral changes and impaired self-awareness after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

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Spikman, Jacoba M; Milders, Maarten V; Visser-Keizer, Annemarie C; Westerhof-Evers, Herma J; Herben-Dekker, Meike; van der Naalt, Joukje

2013-01-01

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of disability, specifically among younger adults. Behavioral changes are common after moderate to severe TBI and have adverse consequences for social and vocational functioning. It is hypothesized that deficits in social cognition, including facial affect recognition, might underlie these behavioral changes. Measurement of behavioral deficits is complicated, because the rating scales used rely on subjective judgement, often lack specificity and many patients provide unrealistically positive reports of their functioning due to impaired self-awareness. Accordingly, it is important to find performance based tests that allow objective and early identification of these problems. In the present study 51 moderate to severe TBI patients in the sub-acute and chronic stage were assessed with a test for emotion recognition (FEEST) and a questionnaire for behavioral problems (DEX) with a self and proxy rated version. Patients performed worse on the total score and on the negative emotion subscores of the FEEST than a matched group of 31 healthy controls. Patients also exhibited significantly more behavioral problems on both the DEX self and proxy rated version, but proxy ratings revealed more severe problems. No significant correlation was found between FEEST scores and DEX self ratings. However, impaired emotion recognition in the patients, and in particular of Sadness and Anger, was significantly correlated with behavioral problems as rated by proxies and with impaired self-awareness. This is the first study to find these associations, strengthening the proposed recognition of social signals as a condition for adequate social functioning. Hence, deficits in emotion recognition can be conceived as markers for behavioral problems and lack of insight in TBI patients. This finding is also of clinical importance since, unlike behavioral problems, emotion recognition can be objectively measured early after injury, allowing for early

Deficits in facial emotion recognition indicate behavioral changes and impaired self-awareness after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacoba M Spikman

Full Text Available Traumatic brain injury (TBI is a leading cause of disability, specifically among younger adults. Behavioral changes are common after moderate to severe TBI and have adverse consequences for social and vocational functioning. It is hypothesized that deficits in social cognition, including facial affect recognition, might underlie these behavioral changes. Measurement of behavioral deficits is complicated, because the rating scales used rely on subjective judgement, often lack specificity and many patients provide unrealistically positive reports of their functioning due to impaired self-awareness. Accordingly, it is important to find performance based tests that allow objective and early identification of these problems. In the present study 51 moderate to severe TBI patients in the sub-acute and chronic stage were assessed with a test for emotion recognition (FEEST and a questionnaire for behavioral problems (DEX with a self and proxy rated version. Patients performed worse on the total score and on the negative emotion subscores of the FEEST than a matched group of 31 healthy controls. Patients also exhibited significantly more behavioral problems on both the DEX self and proxy rated version, but proxy ratings revealed more severe problems. No significant correlation was found between FEEST scores and DEX self ratings. However, impaired emotion recognition in the patients, and in particular of Sadness and Anger, was significantly correlated with behavioral problems as rated by proxies and with impaired self-awareness. This is the first study to find these associations, strengthening the proposed recognition of social signals as a condition for adequate social functioning. Hence, deficits in emotion recognition can be conceived as markers for behavioral problems and lack of insight in TBI patients. This finding is also of clinical importance since, unlike behavioral problems, emotion recognition can be objectively measured early after injury

An Investigation of Emotion Recognition and Theory of Mind in People with Chronic Heart Failure

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Habota, Tina; McLennan, Skye N.; Cameron, Jan; Ski, Chantal F.; Thompson, David R.; Rendell, Peter G.

2015-01-01

Objectives Cognitive deficits are common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), but no study has investigated whether these deficits extend to social cognition. The present study provided the first empirical assessment of emotion recognition and theory of mind (ToM) in patients with CHF. In addition, it assessed whether each of these social cognitive constructs was associated with more general cognitive impairment. Methods A group comparison design was used, with 31 CHF patients compared to 38 demographically matched controls. The Ekman Faces test was used to assess emotion recognition, and the Mind in the Eyes test to measure ToM. Measures assessing global cognition, executive functions, and verbal memory were also administered. Results There were no differences between groups on emotion recognition or ToM. The CHF group’s performance was poorer on some executive measures, but memory was relatively preserved. In the CHF group, both emotion recognition performance and ToM ability correlated moderately with global cognition (r = .38, p = .034; r = .49, p = .005, respectively), but not with executive function or verbal memory. Conclusion CHF patients with lower cognitive ability were more likely to have difficulty recognizing emotions and inferring the mental states of others. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed. PMID:26529409

Recognition of Face and Emotional Facial Expressions in Autism

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Muhammed Tayyib Kadak

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Autism is a genetically transferred neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe and permanent deficits in many interpersonal relation areas like communication, social interaction and emotional responsiveness. Patients with autism have deficits in face recognition, eye contact and recognition of emotional expression. Both recognition of face and expression of facial emotion carried on face processing. Structural and functional impairment in fusiform gyrus, amygdala, superior temporal sulcus and other brain regions lead to deficits in recognition of face and facial emotion. Therefore studies suggest that face processing deficits resulted in problems in areas of social interaction and emotion in autism. Studies revealed that children with autism had problems in recognition of facial expression and used mouth region more than eye region. It was also shown that autistic patients interpreted ambiguous expressions as negative emotion. In autism, deficits related in various stages of face processing like detection of gaze, face identity, recognition of emotional expression were determined, so far. Social interaction impairments in autistic spectrum disorders originated from face processing deficits during the periods of infancy, childhood and adolescence. Recognition of face and expression of facial emotion could be affected either automatically by orienting towards faces after birth, or by “learning” processes in developmental periods such as identity and emotion processing. This article aimed to review neurobiological basis of face processing and recognition of emotional facial expressions during normal development and in autism.

WAY 267,464, a non-peptide oxytocin receptor agonist, impairs social recognition memory in rats through a vasopressin 1A receptor antagonist action.

Science.gov (United States)

Hicks, Callum; Ramos, Linnet; Reekie, Tristan A; Narlawar, Rajeshwar; Kassiou, Michael; McGregor, Iain S

2015-08-01

Recent in vitro studies suggest that the oxytocin receptor (OTR) agonist WAY 267,464 has vasopressin 1A receptor (V1AR) antagonist effects. This might limit its therapeutic potential due to the positive involvement of the V1AR in social behavior. The objective of this study was to assess functional V1AR antagonist-like effects of WAY 267,464 in vivo using a test of social recognition memory. Adult experimental rats were tested for their recognition of a juvenile conspecific rat that they had briefly met 30 or 120 min previously. The modulatory effects of vasopressin (AVP), the selective V1AR antagonist SR49059, and WAY 267,464 were examined together with those of the selective OTR antagonist Compound 25 (C25). Drugs were administered immediately after the first meeting. Control rats showed recognition of juveniles at a 30 min, but not a 120 min retention interval. AVP (0.005, but not 0.001 mg/kg intraperitoneal (i.p.)) improved memory such that recognition was evident after 120 min. This was prevented by pretreatment with SR49059 (1 mg/kg) and WAY 267,464 (10, 30, and 100 mg/kg). Given alone, SR49059 (1 mg/kg) and WAY 267,464 (30 and 100 mg/kg) impaired memory at a 30 min retention interval. The impairment with WAY 267,464 was not prevented by C25 (5 mg/kg), suggesting V1AR rather than OTR mediation of the effect. Given alone, C25 also impaired memory. These results highlight a tonic role for endogenous AVP (and oxytocin) in social recognition memory and indicate that WAY 267,464 functions in vivo as a V1AR antagonist to prevent the memory-enhancing effects of AVP.

Oxytocin attenuates deficits in social interaction but not recognition memory in a prenatal valproic acid-induced mouse model of autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Hara, Yuta; Ago, Yukio; Higuchi, Momoko; Hasebe, Shigeru; Nakazawa, Takanobu; Hashimoto, Hitoshi; Matsuda, Toshio; Takuma, Kazuhiro

2017-11-01

Recent studies have reported that oxytocin ameliorates behavioral abnormalities in both animal models and individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, the mechanisms underlying the ameliorating effects of oxytocin remain unclear. In this study, we examined the effects of intranasal oxytocin on impairments in social interaction and recognition memory in an ASD mouse model in which animals are prenatally exposed to valproic acid (VPA). We found that a single intranasal administration of oxytocin restored social interaction deficits for up to 2h in mice prenatally exposed to VPA, but there was no effect on recognition memory impairments. Additionally, administration of oxytocin across 2weeks improved prenatal VPA-induced social interaction deficits for at least 24h. In contrast, there were no effects on the time spent sniffing in control mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that intranasal administration of oxytocin increased c-Fos expression in the paraventricular nuclei (PVN), prefrontal cortex, and somatosensory cortex, but not the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 regions of VPA-exposed mice, suggesting the former regions may underlie the effects of oxytocin. These findings suggest that oxytocin attenuates social interaction deficits through the activation of higher cortical areas and the PVN in an ASD mouse model. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilfillan, Geoffrey; Vitale, Jessica; McNutt, John Weldon; McComb, Karen

2016-08-01

Individual recognition is considered to have been fundamental in the evolution of complex social systems and is thought to be a widespread ability throughout the animal kingdom. Although robust evidence for individual recognition remains limited, recent experimental paradigms that examine cross-modal processing have demonstrated individual recognition in a range of captive non-human animals. It is now highly relevant to test whether cross-modal individual recognition exists within wild populations and thus examine how it is employed during natural social interactions. We address this question by testing audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition in wild African lions (Panthera leo) using an expectancy-violation paradigm. When presented with a scenario where the playback of a loud-call (roaring) broadcast from behind a visual block is incongruent with the conspecific previously seen there, subjects responded more strongly than during the congruent scenario where the call and individual matched. These findings suggest that lions are capable of audio-visual cross-modal individual recognition and provide a useful method for studying this ability in wild populations. © 2016 The Author(s).

Gender differences in recognition of toy faces suggest a contribution of experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Kaitlin F; Gauthier, Isabel

2016-12-01

When there is a gender effect, women perform better then men in face recognition tasks. Prior work has not documented a male advantage on a face recognition task, suggesting that women may outperform men at face recognition generally either due to evolutionary reasons or the influence of social roles. Here, we question the idea that women excel at all face recognition and provide a proof of concept based on a face category for which men outperform women. We developed a test of face learning to measures individual differences with face categories for which men and women may differ in experience, using the faces of Barbie dolls and of Transformers. The results show a crossover interaction between subject gender and category, where men outperform women with Transformers' faces. We demonstrate that men can outperform women with some categories of faces, suggesting that explanations for a general face recognition advantage for women are in fact not needed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long-term social recognition memory is mediated by oxytocin-dependent synaptic plasticity in the medial amygdala.

Science.gov (United States)

Gur, Rotem; Tendler, Alex; Wagner, Shlomo

2014-09-01

Recognition of specific individuals is fundamental to mammalian social behavior and is mediated in most mammals by the main and accessory olfactory systems. Both these systems innervate the medial amygdala (MeA), where activity of the neuropeptide oxytocin is thought to mediate social recognition memory (SRM). The specific contribution of the MeA to SRM formation and the specific actions of oxytocin in the MeA are unknown. We used the social discrimination test to evaluate short-term and long-term SRM in adult Sprague-Dawley male rats (n = 38). The role of protein synthesis in the MeA was investigated by local application of the protein synthesis blocker anisomycin (n = 11). Synaptic plasticity was assessed in vivo by recording the MeA evoked field potential responses to stimulation of the main (n = 21) and accessory (n = 56) olfactory bulbs before and after theta burst stimulation. Intracerebroventricular administration of saline, oxytocin, or oxytocin receptor antagonist was used to measure the effect of oxytocin on synaptic plasticity. Anisomycin application to the MeA prevented the formation of long-term SRM. In addition, the responses of MeA neurons underwent long-term depression (LTD) after theta burst stimulation of the accessory olfactory bulb, but not the main accessory bulb, in an oxytocin-dependent manner. No LTD was found in socially isolated rats, which are known to lack long-term SRM. Finally, accessory olfactory bulb stimulation before SRM acquisition blocked long-term SRM, supporting the involvement of LTD in the MeA in formation of long-term SRM. Our results indicate that long-term SRM in rats involves protein synthesis and oxytocin-dependent LTD in the MeA. Copyright © 2014 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Face Recognition Performance Improvement using a Similarity Score of Feature Vectors based on Probabilistic Histograms

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SRIKOTE, G.

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes an improved performance algorithm of face recognition to identify two face mismatch pairs in cases of incorrect decisions. The primary feature of this method is to deploy the similarity score with respect to Gaussian components between two previously unseen faces. Unlike the conventional classical vector distance measurement, our algorithms also consider the plot of summation of the similarity index versus face feature vector distance. A mixture of Gaussian models of labeled faces is also widely applicable to different biometric system parameters. By comparative evaluations, it has been shown that the efficiency of the proposed algorithm is superior to that of the conventional algorithm by an average accuracy of up to 1.15% and 16.87% when compared with 3x3 Multi-Region Histogram (MRH direct-bag-of-features and Principal Component Analysis (PCA-based face recognition systems, respectively. The experimental results show that similarity score consideration is more discriminative for face recognition compared to feature distance. Experimental results of Labeled Face in the Wild (LFW data set demonstrate that our algorithms are suitable for real applications probe-to-gallery identification of face recognition systems. Moreover, this proposed method can also be applied to other recognition systems and therefore additionally improves recognition scores.

Improving human object recognition performance using video enhancement techniques

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Whitman, Lucy S.; Lewis, Colin; Oakley, John P.

2004-12-01

Atmospheric scattering causes significant degradation in the quality of video images, particularly when imaging over long distances. The principle problem is the reduction in contrast due to scattered light. It is known that when the scattering particles are not too large compared with the imaging wavelength (i.e. Mie scattering) then high spatial resolution information may be contained within a low-contrast image. Unfortunately this information is not easily perceived by a human observer, particularly when using a standard video monitor. A secondary problem is the difficulty of achieving a sharp focus since automatic focus techniques tend to fail in such conditions. Recently several commercial colour video processing systems have become available. These systems use various techniques to improve image quality in low contrast conditions whilst retaining colour content. These systems produce improvements in subjective image quality in some situations, particularly in conditions of haze and light fog. There is also some evidence that video enhancement leads to improved ATR performance when used as a pre-processing stage. Psychological literature indicates that low contrast levels generally lead to a reduction in the performance of human observers in carrying out simple visual tasks. The aim of this paper is to present the results of an empirical study on object recognition in adverse viewing conditions. The chosen visual task was vehicle number plate recognition at long ranges (500 m and beyond). Two different commercial video enhancement systems are evaluated using the same protocol. The results show an increase in effective range with some differences between the different enhancement systems.

Gender Recognition from Unconstrained and Articulated Human Body

OpenAIRE

Wu, Qin; Guo, Guodong

2014-01-01

Gender recognition has many useful applications, ranging from business intelligence to image search and social activity analysis. Traditional research on gender recognition focuses on face images in a constrained environment. This paper proposes a method for gender recognition in articulated human body images acquired from an unconstrained environment in the real world. A systematic study of some critical issues in body-based gender recognition, such as which body parts are informative, ho...

Effects of Age and Working Memory Capacity on Speech Recognition Performance in Noise Among Listeners With Normal Hearing.

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Gordon-Salant, Sandra; Cole, Stacey Samuels

2016-01-01

This study aimed to determine if younger and older listeners with normal hearing who differ on working memory span perform differently on speech recognition tests in noise. Older adults typically exhibit poorer speech recognition scores in noise than younger adults, which is attributed primarily to poorer hearing sensitivity and more limited working memory capacity in older than younger adults. Previous studies typically tested older listeners with poorer hearing sensitivity and shorter working memory spans than younger listeners, making it difficult to discern the importance of working memory capacity on speech recognition. This investigation controlled for hearing sensitivity and compared speech recognition performance in noise by younger and older listeners who were subdivided into high and low working memory groups. Performance patterns were compared for different speech materials to assess whether or not the effect of working memory capacity varies with the demands of the specific speech test. The authors hypothesized that (1) normal-hearing listeners with low working memory span would exhibit poorer speech recognition performance in noise than those with high working memory span; (2) older listeners with normal hearing would show poorer speech recognition scores than younger listeners with normal hearing, when the two age groups were matched for working memory span; and (3) an interaction between age and working memory would be observed for speech materials that provide contextual cues. Twenty-eight older (61 to 75 years) and 25 younger (18 to 25 years) normal-hearing listeners were assigned to groups based on age and working memory status. Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers sentences were presented in noise using an adaptive procedure to measure the signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to 50% correct performance. Cognitive ability was evaluated with two tests of working memory (Listening

No effect of stress on false recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Beato, María Soledad; Cadavid, Sara; Pulido, Ramón F; Pinho, María Salomé

2013-02-01

The present study aimed to analyze the effect of acute stress on false recognition in the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In this paradigm, lists of words associated with a non-presented critical lure are studied and, in a subsequent memory test, critical lures are often falsely remembered. In two experiments, participants were randomly assigned to either the stress group (Trier Social Stress Test) or the no-stress control group. Because we sought to control the level-of-processing at encoding, in Experiment 1, participants created a visual mental image for each presented word (deep encoding). In Experiment 2, participants performed a shallow encoding (to respond whether each word contained the letter "o"). The results indicated that, in both experiments, as predicted, heart rate and STAI-S scores increased only in the stress group. However, false recognition did not differ across stress and no-stress groups. Results suggest that, although psychosocial stress was successfully induced, it does not enhance the vulnerability of individuals with acute stress to DRM false recognition, regardless of the level of processing.

The effect of non-neovascular age-related macular degeneration on face recognition performance.

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Taylor, Deanna J; Smith, Nicholas D; Binns, Alison M; Crabb, David P

2018-04-01

There is a well-established research base surrounding face recognition in patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, much of this existing research does not differentiate between results obtained for 'wet' AMD and 'dry' AMD. Here, we test the hypothesis that face recognition performance is worse in patients with dry AMD compared with visually healthy peers. Patients (>60 years of age, logMAR binocular visual acuity 0.7 or better) with dry AMD of varying severity and visually healthy age-related peers (controls) completed a modified version of the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). Percentage of correctly identified faces was used as an outcome measure for performance for each participant. A 90% normative reference limit was generated from the distribution of CFMT scores recorded in the visually healthy controls. Scores for AMD participants were then specifically compared to this limit, and comparisons between average scores in the AMD severity groups were investigated. Thirty patients (median [interquartile range] age of 76 [70, 79] years) and 34 controls (median age of 70 [64, 75] years) were examined. Four, seventeen and nine patients were classified as having early, intermediate and late AMD (geographic atrophy) respectively. Five (17%) patients recorded a face recognition performance worse than the 90% limit (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.46) set by controls; four of these had geographic atrophy. Patients with geographic atrophy identified fewer faces on average (±SD) (61% ± 22%) than those with early and intermediate AMD (75 ± 11%) and controls (74% ± 11%). People with dry AMD may not suffer from problems with face recognition until the disease is in its later stages; those with late AMD (geographic atrophy) are likely to have difficulty recognising faces. The results from this study should influence the management and expectations of patients with dry AMD in both community practice and hospital clinics.

Social security and firm performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Sangheon; Torm, Nina

2017-01-01

This article investigates how social security provision - a key determinant of formality - impacts on small and medium-sized firm performance in Viet Nam. Based on enterprise census data covering all registered firms from 2006 to 2011, the authors find that firms which increase their social...... security coverage by 10 per cent experience a revenue gain of 1.4-2.0 per cent per worker and a profit gain of up to 1.8 per cent, depending on the survival time of the firm. However, given the time lag between 'investment' (in social security contributions) and returns (enhanced firm performance...

Wanting it Too Much: An Inverse Relation Between Social Motivation and Facial Emotion Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Garman, Heather D; Spaulding, Christine J; Webb, Sara Jane; Mikami, Amori Yee; Morris, James P; Lerner, Matthew D

2016-12-01

This study examined social motivation and early-stage face perception as frameworks for understanding impairments in facial emotion recognition (FER) in a well-characterized sample of youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Early-stage face perception (N170 event-related potential latency) was recorded while participants completed a standardized FER task, while social motivation was obtained via parent report. Participants with greater social motivation exhibited poorer FER, while those with shorter N170 latencies exhibited better FER for child angry faces stimuli. Social motivation partially mediated the relationship between a faster N170 and better FER. These effects were all robust to variations in IQ, age, and ASD severity. These findings augur against theories implicating social motivation as uniformly valuable for individuals with ASD, and augment models suggesting a close link between early-stage face perception, social motivation, and FER in this population. Broader implications for models and development of FER in ASD are discussed.

Face recognition increases during saccade preparation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Hai; Rizak, Joshua D; Ma, Yuan-ye; Yang, Shang-chuan; Chen, Lin; Hu, Xin-tian

2014-01-01

Face perception is integral to human perception system as it underlies social interactions. Saccadic eye movements are frequently made to bring interesting visual information, such as faces, onto the fovea for detailed processing. Just before eye movement onset, the processing of some basic features, such as the orientation, of an object improves at the saccade landing point. Interestingly, there is also evidence that indicates faces are processed in early visual processing stages similar to basic features. However, it is not known whether this early enhancement of processing includes face recognition. In this study, three experiments were performed to map the timing of face presentation to the beginning of the eye movement in order to evaluate pre-saccadic face recognition. Faces were found to be similarly processed as simple objects immediately prior to saccadic movements. Starting ∼ 120 ms before a saccade to a target face, independent of whether or not the face was surrounded by other faces, the face recognition gradually improved and the critical spacing of the crowding decreased as saccade onset was approaching. These results suggest that an upcoming saccade prepares the visual system for new information about faces at the saccade landing site and may reduce the background in a crowd to target the intended face. This indicates an important role of pre-saccadic eye movement signals in human face recognition.

Social problem solving and social performance after a group social skills intervention for childhood brain tumor survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulte, Fiona; Vannatta, Kathryn; Barrera, Maru

2014-02-01

The aim of this study was to explore the ability of a group social skills intervention program for childhood brain tumor survivors to effect two steps of the social information processing model: social problem solving and social performance. Participants were 15 survivors (eight men and seven women) aged 7-15 years. The intervention consisted of eight 2-h weekly sessions focused on social skills including friendship making. Social problem solving, using hypothetical scenarios, was assessed during sessions 1 and 8. Social performance was observed during intervention sessions 1, 4, and 8. Compared with session 1, significant increases were found in social performance: frequency of maintaining eye contact and social conversations with peers over the course of the intervention. No significant changes in social problem solving were noted. This pilot study is the first to report improvements related to group social skills intervention at the level of observed social performance over the course of intervention. The lack of change in social problem solving suggests that survivors may possess the social knowledge required for social situations but have difficulty enacting social behaviors. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Modulation of recognition memory performance by light requires both melanopsin and classical photoreceptors

Science.gov (United States)

Tam, Shu K. E.; Hasan, Sibah; Hughes, Steven; Hankins, Mark W.; Foster, Russell G.; Bannerman, David M.

2016-01-01

Acute light exposure exerts various effects on physiology and behaviour. Although the effects of light on brain network activity in humans are well demonstrated, the effects of light on cognitive performance are inconclusive, with the size, as well as direction, of the effect depending on the nature of the task. Similarly, in nocturnal rodents, bright light can either facilitate or disrupt performance depending on the type of task employed. Crucially, it is unclear whether the effects of light on behavioural performance are mediated via the classical image-forming rods and cones or the melanopsin-expressing photosensitive retinal ganglion cells. Here, we investigate the modulatory effects of light on memory performance in mice using the spontaneous object recognition task. Importantly, we examine which photoreceptors are required to mediate the effects of light on memory performance. By using a cross-over design, we show that object recognition memory is disrupted when the test phase is conducted under a bright light (350 lux), regardless of the light level in the sample phase (10 or 350 lux), demonstrating that exposure to a bright light at the time of test, rather than at the time of encoding, impairs performance. Strikingly, the modulatory effect of light on memory performance is completely abolished in both melanopsin-deficient and rodless–coneless mice. Our findings provide direct evidence that melanopsin-driven and rod/cone-driven photoresponses are integrated in order to mediate the effect of light on memory performance. PMID:28003454

Relations Between Nonverbal and Verbal Social Cognitive Skills and Complex Social Behavior in Children and Adolescents with Autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Demopoulos, Carly; Hopkins, Joyce; Lewine, Jeffrey D

2016-07-01

Although there is an extensive literature on domains of social skill deficits in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), little research has examined the relation between specific social cognitive skills and complex social behaviors in daily functioning. This was the aim of the present study. Participants were 37 (26 male and 11 female) children and adolescents aged 6-18 years diagnosed with ASD. To determine the amount of variance in parent-rated complex social behavior accounted for by the linear combination of five directly-assessed social cognitive variables (i.e., adult and child facial and vocal affect recognition and social judgment) after controlling for general intellectual ability, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. The linear combination of variables accounted for 35.4 % of the variance in parent-rated complex social behavior. Vocal affect recognition in adult voices showed the strongest association with complex social behavior in ASD. Results suggest that assessment and training in vocal affective comprehension should be an important component of social skills interventions for individuals with ASD.

Social Cognition in a Clinical Sample of Personality Disorder Patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amparo eRuiz-Tagle

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Social cognition was assessed in a clinical sample of Personality Disorder (PD stable patients receiving ambulatory treatment (N=17 and healthy matched controls (N=17 using tests of recognition of emotions in faces and eyes, in a test of social faux pas and in theory of mind stories. Results indicated that when compared with healthy controls, individuals with PD showed a clear tendency to obtain lower scoring in tasks assessing recognition of emotion in faces (T=-2,602, p=0,014, eyes (T=-3,593, p=0,001, TOM stories (T=-4,706, p=0,000 and Faux pas (T=-2,227, p=0,035. In the present pilot study, PD individuals with a normal cognitive efficiency showed an impaired performance at social cognition assessment including emotion recognition and theory of mind.

Performance Recognition for Sulphur Flotation Process Based on Froth Texture Unit Distribution

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Mingfang He

2013-01-01

Full Text Available As an important indicator of flotation performance, froth texture is believed to be related to operational condition in sulphur flotation process. A novel fault detection method based on froth texture unit distribution (TUD is proposed to recognize the fault condition of sulphur flotation in real time. The froth texture unit number is calculated based on texture spectrum, and the probability density function (PDF of froth texture unit number is defined as texture unit distribution, which can describe the actual textual feature more accurately than the grey level dependence matrix approach. As the type of the froth TUD is unknown, a nonparametric kernel estimation method based on the fixed kernel basis is proposed, which can overcome the difficulty when comparing different TUDs under various conditions is impossible using the traditional varying kernel basis. Through transforming nonparametric description into dynamic kernel weight vectors, a principle component analysis (PCA model is established to reduce the dimensionality of the vectors. Then a threshold criterion determined by the TQ statistic based on the PCA model is proposed to realize the performance recognition. The industrial application results show that the accurate performance recognition of froth flotation can be achieved by using the proposed method.

Facial Expression Recognition Teaching to Preschoolers with Autism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christinaki, Eirini; Vidakis, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

2013-01-01

The recognition of facial expressions is important for the perception of emotions. Understanding emotions is essential in human communication and social interaction. Children with autism have been reported to exhibit deficits in the recognition of affective expressions. Their difficulties...

Cuticular hydrocarbons as potential kin recognition cues in a subsocial spider

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grinsted, Lena; Bilde, Trine; D'Ettorre, Patrizia

2011-01-01

of recognition cues in subsocial species can provide insights into evolutionary pathways leading to permanent sociality and kin-selected benefits of cooperation. In subsocial spiders, empirical evidence suggests the existence of both kin recognition and benefits of cooperating with kin, whereas the cues for kin...... recognition have yet to be identified. However, cuticular hydrocarbons have been proposed to be involved in regulation of tolerance and interattraction in spider sociality. Here, we show that subsocial Stegodyphus lineatus spiderlings have cuticular hydrocarbon profiles that are sibling-group specific, making...... be branched alkanes that are influenced very little by rearing conditions and may be genetically determined. This indicates that a specific group of cuticular chemicals, namely branched alkanes, could have evolved to act as social recognition cues in both insects and spiders....

Invariant Face recognition Using Infrared Images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zahran, E.G.

2012-01-01

Over the past few decades, face recognition has become a rapidly growing research topic due to the increasing demands in many applications of our daily life such as airport surveillance, personal identification in law enforcement, surveillance systems, information safety, securing financial transactions, and computer security. The objective of this thesis is to develop a face recognition system capable of recognizing persons with a high recognition capability, low processing time, and under different illumination conditions, and different facial expressions. The thesis presents a study for the performance of the face recognition system using two techniques; the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and the Zernike Moments (ZM). The performance of the recognition system is evaluated according to several aspects including the recognition rate, and the processing time. Face recognition systems that use visual images are sensitive to variations in the lighting conditions and facial expressions. The performance of these systems may be degraded under poor illumination conditions or for subjects of various skin colors. Several solutions have been proposed to overcome these limitations. One of these solutions is to work in the Infrared (IR) spectrum. IR images have been suggested as an alternative source of information for detection and recognition of faces, when there is little or no control over lighting conditions. This arises from the fact that these images are formed due to thermal emissions from skin, which is an intrinsic property because these emissions depend on the distribution of blood vessels under the skin. On the other hand IR face recognition systems still have limitations with temperature variations and recognition of persons wearing eye glasses. In this thesis we will fuse IR images with visible images to enhance the performance of face recognition systems. Images are fused using the wavelet transform. Simulation results show that the fusion of visible and

Performance Study of the First 2D Prototype of Vertically Integrated Pattern Recognition Associative Memory (VIPRAM)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deptuch, Gregory [Fermilab; Hoff, James [Fermilab; Jindariani, Sergo [Fermilab; Liu, Tiehui [Fermilab; Olsen, Jamieson [Fermilab; Tran, Nhan [Fermilab; Joshi, Siddhartha [Northwestern U.; Li, Dawei [Northwestern U.; Ogrenci-Memik, Seda [Northwestern U.

2017-09-24

Extremely fast pattern recognition capabilities are necessary to find and fit billions of tracks at the hardware trigger level produced every second anticipated at high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) running conditions. Associative Memory (AM) based approaches for fast pattern recognition have been proposed as a potential solution to the tracking trigger. However, at the HL-LHC, there is much less time available and speed performance must be improved over previous systems while maintaining a comparable number of patterns. The Vertically Integrated Pattern Recognition Associative Memory (VIPRAM) Project aims to achieve the target pattern density and performance goal using 3DIC technology. The first step taken in the VIPRAM work was the development of a 2D prototype (protoVIPRAM00) in which the associative memory building blocks were designed to be compatible with the 3D integration. In this paper, we present the results from extensive performance studies of the protoVIPRAM00 chip in both realistic HL-LHC and extreme conditions. Results indicate that the chip operates at the design frequency of 100 MHz with perfect correctness in realistic conditions and conclude that the building blocks are ready for 3D stacking. We also present performance boundary characterization of the chip under extreme conditions.

Wild chimpanzees can perform social grooming and social play behaviors simultaneously.

Science.gov (United States)

Shimada, Masaki

2013-10-01

Reliable evidence was obtained of the simultaneous performance of social grooming and social play behaviors by individuals among wild chimpanzees of the M group in Mahale Mountains National Park. I observed three cases of this performance: in an old female, a young female, and an adult male. While the agent was grooming the back of an adult bimanually, an infant or a juvenile approached the agent. The agent then started playing with the infant/juvenile using only the right hand, while simultaneously grooming the back of the adult with the left hand. In one case, an old female continued the simultaneous performance for about 1 min. Such performances probably occur at low frequency because they are not often required. The similarity in the neurobiological bases and the functions of social grooming and social play behaviors, both of which include repetitive contact with the body of another individual, may facilitate their simultaneous performance.

Right Limbic FDG-PET Hypometabolism Correlates with Emotion Recognition and Attribution in Probable Behavioral Variant of Frontotemporal Dementia Patients.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiara Cerami

Full Text Available The behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD is a rare disease mainly affecting the social brain. FDG-PET fronto-temporal hypometabolism is a supportive feature for the diagnosis. It may also provide specific functional metabolic signatures for altered socio-emotional processing. In this study, we evaluated the emotion recognition and attribution deficits and FDG-PET cerebral metabolic patterns at the group and individual levels in a sample of sporadic bvFTD patients, exploring the cognitive-functional correlations. Seventeen probable mild bvFTD patients (10 male and 7 female; age 67.8±9.9 were administered standardized and validated version of social cognition tasks assessing the recognition of basic emotions and the attribution of emotions and intentions (i.e., Ekman 60-Faces test-Ek60F and Story-based Empathy task-SET. FDG-PET was analysed using an optimized voxel-based SPM method at the single-subject and group levels. Severe deficits of emotion recognition and processing characterized the bvFTD condition. At the group level, metabolic dysfunction in the right amygdala, temporal pole, and middle cingulate cortex was highly correlated to the emotional recognition and attribution performances. At the single-subject level, however, heterogeneous impairments of social cognition tasks emerged, and different metabolic patterns, involving limbic structures and prefrontal cortices, were also observed. The derangement of a right limbic network is associated with altered socio-emotional processing in bvFTD patients, but different hypometabolic FDG-PET patterns and heterogeneous performances on social tasks at an individual level exist.

Social trait judgment and affect recognition from static faces and video vignettes in schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

McIntosh, Lindsey G; Park, Sohee

2014-09-01

Social impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, present from the pre-morbid stage and predictive of outcome, but the etiology of this deficit remains poorly understood. Successful and adaptive social interactions depend on one's ability to make rapid and accurate judgments about others in real time. Our surprising ability to form accurate first impressions from brief exposures, known as "thin slices" of behavior has been studied very extensively in healthy participants. We sought to examine affect and social trait judgment from thin slices of static or video stimuli in order to investigate the ability of schizophrenic individuals to form reliable social impressions of others. 21 individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and 20 matched healthy participants (HC) were asked to identify emotions and social traits for actors in standardized face stimuli as well as brief video clips. Sound was removed from videos to remove all verbal cues. Clinical symptoms in SZ and delusional ideation in both groups were measured. Results showed a general impairment in affect recognition for both types of stimuli in SZ. However, the two groups did not differ in the judgments of trustworthiness, approachability, attractiveness, and intelligence. Interestingly, in SZ, the severity of positive symptoms was correlated with higher ratings of attractiveness, trustworthiness, and approachability. Finally, increased delusional ideation in SZ was associated with a tendency to rate others as more trustworthy, while the opposite was true for HC. These findings suggest that complex social judgments in SZ are affected by symptomatology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotional tears facilitate the recognition of sadness and the perceived need for social support.

Science.gov (United States)

Balsters, Martijn J H; Krahmer, Emiel J; Swerts, Marc G J; Vingerhoets, Ad J J M

2013-02-12

The tearing effect refers to the relevance of tears as an important visual cue adding meaning to human facial expression. However, little is known about how people process these visual cues and their mediating role in terms of emotion perception and person judgment. We therefore conducted two experiments in which we measured the influence of tears on the identification of sadness and the perceived need for social support at an early perceptional level. In two experiments (1 and 2), participants were exposed to sad and neutral faces. In both experiments, the face stimuli were presented for 50 milliseconds. In experiment 1, tears were digitally added to sad faces in one condition. Participants demonstrated a significant faster recognition of sad faces with tears compared to those without tears. In experiment 2, tears were added to neutral faces as well. Participants had to indicate to what extent the displayed individuals were in need of social support. Study participants reported a greater perceived need for social support to both sad and neutral faces with tears than to those without tears. This study thus demonstrated that emotional tears serve as important visual cues at an early (pre-attentive) level.

Impaired social interaction and enhanced sensitivity to phencyclidine-induced deficits in novel object recognition in rats with cortical cholinergic denervation.

Science.gov (United States)

Savage, S; Kehr, J; Olson, L; Mattsson, A

2011-11-10

Dysregulated cholinergic neurotransmission has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, particularly negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of neocortical cholinergic innervation and of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) on social interaction and novel object recognition (NOR), a declarative memory task. The cholinergic corticopetal projection was lesioned by local infusion of the immunotoxin 192 IgG-saporin into nucleus basalis magnocellularis of adult male Lister hooded rats. Behavior was assessed 2.5 weeks later in a social interaction paradigm followed by the NOR task. We found that selective cholinergic denervation of neocortex led to a significant reduction in duration of social interaction, specifically active social interaction. Acute administration of PCP (1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) caused a marked decrease of active social interaction, such that there was no longer a difference between intact and denervated animals. Neither cholinergic denervation alone, nor PCP (1.0 mg/kg, s.c.) alone blocked the ability of rats to recognize a novel object. However, when animals lacking cortical cholinergic innervation were challenged by PCP, they were no longer able to recognize a novel object. This study indicates that rats lacking cholinergic innervation of neocortex have impaired social interaction and specifically that the duration of active contact is shortened. Animals with severe cortical cholinergic hypofunction maintain the ability to perform in a declarative memory test, although the task is carried out less intensively. However, a provocation of psychosis-like behavior by a dose of PCP that does not by itself impair performance in normal animals, will abolish the ability to recognize novel objects in animals lacking cortical cholinergic innervation. The present findings support a possible role for cortical cholinergic hypofunction in the negative and cognitive

Social performance deficits in social anxiety disorder: reality during conversation and biased perception during speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Voncken, Marisol J; Bögels, Susan M

2008-12-01

Cognitive models emphasize that patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are mainly characterized by biased perception of their social performance. In addition, there is a growing body of evidence showing that SAD patients suffer from actual deficits in social interaction. To unravel what characterizes SAD patients the most, underestimation of social performance (defined as the discrepancy between self-perceived and observer-perceived social performance), or actual (observer-perceived) social performance, 48 patients with SAD and 27 normal control participants were observed during a speech and conversation. Consistent with the cognitive model of SAD, patients with SAD underestimated their social performance relative to control participants during the two interactions, but primarily during the speech. Actual social performance deficits were clearly apparent in the conversation but not in the speech. In conclusion, interactions that pull for more interpersonal skills, like a conversation, elicit more actual social performance deficits whereas, situations with a performance character, like a speech, bring about more cognitive distortions in patients with SAD.

Financial and social performance of socially responsible investments in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scholtens, B.

2007-01-01

We analyse the performance of socially responsible investments in the Netherlands. It appears that the financial performance of the various types of socially responsible investments differs considerably. We construct a proxy for mutual funds' CSR policies and use information about the environmental

SOCIAL PERFORMANCE ENHANCES FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE. BENEFITS FROM CSR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

gazzola patrizia

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The research aims to show how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR should not be considered a cost to bear as an economic social actor but an investment that will contribute to the competitiveness and growth of the firm. In the first part we consider capitalistic firm as systems for the creation of economic and financial value for their shareholders. We measure their performance by a system of monetary values. In the second part we do not limit our view to simply the shareholders, but we consider, instead a vast group of stakeholders because it is important not only to make profits, but also how companies make them . In these years characterized by the financial crisis, where many big companies went bankrupt, more and more companies are speaking about ethics and CSR. For a firm, acting socially responsible, means for example having fair compensations, promoting transparency and the respect of employees, neutralizing conflicts of interest, as well as taking care of the environment. CSR is today a topic for discussion not only for business people but also for politicians, media, researchers, NGOs and consumers. Growing awareness of CSR is evident in the growth of voluntary codes of corporate conduct, in the growth of companies that are using self-reporting on social and environmental practices, and in increasingly social and ethical investment funds. The public and governments of the world have been steadily increasing pressure on corporations to increase their CSR. Recently the European Commission has put forward a new, simpler definition of corporate social responsibility as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society” (European Commission 25/10/2011. Companies have realized that to increase their market share or keep their market share, they must adopt CSR, but the synergy between social performance and financial performance is not automatic; rather it is the result of efforts that combine managerial

Facial emotion recognition in Chinese with schizophrenia at early and chronic stages of illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Joey Shuk-Yan; Lee, Tatia M C; Lee, Chi-Chiu

2011-12-30

Deficits in facial emotion recognition have been recognised in Chinese patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. This study examined the relationship between chronicity of illness and performance of facial emotion recognition in Chinese with schizophrenia. There were altogether four groups of subjects matched for age and gender composition. The first and second groups comprised medically stable outpatients with first-episode schizophrenia (n=50) and their healthy controls (n=26). The third and fourth groups were patients with chronic schizophrenic illness (n=51) and their controls (n=28). The ability to recognise the six prototypical facial emotions was examined using locally validated coloured photographs from the Japanese and Caucasian Facial Expressions of Emotion. Chinese patients with schizophrenia, in both the first-episode and chronic stages, performed significantly worse than their control counterparts on overall facial emotion recognition, (Pemotion did not appear to have worsened over the course of disease progression, suggesting that recognition of facial emotion is a rather stable trait of the illness. The emotion-specific deficit may have implications for understanding the social difficulties in schizophrenia. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Social cognition in patients at ultra-high risk for psychosis: What is the relation to social skills and functioning?

Science.gov (United States)

Glenthøj, Louise B; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Hjorthøj, Carsten; Jepsen, Jens R M; Bak, Nikolaj; Kristensen, Tina D; Wenneberg, Christina; Krakauer, Kristine; Roberts, David L; Nordentoft, Merete

2016-09-01

Patients at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis show significant impairments in functioning. It is essential to determine which factors influence functioning, as it may have implications for intervention strategies. This study examined whether social cognitive abilities and clinical symptoms are associated with functioning and social skills. The study included 65 UHR patients and 30 healthy controls. Social cognitive function, social skills, and a broad range of functioning measures were assessed. The UHR patients demonstrated significant decrements on The Awareness of Social Inferences Task total score (p = .046, d  = .51), and on the CANTAB emotion recognition task total percent correct (p = .023, d  = .54) displaying particular difficulties in negative affect recognition. The patients exhibited significant impairments in social skills measured with the High Risk Social Challenge (p˂.001, d  = 1.05). Aspects of emotion recognition were associated with role functioning and social skill performance. The level of attributional bias was associated with overall functioning, and theory of mind ability was associated with self-reported functioning. Negative symptoms were associated with all measures of functioning (p ≤ .05). Significant impairments in social cognition and social skills were found in UHR patients. The patients' social cognitive function was associated with overall functioning and social skills. Negative symptoms appear to play an important role for functioning. Research is needed to investigate how the relations between social cognition, social skills and functioning develop from the UHR state to the stage of manifest illness. Research into how deficits in social cognition and social skills can be ameliorated in UHR patients is warranted.

Alterations in Resting-State Activity Relate to Performance in a Verbal Recognition Task

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López Zunini, Rocío A.; Thivierge, Jean-Philippe; Kousaie, Shanna; Sheppard, Christine; Taler, Vanessa

2013-01-01

In the brain, resting-state activity refers to non-random patterns of intrinsic activity occurring when participants are not actively engaged in a task. We monitored resting-state activity using electroencephalogram (EEG) both before and after a verbal recognition task. We show a strong positive correlation between accuracy in verbal recognition and pre-task resting-state alpha power at posterior sites. We further characterized this effect by examining resting-state post-task activity. We found marked alterations in resting-state alpha power when comparing pre- and post-task periods, with more pronounced alterations in participants that attained higher task accuracy. These findings support a dynamical view of cognitive processes where patterns of ongoing brain activity can facilitate –or interfere– with optimal task performance. PMID:23785436

Instructions to mimic improve facial emotion recognition in people with sub-clinical autism traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Michael B; Dunn, Emily

2017-11-01

People tend to mimic the facial expression of others. It has been suggested that this helps provide social glue between affiliated people but it could also aid recognition of emotions through embodied cognition. The degree of facial mimicry, however, varies between individuals and is limited in people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). The present study sought to investigate the effect of promoting facial mimicry during a facial-emotion-recognition test. In two experiments, participants without an ASC diagnosis had their autism quotient (AQ) measured. Following a baseline test, they did an emotion-recognition test again but half of the participants were asked to mimic the target face they saw prior to making their responses. Mimicry improved emotion recognition, and further analysis revealed that the largest improvement was for participants who had higher scores on the autism traits. In fact, recognition performance was best overall for people who had high AQ scores but also received the instruction to mimic. Implications for people with ASC are explored.

AN ILLUMINATION INVARIANT FACE RECOGNITION BY ENHANCED CONTRAST LIMITED ADAPTIVE HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION

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A. Thamizharasi

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Face recognition system is gaining more importance in social networks and surveillance. The face recognition task is complex due to the variations in illumination, expression, occlusion, aging and pose. The illumination variations in image are due to changes in lighting conditions, poor illumination, low contrast or increased brightness. The variations in illumination adversely affect the quality of image and recognition accuracy. The illumination variations in face image have to be pre-processed prior to face recognition. The Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization (CLAHE is an image enhancement technique popular in enhancing medical images. The proposed work is to create illumination invariant face recognition system by enhancing Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization technique. This method is termed as “Enhanced CLAHE”. The efficiency of Enhanced CLAHE is tested using Fuzzy K Nearest Neighbour classifier and fisher face subspace projection method. The face recognition accuracy percentage rate, Equal Error Rate and False Acceptance Rate at 1% are calculated. The performance of CLAHE and Enhanced CLAHE methods is compared. The efficiency of the Enhanced CLAHE method is tested with three public face databases AR, Yale and ORL. The Enhanced CLAHE has very high recognition accuracy percentage rate when compared to CLAHE.

Kinect Who’s Coming - Applying Kinect to Human Body Height Measurement to Improve Character Recognition Performance

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Hau-Wei Lee

2015-05-01

Full Text Available A great deal of relevant research on character recognition has been carried out, but a certain amount of time is needed to compare faces from a large database. The Kinect is able to obtain three-dimensional coordinates for an object (x & y axes and depth, and in recent years research on its applications has expanded from use in gaming to that of image measurement. This study uses Kinect skeleton information to conduct body height measurements with the aim of improving character recognition performance. Time spent searching and comparing characters is reduced by creating height categories. The margin of error for height used in this investigation was ± 5 cm; therefore, face comparisons were only executed for people in the database within ±5 cm of the body height measured, reducing the search time needed. In addition, using height and facial features simultaneously to conduct character recognition can also reduce the frequency of mistaken recognition. The Kinect was placed on a rotary stage and the position of the head on the body frame was used to conduct body tracking. Body tracking can be used to reduce image distortion caused by the lens of the Kinect. EmguCV was used for image processing and character recognition. The methods proposed in this study can be used in public safety, student attendance registration, commercial VIP recognition and many others.

Multiple Levels of Recognition in Ants: A Feature of Complex Societies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

D'Ettorre, Patrizia

2008-01-01

diverse. In ants, social interactions are regulated by at least three levels of recognition. Nestmate recognition occurs between colonies, is very effective, and involves fast processing. Within a colony, division of labor is enhanced by recognition of different classes of individuals. Ultimately......, in particular circumstances, such as cooperative colony founding with stable dominance hierarchies, ants are capable of individual recognition. The underlying recognition cues and mechanisms appear to be specific to each recognition level, and their integrated understanding could contribute...

Recognition in ants: social origin matters.

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Joël Meunier

Full Text Available The ability of group members to discriminate against foreigners is a keystone in the evolution of sociality. In social insects, colony social structure (number of queens is generally thought to influence abilities of resident workers to discriminate between nestmates and non-nestmates. However, whether social origin of introduced individuals has an effect on their acceptance in conspecific colonies remains poorly explored. Using egg-acceptance bioassays, we tested the influence of social origin of queen-laid eggs on their acceptance by foreign workers in the ant Formica selysi. We showed that workers from both single- and multiple-queen colonies discriminated against foreign eggs from single-queen colonies, whereas they surprisingly accepted foreign eggs from multiple-queen colonies. Chemical analyses then demonstrated that social origins of eggs and workers could be discriminated on the basis of their chemical profiles, a signal generally involved in nestmate discrimination. These findings provide the first evidence in social insects that social origins of eggs interfere with nestmate discrimination and are encoded by chemical signatures.

Exemplar Based Recognition of Visual Shapes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Søren I.

2005-01-01

This paper presents an approach of visual shape recognition based on exemplars of attributed keypoints. Training is performed by storing exemplars of keypoints detected in labeled training images. Recognition is made by keypoint matching and voting according to the labels for the matched keypoint....... The matching is insensitive to rotations, limited scalings and small deformations. The recognition is robust to noise, background clutter and partial occlusion. Recognition is possible from few training images and improve with the number of training images.......This paper presents an approach of visual shape recognition based on exemplars of attributed keypoints. Training is performed by storing exemplars of keypoints detected in labeled training images. Recognition is made by keypoint matching and voting according to the labels for the matched keypoints...

Corporate sustainability: environmental, social, economic and corporate performance

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Alena Kocmanová

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with corporate sustainability and environmental and social issues of the integration of corporate performance measurement that may lead to sustainable economic success. Sustainability is a strategy of the process of sustainable development. Sustainability of businesses and sustainable performance can be defined as an integration of environmental, social and economic performance. First and foremost, businesses will want to know what indicators can be used to measure environmental, social and economic performance. What is the mutual relationship between environmental, social and economic performance? How can firms arrive at a comprehensive assessment of their performance in relation to sustainability? The aim of this paper is to analyze corporate environmental, social and economic performance and to analyze their mutual relationships. The final part of the article is an assessment of the contemporary situation and draft Key Performance Indicators (KPI for assessment of corporate sustainability that will be the subject of further research in a selected NACE-CZ sector and in accordance with Corporate Sustainability Reporting. KPI provide businesses with a means of measuring progress toward achieving objectives.

Explaining elevated social anxiety among Asian Americans: emotional attunement and a cultural double bind.

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Lau, Anna S; Fung, Joey; Wang, Shu-Wen; Kang, Sun-Mee

2009-01-01

Previous research has documented elevated levels of social anxiety in Asian American college students when compared with their European American peers. The authors hypothesized that higher symptoms among Asians could be explained by cultural differences in attunement to the emotional states of others. Socialization within interdependent cultures may cultivate concerns about accurately perceiving other's emotional responses, yet at the same time, norms governing emotional control may limit competencies in emotion recognition. A sample of 264 Asian American and European American college students completed measures of social anxiety, attunement concerns (shame socialization and loss of face), and attunement competencies (self-reported sensitivity and performance on emotion recognition tasks). Results confirmed that ethnic differences in social anxiety symptoms were mediated by differences in attunement concerns and competencies in emotion recognition. Asian American college students may find themselves in a double bind that leads to social unease because of a cultural emphasis on sensitivity to others' emotions in the midst of barriers to developing this attunement skill set.

Stock Performance of Socially Responsible Companies

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Huang Tzu-Man

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Every year Corporate Responsibility Magazine selects and ranks 100 companies on the basis of their corporate social responsibility. This study investigates the stock performance of socially responsible companies in the U.S. The monthly stock returns for these companies are analyzed and compared with the market performance, with the S&P 500 index designated as a proxy for the market. The empirical evidence suggests that these 100 companies outperform the market in their monthly stock returns. We also narrow down the number of companies selected to the top 75, 50, 25, and 10 firms. As we narrow down the companies selected, the difference between their returns and the market returns also narrows. In other words, a portfolio that includes all top 100 companies provides the best stock performance. We extend the analysis to long-term annual stock performance. We find that these socially responsible companies′ annual returns are higher than the market returns for up to seven years after they are listed. We also conduct the same analysis on the top 75, 50, 25, and 10 firms, respectively. Similarly, the larger the number of these top 100 companies, the greater the tendency to generate higher annual returns. We suspect that because the difference between the socially responsible companies′ average returns and the market returns is not dramatic, with a bigger population and thus a larger sample size, the difference becomes more significant. However, in practice, transaction costs must be considered. This study is limited in that it does not consider transaction costs. Nevertheless, we hope to shed some light on the issue of socially responsible companies′ stock performance to encourage companies to start thinking about the importance of corporate social responsibility.

Famous face recognition, face matching, and extraversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Lander, Karen; Poyarekar, Siddhi

2015-01-01

It has been previously established that extraverts who are skilled at interpersonal interaction perform significantly better than introverts on a face-specific recognition memory task. In our experiment we further investigate the relationship between extraversion and face recognition, focusing on famous face recognition and face matching. Results indicate that more extraverted individuals perform significantly better on an upright famous face recognition task and show significantly larger face inversion effects. However, our results did not find an effect of extraversion on face matching or inverted famous face recognition.

Stability, Specialization and Social Recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gilles, R.P.; Lazarova, E.A.; Ruys, P.H.M.

2006-01-01

Yang s theory of economic specialization under increasing returns to scale (Yang 2001) is a formal development of the fundamental Smith-Young theorem on the extent of the market and the social division of labor.In this theory specialization and, thus, the social division of labor is firmly embedded

Development and Comparative Study of Effects of Training Algorithms on Performance of Artificial Neural Network Based Analog and Digital Automatic Modulation Recognition

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Jide Julius Popoola

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes two new classifiers that automatically recognise twelve combined analog and digital modulated signals without any a priori knowledge of the modulation schemes and the modulation parameters. The classifiers are developed using pattern recognition approach. Feature keys extracted from the instantaneous amplitude, instantaneous phase and the spectrum symmetry of the simulated signals are used as inputs to the artificial neural network employed in developing the classifiers. The two developed classifiers are trained using scaled conjugate gradient (SCG and conjugate gradient (CONJGRAD training algorithms. Sample results of the two classifiers show good success recognition performance with an average overall recognition rate above 99.50% at signal-to-noise ratio (SNR value from 0 dB and above with the two training algorithms employed and an average overall recognition rate slightly above 99.00% and 96.40% respectively at - 5 dB SNR value for SCG and CONJGRAD training algorithms. The comparative performance evaluation of the two developed classifiers using the two training algorithms shows that the two training algorithms have different effects on both the response rate and efficiency of the two developed artificial neural networks classifiers. In addition, the result of the performance evaluation carried out on the overall success recognition rates between the two developed classifiers in this study using pattern recognition approach with the two training algorithms and one reported classifier in surveyed literature using decision-theoretic approach shows that the classifiers developed in this study perform favourably with regard to accuracy and performance probability as compared to classifier presented in previous study.

Performance Evaluation of Speech Recognition Systems as a Next-Generation Pilot-Vehicle Interface Technology

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Arthur, Jarvis J., III; Shelton, Kevin J.; Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Bailey, Randall E.

2016-01-01

During the flight trials known as Gulfstream-V Synthetic Vision Systems Integrated Technology Evaluation (GV-SITE), a Speech Recognition System (SRS) was used by the evaluation pilots. The SRS system was intended to be an intuitive interface for display control (rather than knobs, buttons, etc.). This paper describes the performance of the current "state of the art" Speech Recognition System (SRS). The commercially available technology was evaluated as an application for possible inclusion in commercial aircraft flight decks as a crew-to-vehicle interface. Specifically, the technology is to be used as an interface from aircrew to the onboard displays, controls, and flight management tasks. A flight test of a SRS as well as a laboratory test was conducted.

Ethanol and Caffeine effects on social interaction and recognition in mice: Involvement of adenosine A2A and A1 receptors

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Laura López-Cruz

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Ethanol and caffeine are frequently consumed in combination and have opposite effects on the adenosine system: ethanol metabolism leads to an increase in adenosine levels, while caffeine is a non-selective adenosine A1/A2A receptor antagonist. These receptors are highly expressed in striatum and olfactory tubercle, brain areas involved in exploration and social interaction in rodents. Ethanol modulates social interaction processes, but the role of adenosine in social behavior is still poorly understood. The present work was undertaken to study the impact of ethanol, caffeine and their combination on social behavior, and to explore the involvement of A1 and A2A receptors on those actions. Male CD1 mice were evaluated in a social interaction three-chamber paradigm, for preference of conspecific vs. object, and also for long-term recognition memory of familiar vs. novel conspecific. Ethanol showed a biphasic effect, with low doses (0.25 g/kg increasing social contact and higher doses (1.0-1.5 g/kg reducing social interaction. However, no dose changed social preference; mice always spent more time sniffing the conspecific than the object, independently of the ethanol dose. Ethanol, even at doses that did not change social exploration, produced amnestic effects on social recognition the following day. Caffeine reduced social contact (15.0-60.0 mg/kg, and even blocked social preference at higher doses (30.0-60.0 mg/kg. The A1 antagonist CPT (3-9 mg/kg did not modify social contact or preference on its own, and the A2A antagonist MSX-3 (1.5-6 mg/kg increased social interaction at all doses. Ethanol at intermediate doses (0.5-1.0 g/kg was able to reverse the reduction in social exploration induced by caffeine (15.0-30.0 mg/kg. Although there was no interaction between ethanol and CPT or MSX-3 on social exploration in the first day, MSX-3 blocked the amnestic effects of ethanol observed on the following day. Thus, ethanol impairs the formation of social

Recognition in Programmes for Children with Special Needs

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Šmid, Marjeta

2016-01-01

The purpose of this article is to examine the factors that affect the inclusion of pupils in programmes for children with special needs from the perspective of the theory of recognition. The concept of recognition, which includes three aspects of social justice (economic, cultural and political), argues that the institutional arrangements that…

Social support and performance anxiety of college music students.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Erin; Chesky, Kris

2011-09-01

This study characterized perceived social support and performance anxiety of college music students, compared characteristics to those of non-music majors, and explored the relationships between social support and performance anxiety. Subjects (n = 609) completed a questionnaire that included demographics, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and visual analog scale measures of performance anxiety. Results showed that music majors perceived significantly lower levels of social support from significant others when compared to non-music majors. Perceived social support was significantly correlated with measures of performance anxiety. Students with greater perceived social support reported less frequent anxiety and lower levels of impact of anxiety on ability to perform. These findings may have practical implications for schools of music and conservatories.

Own-Group Face Recognition Bias: The Effects of Location and Reputation

OpenAIRE

Yan, Linlin; Wang, Zhe; Huang, Jianling; Sun, Yu-Hao P.; Judges, Rebecca A.; Xiao, Naiqi G.; Lee, Kang

2017-01-01

In the present study, we examined whether social categorization based on university affiliation can induce an advantage in recognizing faces. Moreover, we investigated how the reputation or location of the university affected face recognition performance using an old/new paradigm. We assigned five different university labels to the faces: participants’ own university and four other universities. Among the four other university labels, we manipulated the academic reputation and geographical lo...

Structural neuroimaging of social cognition in PNFA and bvFTD

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Blas eCouto

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Social cognition impairments are pervasive in the frontotemporal dementias. Nevertheless, these deficits would be triggered by (a more basic deficits in emotion and face recognition as well as by (b higher level theory of mind processes (ToM. Both emotional processing and social cognition impairments have been previously reported in the behavioral variant of FTD (bvFTD and also in progressive non-fluent aphasia aphasia (PNFA. However, no neuroanatomic comparison between these FTD variants has been performed. We report selective behavioral impairments of face recognition, emotion recognition and ToM in patients with bvFTD and PNFA when compared to controls. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM shows a classical impairment of mainly orbitofrontal (OFC anterior cingulate (ACC insula and lateral temporal cortices. Comparative analysis of regional gray matter related to social cognition deficits (VBM reveals a differential pattern of fronto-insulo-temporal atrophy in bvFTD and an insulo-temporal involvement in PPA group. Results suggest that in spite of similar social cognition impairments reported in bvFTD and PNFA, the former presents an inherent ToM affectation whereas in the PNFA the ToM deficit could be related to other more basic processes of face and emotion recognition. These results are interpreted in the frame of the fronto-insulo-temporal social context network model (SCNM.

Effect of physical workload and modality of information presentation on pattern recognition and navigation task performance by high-fit young males.

Science.gov (United States)

Zahabi, Maryam; Zhang, Wenjuan; Pankok, Carl; Lau, Mei Ying; Shirley, James; Kaber, David

2017-11-01

Many occupations require both physical exertion and cognitive task performance. Knowledge of any interaction between physical demands and modalities of cognitive task information presentation can provide a basis for optimising performance. This study examined the effect of physical exertion and modality of information presentation on pattern recognition and navigation-related information processing. Results indicated males of equivalent high fitness, between the ages of 18 and 34, rely more on visual cues vs auditory or haptic for pattern recognition when exertion level is high. We found that navigation response time was shorter under low and medium exertion levels as compared to high intensity. Navigation accuracy was lower under high level exertion compared to medium and low levels. In general, findings indicated that use of the haptic modality for cognitive task cueing decreased accuracy in pattern recognition responses. Practitioner Summary: An examination was conducted on the effect of physical exertion and information presentation modality in pattern recognition and navigation. In occupations requiring information presentation to workers, who are simultaneously performing a physical task, the visual modality appears most effective under high level exertion while haptic cueing degrades performance.

A new selective developmental deficit: Impaired object recognition with normal face recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Germine, Laura; Cashdollar, Nathan; Düzel, Emrah; Duchaine, Bradley

2011-05-01

Studies of developmental deficits in face recognition, or developmental prosopagnosia, have shown that individuals who have not suffered brain damage can show face recognition impairments coupled with normal object recognition (Duchaine and Nakayama, 2005; Duchaine et al., 2006; Nunn et al., 2001). However, no developmental cases with the opposite dissociation - normal face recognition with impaired object recognition - have been reported. The existence of a case of non-face developmental visual agnosia would indicate that the development of normal face recognition mechanisms does not rely on the development of normal object recognition mechanisms. To see whether a developmental variant of non-face visual object agnosia exists, we conducted a series of web-based object and face recognition tests to screen for individuals showing object recognition memory impairments but not face recognition impairments. Through this screening process, we identified AW, an otherwise normal 19-year-old female, who was then tested in the lab on face and object recognition tests. AW's performance was impaired in within-class visual recognition memory across six different visual categories (guns, horses, scenes, tools, doors, and cars). In contrast, she scored normally on seven tests of face recognition, tests of memory for two other object categories (houses and glasses), and tests of recall memory for visual shapes. Testing confirmed that her impairment was not related to a general deficit in lower-level perception, object perception, basic-level recognition, or memory. AW's results provide the first neuropsychological evidence that recognition memory for non-face visual object categories can be selectively impaired in individuals without brain damage or other memory impairment. These results indicate that the development of recognition memory for faces does not depend on intact object recognition memory and provide further evidence for category-specific dissociations in visual

Testing Theories of Recognition Memory by Predicting Performance Across Paradigms

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, David G.; Duncan, Matthew J. J.

2004-01-01

Signal-detection theory (SDT) accounts of recognition judgments depend on the assumption that recognition decisions result from a single familiarity-based process. However, fits of a hybrid SDT model, called dual-process theory (DPT), have provided evidence for the existence of a second, recollection-based process. In 2 experiments, the authors…

20 CFR 408.1201 - What are State recognition payments?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What are State recognition payments? 408.1201 Section 408.1201 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN WORLD WAR II VETERANS Federal Administration of State Recognition Payments § 408.1201 What are State...

General and social cognition in remitted first-episode schizophrenia patients : a comparative study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Caldiroli, Alice; Buoli, Massimiliano; Serati, Marta; Cahn, Wiepke; Altamura, A Carlo

2016-01-01

The aim of this paper was to investigate whether both neurocognitive and social cognitive performances were different between remitted first-episode schizophrenia patients, non-remitters and healthy controls (HC). We assessed social cognition (Degraded Facial Affect Recognition Task-DFAR and

Improving iris recognition performance using segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing.

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Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Noore, Afzel

2008-08-01

This paper proposes algorithms for iris segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing to improve both the accuracy and the speed of iris recognition. A curve evolution approach is proposed to effectively segment a nonideal iris image using the modified Mumford-Shah functional. Different enhancement algorithms are concurrently applied on the segmented iris image to produce multiple enhanced versions of the iris image. A support-vector-machine-based learning algorithm selects locally enhanced regions from each globally enhanced image and combines these good-quality regions to create a single high-quality iris image. Two distinct features are extracted from the high-quality iris image. The global textural feature is extracted using the 1-D log polar Gabor transform, and the local topological feature is extracted using Euler numbers. An intelligent fusion algorithm combines the textural and topological matching scores to further improve the iris recognition performance and reduce the false rejection rate, whereas an indexing algorithm enables fast and accurate iris identification. The verification and identification performance of the proposed algorithms is validated and compared with other algorithms using the CASIA Version 3, ICE 2005, and UBIRIS iris databases.

Paternal kin recognition in the high frequency / ultrasonic range in a solitary foraging mammal

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Kessler Sharon E

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Kin selection is a driving force in the evolution of mammalian social complexity. Recognition of paternal kin using vocalizations occurs in taxa with cohesive, complex social groups. This is the first investigation of paternal kin recognition via vocalizations in a small-brained, solitary foraging mammal, the grey mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus, a frequent model for ancestral primates. We analyzed the high frequency/ultrasonic male advertisement (courtship call and alarm call. Results Multi-parametric analyses of the calls’ acoustic parameters and discriminant function analyses showed that advertisement calls, but not alarm calls, contain patrilineal signatures. Playback experiments controlling for familiarity showed that females paid more attention to advertisement calls from unrelated males than from their fathers. Reactions to alarm calls from unrelated males and fathers did not differ. Conclusions 1 Findings provide the first evidence of paternal kin recognition via vocalizations in a small-brained, solitarily foraging mammal. 2 High predation, small body size, and dispersed social systems may select for acoustic paternal kin recognition in the high frequency/ultrasonic ranges, thus limiting risks of inbreeding and eavesdropping by predators or conspecific competitors. 3 Paternal kin recognition via vocalizations in mammals is not dependent upon a large brain and high social complexity, but may already have been an integral part of the dispersed social networks from which more complex, kin-based sociality emerged.

Neuro-cognition and social cognition elements of social functioning and social quality of life.

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Hasson-Ohayon, Ilanit; Mashiach-Eizenberg, Michal; Arnon-Ribenfeld, Nitzan; Kravetz, Shlomo; Roe, David

2017-12-01

Previous studies have shown that deficits in social cognition mediate the association between neuro-cognition and functional outcome. Based on these findings, the current study presents an examination of the mediating role of social cognition and includes two different outcomes: social functioning assessed by objective observer and social quality of life assessed by subjective self-report. Instruments measuring different aspects of social cognition, cognitive ability, social functioning and social quality of life were administered to 131 participants who had a diagnosis of a serious mental illness. Results showed that emotion recognition and attributional bias were significant mediators such that cognitive assessment was positively related to both, which in turn, were negatively related to SQoL. While one interpretation of the data suggests that deficits in emotion recognition may serve as a possible defense mechanism, future studies should re-assess this idea. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Association between polymorphisms in NOS3 and KCNH2 and social memory

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Susanne eHenningsson

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Social memory, including the ability to recognize faces and voices, is essential for social relationships. It has a large heritable component, but the knowledge about the contributing genes is sparse. The genetic variation underlying inter-individual differences in social memory was investigated in an exploratory sample (n=55, genotyped with a chip comprising approximately 200.000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs, and in a validation sample (n=582, where 30 SNPs were targeted. In the exploratory study face identity recognition was measured. The validation study also measured vocal sound recognition, as well as recognition of faces and vocal sounds combined (multimodal condition. In the exploratory study, the 30 SNPs that were associated with face recognition at puncorrected<0.001 and located in genes, were chosen for further study. In the validation study two of the SNPs showed significant associations with recognition of faces, vocal sounds, and multimodal stimuli: rs1800779 in the gene encoding nitric oxide synthase 3 (NOS3 and rs3807370 in the gene encoding the voltage-gated channel, subfamily H, member 2 (KCNH2, in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other. The uncommon alleles were associated with superior performance, and the effects were present for men only (p<0.0002. The exploratory study also showed a weaker but significant association with (non-emotional word recognition, an effect that was independent of the effect on face recognition. This study demonstrates evidence for an association between NOS3 and KCNH2 SNPs and social memory.

The effects of oxytocin on fear recognition in patients with schizophrenia and in healthy controls

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Meytal eFischer-Shofty

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Individuals who suffer from schizophrenia often show a marked deficit in recognition of emotional facial expressions, as part of broader impairment of social cognition. Research has shown that recognition of negative emotions, specifically fear recognition, is particularly impaired among patients with schizophrenia. Recently we reported that intranasal administration of OT (IN OT increased the ability to correctly recognize fear in a group of healthy men. The aim of the current study was to examine the effects of IN OT administration on fear recognition among patients with schizophrenia. Based on previous research, we also sought to examine a possible selective effect of OT dependent on baseline performance, hypothesizing that IN OT would have a greater enhancement effect on less proficient individuals. It was thus hypothesized that patients will show more improvement in fear recognition following the administration of IN OT as compared to controls. Sixty six participants (31 schizophrenia patients, 35 healthy controls were enrolled in the current study. All participants received treatment of a single dose of 24 IU IN OT and an equivalent amount of placebo, one week apart. The participants’ ability to accurately recognize fear and happiness was evaluated using a face morphing task. Overall, as a group, both patients and healthy control participants were more accurate in recognizing fearful facial expressions, but not happy faces, following IN OT administration, as compared to their performance following placebo. IN OT did not differentially affect emotion recognition in patients and healthy controls. Yet, the results indicated a selective effect for IN OT, in which the hormone improves fear recognition only among individuals whose baseline performance was below the median, regardless of their psychiatric status.

Academic Performance and the Use of Social Networks

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Jéssica Ribeiro Rangel

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate whether the use of social networks influences on the academic performance of students in the undergraduate program in accounting. Data were collected from 322 students of the course of a federal University of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The regression results show that the variables "gender", "motivation" and "classification in the University entrance examination" are significant in explaining students' academic performance measured by the Grade Point Average (GPA. The results show that the performance of male students is lower than that of female students at the level of 5%. Also was identified that the greater the student's motivation level, the greater your academic performance (at the level of 1 percent. Finally, it was observed that the best ranked students in the University entrance examination, the higher their academic performance. However, none of the variables relating to the use of social networks ("familiarity with technological resources", "hours", "Internet hours on social networks" and "use of social networks to study" presented relation with academic performance. In other words, these results show that the use of social networks does not have positive or negative impacts directly on academic performance. We can conclude for the sample analyzed, that use of social networks during the academic period does not influence significantly the performance of the students. However, you can verify that the motivation is directly related to the academic performance of the Accounting student with regard to perception of motivation, to familiarity with technological resources and the use of applications.

Constant Light Desynchronizes Olfactory versus Object and Visuospatial Recognition Memory Performance.

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Tam, Shu K E; Hasan, Sibah; Choi, Harry M C; Brown, Laurence A; Jagannath, Aarti; Hughes, Steven; Hankins, Mark W; Foster, Russell G; Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V; Bannerman, David M; Peirson, Stuart N

2017-03-29

Circadian rhythms optimize physiology and behavior to the varying demands of the 24 h day. The master circadian clock is located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus and it regulates circadian oscillators in tissues throughout the body to prevent internal desynchrony. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that, under standard 12 h:12 h light/dark (LD) cycles, object, visuospatial, and olfactory recognition performance in C57BL/6J mice is consistently better at midday relative to midnight. However, under repeated exposure to constant light ( r LL), recognition performance becomes desynchronized, with object and visuospatial performance better at subjective midday and olfactory performance better at subjective midnight. This desynchrony in behavioral performance is mirrored by changes in expression of the canonical clock genes Period1 and Period2 ( Per1 and Per2 ), as well as the immediate-early gene Fos in the SCN, dorsal hippocampus, and olfactory bulb. Under r LL, rhythmic Per1 and Fos expression is attenuated in the SCN. In contrast, hippocampal gene expression remains rhythmic, mirroring object and visuospatial performance. Strikingly, Per1 and Fos expression in the olfactory bulb is reversed, mirroring the inverted olfactory performance. Temporal desynchrony among these regions does not result in arrhythmicity because core body temperature and exploratory activity rhythms persist under r LL. Our data provide the first demonstration that abnormal lighting conditions can give rise to temporal desynchrony between autonomous circadian oscillators in different regions, with different consequences for performance across different sensory domains. Such a dispersed network of dissociable circadian oscillators may provide greater flexibility when faced with conflicting environmental signals. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A master circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus regulates physiology and behavior across the 24 h day by

Constant Light Desynchronizes Olfactory versus Object and Visuospatial Recognition Memory Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tam, Shu K.E.; Hasan, Sibah; Brown, Laurence A.; Jagannath, Aarti; Hankins, Mark W.; Foster, Russell G.; Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V.

2017-01-01

Circadian rhythms optimize physiology and behavior to the varying demands of the 24 h day. The master circadian clock is located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus and it regulates circadian oscillators in tissues throughout the body to prevent internal desynchrony. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that, under standard 12 h:12 h light/dark (LD) cycles, object, visuospatial, and olfactory recognition performance in C57BL/6J mice is consistently better at midday relative to midnight. However, under repeated exposure to constant light (rLL), recognition performance becomes desynchronized, with object and visuospatial performance better at subjective midday and olfactory performance better at subjective midnight. This desynchrony in behavioral performance is mirrored by changes in expression of the canonical clock genes Period1 and Period2 (Per1 and Per2), as well as the immediate-early gene Fos in the SCN, dorsal hippocampus, and olfactory bulb. Under rLL, rhythmic Per1 and Fos expression is attenuated in the SCN. In contrast, hippocampal gene expression remains rhythmic, mirroring object and visuospatial performance. Strikingly, Per1 and Fos expression in the olfactory bulb is reversed, mirroring the inverted olfactory performance. Temporal desynchrony among these regions does not result in arrhythmicity because core body temperature and exploratory activity rhythms persist under rLL. Our data provide the first demonstration that abnormal lighting conditions can give rise to temporal desynchrony between autonomous circadian oscillators in different regions, with different consequences for performance across different sensory domains. Such a dispersed network of dissociable circadian oscillators may provide greater flexibility when faced with conflicting environmental signals. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT A master circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus regulates physiology and behavior across the 24 h day by

Debates actuales en torno a las políticas del reconocimiento: constitución de los sujetos y cambio social Current discussions about the policies of recognition: constitution of the subjects and social change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dante Ramaglia

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Las perspectivas que ofrece la teoría del reconocimiento para comprender las transformaciones que vienen sucediéndose de modo acelerado en las sociedades contemporáneas se han convertido en un eje de debate en la filosofía social y política. En particular se examinan algunas de las propuestas teóricas que parten de la consideración del sentido antropológico del reconocimiento y su relectura desde la definición que tiene en la cultura moderna, en pensadores como Rousseau y Hegel, para ofrecer diferentes claves de interpretación de los procesos de cambio social que han ido produciéndose en la actualidad. Una de las opciones analizadas se vincula con el filósofo frankfurtiano Axel Honneth, quien ha desarrollado un conjunto de tesis acerca de la relevancia del reconocimiento recíproco en relación a las dinámicas que movilizan los conflictos sociales. Además de la necesidad de contrastar este planteo con otros enfoques contemporáneos, se revisan algunos supuestos y alcances de la teoría del reconocimiento desde una perspectiva crítica que se contextualiza en el marco de las transformaciones producidas con la globalización y la crisis reciente que atraviesan las sociedades capitalistas. Desde este punto de vista, interesa indagar sobre la significación de las manifestaciones alternativas de los movimientos sociales en sus formas novedosas de protesta y reclamo de justicia. En este sentido, se ensayan algunos lineamientos en torno a las políticas del reconocimiento, en cuanto esta discusión implica una evaluación de la igualdad y la diferencia como principios normativos y orientadores de los cambios materiales y culturales que se presentan en el mundo actual.The perspectives provided by the recognition theory to understand the transformations that have been happening in contemporary societies, have swiftly turned into a focus of discussion in social and political philosophy. Especially there are examined some theoretical

Good and bad gifts: the communicative function of employee recognition

OpenAIRE

Smith, Charlotte

2015-01-01

Purpose Through an interpretation of individuals’ accounts of their recognition experiences, this paper contributes to knowledge about employee recognition by offering insights into how individuals experience and understand recognition in the workplace and its possible social functions and implications. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews were conducted with individuals drawn from two research organisations, an insurance company and a local council, in order to underst...

Social Networking and Academic Performance: A Review

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Doleck, Tenzin; Lajoie, Susanne

2018-01-01

The ubiquitous use of social networking sites by students and the potential impacts of such use on academic performance are of both theoretical and practical importance. Hence, this paper addresses the question: how does the use of social networking sites influence academic performance? The present review synthesizes the empirical findings of the…

Facial emotional recognition in schizophrenia: preliminary results of the virtual reality program for facial emotional recognition

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Teresa Souto

2013-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Significant deficits in emotional recognition and social perception characterize patients with schizophrenia and have direct negative impact both in inter-personal relationships and in social functioning. Virtual reality, as a methodological resource, might have a high potential for assessment and training skills in people suffering from mental illness. OBJECTIVES: To present preliminary results of a facial emotional recognition assessment designed for patients with schizophrenia, using 3D avatars and virtual reality. METHODS: Presentation of 3D avatars which reproduce images developed with the FaceGen® software and integrated in a three-dimensional virtual environment. Each avatar was presented to a group of 12 patients with schizophrenia and a reference group of 12 subjects without psychiatric pathology. RESULTS: The results show that the facial emotions of happiness and anger are better recognized by both groups and that the major difficulties arise in fear and disgust recognition. Frontal alpha electroencephalography variations were found during the presentation of anger and disgust stimuli among patients with schizophrenia. DISCUSSION: The developed program evaluation module can be of surplus value both for patient and therapist, providing the task execution in a non anxiogenic environment, however similar to the actual experience.

Social-Emotional Correlates of Early Stage Social Information Processing Skills in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Russo-Ponsaran, Nicole M; McKown, Clark; Johnson, Jason K; Allen, Adelaide W; Evans-Smith, Bernadette; Fogg, Louis

2015-10-01

Difficulty processing social information is a defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet the failure of children with ASD to process social information effectively is poorly understood. Using Crick and Dodge's model of social information processing (SIP), this study examined the relationship between social-emotional (SE) skills of pragmatic language, theory of mind, and emotion recognition on the one hand, and early stage SIP skills of problem identification and goal generation on the other. The study included a sample of school-aged children with and without ASD. SIP was assessed using hypothetical social situations in the context of a semistructured scenario-based interview. Pragmatic language, theory of mind, and emotion recognition were measured using direct assessments. Social thinking differences between children with and without ASD are largely differences of quantity (overall lower performance in ASD), not discrepancies in cognitive processing patterns. These data support theoretical models of the relationship between SE skills and SIP. Findings have implications for understanding the mechanisms giving rise to SIP deficits in ASD and may ultimately inform treatment development for children with ASD. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Predicting word-recognition performance in noise by young listeners with normal hearing using acoustic, phonetic, and lexical variables.

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McArdle, Rachel; Wilson, Richard H

2008-06-01

To analyze the 50% correct recognition data that were from the Wilson et al (this issue) study and that were obtained from 24 listeners with normal hearing; also to examine whether acoustic, phonetic, or lexical variables can predict recognition performance for monosyllabic words presented in speech-spectrum noise. The specific variables are as follows: (a) acoustic variables (i.e., effective root-mean-square sound pressure level, duration), (b) phonetic variables (i.e., consonant features such as manner, place, and voicing for initial and final phonemes; vowel phonemes), and (c) lexical variables (i.e., word frequency, word familiarity, neighborhood density, neighborhood frequency). The descriptive, correlational study will examine the influence of acoustic, phonetic, and lexical variables on speech recognition in noise performance. Regression analysis demonstrated that 45% of the variance in the 50% point was accounted for by acoustic and phonetic variables whereas only 3% of the variance was accounted for by lexical variables. These findings suggest that monosyllabic word-recognition-in-noise is more dependent on bottom-up processing than on top-down processing. The results suggest that when speech-in-noise testing is used in a pre- and post-hearing-aid-fitting format, the use of monosyllabic words may be sensitive to changes in audibility resulting from amplification.

20 CFR 408.1220 - How do we pay Federally administered State recognition payments?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... recognition payments? 408.1220 Section 408.1220 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN WORLD WAR II VETERANS Federal Administration of State Recognition Payments § 408.1220 How do we pay Federally administered State recognition payments? (a) Payment procedures. We make...

Ethanol and Caffeine Effects on Social Interaction and Recognition in Mice: Involvement of Adenosine A2A and A1 Receptors.

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López-Cruz, Laura; San-Miguel, Noemí; Bayarri, Pilar; Baqi, Younis; Müller, Christa E; Salamone, John D; Correa, Mercé

2016-01-01

Ethanol and caffeine are frequently consumed in combination and have opposite effects on the adenosine system: ethanol metabolism leads to an increase in adenosine levels, while caffeine is a non-selective adenosine A 1 /A 2A receptor antagonist. These receptors are highly expressed in striatum and olfactory tubercle, brain areas involved in exploration and social interaction in rodents. Ethanol modulates social interaction processes, but the role of adenosine in social behavior is still poorly understood. The present work was undertaken to study the impact of ethanol, caffeine and their combination on social behavior, and to explore the involvement of A 1 and A 2A receptors on those actions. Male CD1 mice were evaluated in a social interaction three-chamber paradigm, for preference of conspecific vs. object, and also for long-term recognition memory of familiar vs. novel conspecific. Ethanol showed a biphasic effect, with low doses (0.25 g/kg) increasing social contact and higher doses (1.0-1.5 g/kg) reducing social interaction. However, no dose changed social preference; mice always spent more time sniffing the conspecific than the object, independently of the ethanol dose. Ethanol, even at doses that did not change social exploration, produced amnestic effects on social recognition the following day. Caffeine reduced social contact (15.0-60.0 mg/kg), and even blocked social preference at higher doses (30.0-60.0 mg/kg). The A 1 antagonist Cyclopentyltheophylline (CPT; 3-9 mg/kg) did not modify social contact or preference on its own, and the A 2A antagonist MSX-3 (1.5-6 mg/kg) increased social interaction at all doses. Ethanol at intermediate doses (0.5-1.0 g/kg) was able to reverse the reduction in social exploration induced by caffeine (15.0-30.0 mg/kg). Although there was no interaction between ethanol and CPT or MSX-3 on social exploration in the first day, MSX-3 blocked the amnestic effects of ethanol observed on the following day. Thus, ethanol impairs the

Influence of oxytocin on emotion recognition from body language: A randomized placebo-controlled trial.

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Bernaerts, Sylvie; Berra, Emmely; Wenderoth, Nicole; Alaerts, Kaat

2016-10-01

The neuropeptide 'oxytocin' (OT) is known to play a pivotal role in a variety of complex social behaviors by promoting a prosocial attitude and interpersonal bonding. One mechanism by which OT is hypothesized to promote prosocial behavior is by enhancing the processing of socially relevant information from the environment. With the present study, we explored to what extent OT can alter the 'reading' of emotional body language as presented by impoverished biological motion point light displays (PLDs). To do so, a double-blind between-subjects randomized placebo-controlled trial was conducted, assessing performance on a bodily emotion recognition task in healthy adult males before and after a single-dose of intranasal OT (24 IU). Overall, a single-dose of OT administration had a significant effect of medium size on emotion recognition from body language. OT-induced improvements in emotion recognition were not differentially modulated by the emotional valence of the presented stimuli (positive versus negative) and also, the overall tendency to label an observed emotional state as 'happy' (positive) or 'angry' (negative) was not modified by the administration of OT. Albeit moderate, the present findings of OT-induced improvements in bodily emotion recognition from whole-body PLD provide further support for a link between OT and the processing of socio-communicative cues originating from the body of others. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Proactive and coactive interference in age-related performance in a recognition-based operation span task.

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Zeintl, Melanie; Kliegel, Matthias

2010-01-01

Generally, older adults perform worse than younger adults in complex working memory span tasks. So far, it is unclear which processes mainly contribute to age-related differences in working memory span. The aim of the present study was to investigate age effects and the roles of proactive and coactive interference in a recognition-based version of the operation span task. Younger and older adults performed standard versions and distracter versions of the operation span task. At retrieval, participants had to recognize target words in word lists containing targets as well as proactive and/or coactive interference-related lures. Results show that, overall, younger adults outperformed older adults in the recognition of target words. Furthermore, analyses of error types indicate that, while younger adults were only affected by simultaneously presented distracter words, older adults had difficulties with both proactive and coactive interference. Results suggest that age effects in complex span tasks may not be mainly due to retrieval deficits in old age. Copyright 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Diversity, Conflict, and Recognition in Hospital Medical Practice.

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Fortin, Sylvie; Maynard, Serge

2018-03-01

The hospital is a place of encounter between health care providers, patients and family members, the healthy and the suffering, migrants and non-migrants, as well as social and cultural minorities, and majorities of various backgrounds. It is also a space where multiple conceptions of care, life, quality of life, and death are enacted, sometimes inhibiting mutual understanding between caregivers and the cared for, a scenario that in turn may provoke conflict. Through the lens of conflict, we explore in this article the theme of Otherness within the clinic, basing analysis on an ethnographic study conducted in recent years in three cosmopolitan Canadian cities. Daily practices and-on a larger scale-the social space of the clinic become material here for reflecting on recognition (and non-recognition) of the Other as actors in the clinical encounter. The examination of structural and situational conditions that contribute to the emergence of conflict offers an understanding of the diversity of values that pervade the clinic. By way of conclusion, we argue that recognition of diversity, at least on the part of practitioners, is a key condition for the emergence of a pluralist normativity in the social space of the clinic.

20 CFR 408.1215 - How do you establish eligibility for Federally administered State recognition payments?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Federally administered State recognition payments? 408.1215 Section 408.1215 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL... Recognition Payments § 408.1215 How do you establish eligibility for Federally administered State recognition... deemed to have filed an application for any Federally administered State recognition payments for which...

[Measuring impairment of facial affects recognition in schizophrenia. Preliminary study of the facial emotions recognition task (TREF)].

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudelus, B; Virgile, J; Peyroux, E; Leleu, A; Baudouin, J-Y; Franck, N

2015-06-01

The impairment of social cognition, including facial affects recognition, is a well-established trait in schizophrenia, and specific cognitive remediation programs focusing on facial affects recognition have been developed by different teams worldwide. However, even though social cognitive impairments have been confirmed, previous studies have also shown heterogeneity of the results between different subjects. Therefore, assessment of personal abilities should be measured individually before proposing such programs. Most research teams apply tasks based on facial affects recognition by Ekman et al. or Gur et al. However, these tasks are not easily applicable in a clinical exercise. Here, we present the Facial Emotions Recognition Test (TREF), which is designed to identify facial affects recognition impairments in a clinical practice. The test is composed of 54 photos and evaluates abilities in the recognition of six universal emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust and contempt). Each of these emotions is represented with colored photos of 4 different models (two men and two women) at nine intensity levels from 20 to 100%. Each photo is presented during 10 seconds; no time limit for responding is applied. The present study compared the scores of the TREF test in a sample of healthy controls (64 subjects) and people with stabilized schizophrenia (45 subjects) according to the DSM IV-TR criteria. We analysed global scores for all emotions, as well as sub scores for each emotion between these two groups, taking into account gender differences. Our results were coherent with previous findings. Applying TREF, we confirmed an impairment in facial affects recognition in schizophrenia by showing significant differences between the two groups in their global results (76.45% for healthy controls versus 61.28% for people with schizophrenia), as well as in sub scores for each emotion except for joy. Scores for women were significantly higher than for men in the population

The Impact of Social Networks on Students’ Performance

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Jusuf Zekiri

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to determine the impact of using social media and its impact on students’ performance and success. This research tries to identify the relationship between students’ use of social networks and their success in their studies. It tries also to find out whether time spent impacts students’ performance and success. Whether students use social media more for entertainment or for teaching and information sharing purposes. The paper uses a quantitative approach for collecting the primary data. The data was collected by surveying 255 respondents from South East European University. The data analyses were done by SPSS so" ware program. Cronbach alpha is used for testing the validity and reliability of variables used in this study. The hypotheses were tested using One Simple T-test. The obtained empirical results show that a great number of students are aware of advantages and disadvantages by the social media. Thus, due to a great percent of times spent on social networking activities, the performance and the success of students suffer setbacks which could lead to a poor performance and they might fail to create a balance between the social media and academic activities. Furthermore, it is about their addiction, the loss of time leading to consequences in their academic development, and they are also influenced to a great extent negatively by the social networking sites, because their attention is focused on chatting and music while their academic activities are neglected. Finally, based on the results of survey, we can conclude that impact of social media on the academic performance of students should focus more on the positive side than on the negative side to achieve balance. Hence, creating more pages for research and academic activities will enable students to improve their performance, thereby avoiding a distraction which leads to deviation from their academic work.

Task clarification, performance feedback, and social praise: Procedures for improving the customer service of bank tellers.

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Crowell, C R; Anderson, D C; Abel, D M; Sergio, J P

1988-01-01

Customer service for bank tellers was defined in terms of 11 verbal behavior categories. An audio-recording system was used to track the occurrence of behaviors in these categories for six retail banking tellers. Three behavior management interventions (task clarification, performance feedback, and social praise), applied in sequence, were designed to improve overall teller performance with regard to the behavioral categories targeted. Clarification was accomplished by providing clear delineation of the various target categories, with specific examples of the behaviors in each. Feedback entailed presentation of ongoing verbal and visual information regarding teller performance. Praise consisted of verbal recognition of teller performance by branch managers. Results showed that clarification effects emerged quickly, producing an overall increase in desired behaviors of 12% over baseline. Feedback and praise effects occurred more gradually, resulting in overall increases of 6% and 7%, respectively. A suspension of all procedures led to a decline in overall performance, whereas reinstatement of feedback and praise was again accompanied by performance improvement. These findings extend the generality of behavior management applications and help to distinguish between possible antecedent and consequent effects of performance feedback.

Effects of modality and repetition in a continuous recognition memory task: Repetition has no effect on auditory recognition memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Amir Kassim, Azlina; Rehman, Rehan; Price, Jessica M

2018-04-01

Previous research has shown that auditory recognition memory is poorer compared to visual and cross-modal (visual and auditory) recognition memory. The effect of repetition on memory has been robust in showing improved performance. It is not clear, however, how auditory recognition memory compares to visual and cross-modal recognition memory following repetition. Participants performed a recognition memory task, making old/new discriminations to new stimuli, stimuli repeated for the first time after 4-7 intervening items (R1), or repeated for the second time after 36-39 intervening items (R2). Depending on the condition, participants were either exposed to visual stimuli (2D line drawings), auditory stimuli (spoken words), or cross-modal stimuli (pairs of images and associated spoken words). Results showed that unlike participants in the visual and cross-modal conditions, participants in the auditory recognition did not show improvements in performance on R2 trials compared to R1 trials. These findings have implications for pedagogical techniques in education, as well as for interventions and exercises aimed at boosting memory performance. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

20 CFR 408.1230 - Can you waive State recognition payments?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can you waive State recognition payments? 408.1230 Section 408.1230 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN WORLD WAR II VETERANS Federal Administration of State Recognition Payments § 408.1230 Can you waive...

A performance comparison of two emotion-recognition implementations using OpenCV and Cognitive Services API

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beltrán Prieto Luis Antonio

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Emotions represent feelings about people in several situations. Various machine learning algorithms have been developed for emotion detection in a multimedia element, such as an image or a video. These techniques can be measured by comparing their accuracy with a given dataset in order to determine which algorithm can be selected among others. This paper deals with the comparison of two implementations of emotion recognition in faces, each implemented with specific technology. OpenCV is an open-source library of functions and packages mostly used for computer-vision analysis and applications. Cognitive services is a set of APIs containing artificial intelligence algorithms for computer-vision, speech, knowledge, and language processing. Two Android mobile applications were developed in order to test the performance between an OpenCV algorithm for emotion recognition and an implementation of Emotion cognitive service. For this research, one thousand tests were carried out per experiment. Our findings show that the OpenCV implementation got a better performance than the Cognitive services application. In both cases, performance can be improved by increasing the sample size per emotion during the training step.

Relation between facial affect recognition and configural face processing in antipsychotic-free schizophrenia.

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Fakra, Eric; Jouve, Elisabeth; Guillaume, Fabrice; Azorin, Jean-Michel; Blin, Olivier

2015-03-01

Deficit in facial affect recognition is a well-documented impairment in schizophrenia, closely connected to social outcome. This deficit could be related to psychopathology, but also to a broader dysfunction in processing facial information. In addition, patients with schizophrenia inadequately use configural information-a type of processing that relies on spatial relationships between facial features. To date, no study has specifically examined the link between symptoms and misuse of configural information in the deficit in facial affect recognition. Unmedicated schizophrenia patients (n = 30) and matched healthy controls (n = 30) performed a facial affect recognition task and a face inversion task, which tests aptitude to rely on configural information. In patients, regressions were carried out between facial affect recognition, symptom dimensions and inversion effect. Patients, compared with controls, showed a deficit in facial affect recognition and a lower inversion effect. Negative symptoms and lower inversion effect could account for 41.2% of the variance in facial affect recognition. This study confirms the presence of a deficit in facial affect recognition, and also of dysfunctional manipulation in configural information in antipsychotic-free patients. Negative symptoms and poor processing of configural information explained a substantial part of the deficient recognition of facial affect. We speculate that this deficit may be caused by several factors, among which independently stand psychopathology and failure in correctly manipulating configural information. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Recognition in Programmes for Children with Special Needs

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Marjeta Šmid

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to examine the factors that affect the inclusion of pupils in programmes for children with special needs from the perspective of the theory of recognition. The concept of recognition, which includes three aspects of social justice (economic, cultural and political, argues that the institutional arrangements that prevent ‘parity of participation’ in the school social life of the children with special needs are affected not only by economic distribution but also by the patterns of cultural values. A review of the literature shows that the arrangements of education of children with special needs are influenced primarily by the patterns of cultural values of capability and inferiority, as well as stereotypical images of children with special needs. Due to the significant emphasis on learning skills for academic knowledge and grades, less attention is dedicated to factors of recognition and representational character, making it impossible to improve some meaningful elements of inclusion. Any participation of pupils in activities, the voices of the children, visibility of the children due to achievements and the problems of arbitrariness in determining boundaries between programmes are some such elements. Moreover, aided by theories, the actions that could contribute to better inclusion are reviewed. An effective approach to changes would be the creation of transformative conditions for the recognition and balancing of redistribution, recognition, and representation.

Neural Mechanisms and Information Processing in Recognition Systems

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Mamiko Ozaki

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Nestmate recognition is a hallmark of social insects. It is based on the match/mismatch of an identity signal carried by members of the society with that of the perceiving individual. While the behavioral response, amicable or aggressive, is very clear, the neural systems underlying recognition are not fully understood. Here we contrast two alternative hypotheses for the neural mechanisms that are responsible for the perception and information processing in recognition. We focus on recognition via chemical signals, as the common modality in social insects. The first, classical, hypothesis states that upon perception of recognition cues by the sensory system the information is passed as is to the antennal lobes and to higher brain centers where the information is deciphered and compared to a neural template. Match or mismatch information is then transferred to some behavior-generating centers where the appropriate response is elicited. An alternative hypothesis, that of “pre-filter mechanism”, posits that the decision as to whether to pass on the information to the central nervous system takes place in the peripheral sensory system. We suggest that, through sensory adaptation, only alien signals are passed on to the brain, specifically to an “aggressive-behavior-switching center”, where the response is generated if the signal is above a certain threshold.

Recognition for Positive Behavior as a Critical Youth Development Construct: Conceptual Bases and Implications on Youth Service Development

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Ben M. F. Law

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Recognition for positive behavior is an appropriate response of the social environment to elicit desirable external behavior among the youth. Such positive responses, rendered from various social systems, include tangible and intangible reinforcements. The following theories are used to explain the importance of recognizing positive behavior: operational conditioning, observational learning, self-determination, and humanistic perspective. In the current work, culturally and socially desirable behaviors are discussed in detail with reference to Chinese adolescents. Positive behavior recognition is especially important to adolescent development because it promotes identity formation as well as cultivates moral reasoning and social perspective thinking from various social systems. The significance of recognizing positive behavior is illustrated through the support, tutorage, invitation, and subsidy provided by Hong Kong’s social systems in recognition of adolescent volunteerism. The practical implications of positive behavior recognition on youth development programs are also discussed in this work.

Peer Influence on Academic Performance: A Social Network Analysis of Social-Emotional Intervention Effects.

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DeLay, Dawn; Zhang, Linlin; Hanish, Laura D; Miller, Cindy F; Fabes, Richard A; Martin, Carol Lynn; Kochel, Karen P; Updegraff, Kimberly A

2016-11-01

Longitudinal social network analysis (SNA) was used to examine how a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention may be associated with peer socialization on academic performance. Fifth graders (N = 631; 48 % girls; 9 to 12 years) were recruited from six elementary schools. Intervention classrooms (14) received a relationship building intervention (RBI) and control classrooms (8) received elementary school as usual. At pre- and post-test, students nominated their friends, and teachers completed assessments of students' writing and math performance. The results of longitudinal SNA suggested that the RBI was associated with friend selection and peer influence within the classroom peer network. Friendship choices were significantly more diverse (i.e., less evidence of social segregation as a function of ethnicity and academic ability) in intervention compared to control classrooms, and peer influence on improved writing and math performance was observed in RBI but not control classrooms. The current findings provide initial evidence that SEL interventions may change social processes in a classroom peer network and may break down barriers of social segregation and improve academic performance.

Corporate Social Performance and Corporate Financial Performance: A Link for the Indian Firms

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Rupal Tyagi

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The present study addresses the issue of the relationship between Corporate Social performance and corporate Financial Performance in Indian context under good management theory. The study used S&P ESG India Index as a proxy of CSP/ CSR (Corporate social performance or Corporate Social Responsibility of Indian firms for the first time over the 2005–2011 periods. We designed econometric models and controlled industry specific attributes and performed Weighted Least Square method for the analysis. Overall results show neutral though modest negative relationship between the CSP and CFP which eventually informs that if there would be any relationship, it would be negative.

Emotion recognition in mild cognitive impairment: relationship to psychosocial disability and caregiver burden.

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McCade, Donna; Savage, Greg; Guastella, Adam; Hickie, Ian B; Lewis, Simon J G; Naismith, Sharon L

2013-09-01

Impaired emotion recognition in dementia is associated with increased patient agitation, behavior management difficulties, and caregiver burden. Emerging evidence supports the presence of very early emotion recognition difficulties in mild cognitive impairment (MCI); however, the relationship between these impairments and psychosocial measures is not yet explored. Emotion recognition abilities of 27 patients with nonamnestic MCI (naMCI), 29 patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI), and 22 control participants were assessed. Self-report measures assessed patient functional disability, while informants rated the degree of burden they experienced. Difficulties in recognizing anger was evident in the amnestic subtype. Although both the patient groups reported greater social functioning disability, compared with the controls, a relationship between social dysfunction and anger recognition was evident only for patients with naMCI. A significant association was found between burden and anger recognition in patients with aMCI. Impaired emotion recognition abilities impact MCI subtypes differentially. Interventions targeted at patients with MCI, and caregivers are warranted.

Socially responsible investments in mutual funds

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Funaru, M.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to add contribution to the socially responsible investments (from now on called “SRI” research by examining the significance of this type of investment in terms of ethical or financial prior behaviour. Using the sample of European market of socially responsible investments funds, we first explore the SRI market dimension compared to the global data on SRI. We also investigate whether the ethical recognition is more important rather than the financial performance. Applied to the European social responsible investment fund market, the paper investigates the difference between these two aspects of behaviour and underlies the importance of socially responsible investments in promoting a sustainable development.

An Evaluation of Imitation Recognition Abilities in Typically Developing Children and Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

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Berger, Natalie I; Ingersoll, Brooke

2015-08-01

Previous work has indicated that both typically developing children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) display a range of imitation recognition behaviors in response to a contingent adult imitator. However, it is unknown how the two groups perform comparatively on this construct. In this study, imitation recognition behaviors for children with ASD and typically developing children were observed during periods of contingent imitation imbedded in a naturalistic imitation task. Results from this study indicate that children with ASD are impaired in their ability to recognize being imitated relative to typically developing peers as demonstrated both by behaviors representing basic social attention and more mature imitation recognition. Display of imitation recognition behaviors was independent of length of contingent imitation period in typically developing children, but rate of engagement in imitation recognition behaviors was positively correlated with length of contingent imitation period in children with ASD. Exploratory findings also suggest a link between the ability to demonstrate recognition of being imitated and ASD symptom severity, language, and object imitation for young children with ASD. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Kazakh Traditional Dance Gesture Recognition

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Nussipbekov, A. K.; Amirgaliyev, E. N.; Hahn, Minsoo

2014-04-01

Full body gesture recognition is an important and interdisciplinary research field which is widely used in many application spheres including dance gesture recognition. The rapid growth of technology in recent years brought a lot of contribution in this domain. However it is still challenging task. In this paper we implement Kazakh traditional dance gesture recognition. We use Microsoft Kinect camera to obtain human skeleton and depth information. Then we apply tree-structured Bayesian network and Expectation Maximization algorithm with K-means clustering to calculate conditional linear Gaussians for classifying poses. And finally we use Hidden Markov Model to detect dance gestures. Our main contribution is that we extend Kinect skeleton by adding headwear as a new skeleton joint which is calculated from depth image. This novelty allows us to significantly improve the accuracy of head gesture recognition of a dancer which in turn plays considerable role in whole body gesture recognition. Experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed method and that its performance is comparable to the state-of-the-art system performances.

Social competence intervention for youth with Asperger Syndrome and high-functioning autism: an initial investigation.

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Stichter, Janine P; Herzog, Melissa J; Visovsky, Karen; Schmidt, Carla; Randolph, Jena; Schultz, Tia; Gage, Nicholas

2010-09-01

Individuals with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger Syndrome (AS) exhibit difficulties in the knowledge or correct performance of social skills. This subgroup's social difficulties appear to be associated with deficits in three social cognition processes: theory of mind, emotion recognition and executive functioning. The current study outlines the development and initial administration of the group-based Social Competence Intervention (SCI), which targeted these deficits using cognitive behavioral principles. Across 27 students age 11-14 with a HFA/AS diagnosis, results indicated significant improvement on parent reports of social skills and executive functioning. Participants evidenced significant growth on direct assessments measuring facial expression recognition, theory of mind and problem solving. SCI appears promising, however, larger samples and application in naturalistic settings are warranted.

Oxytocin increases bias, but not accuracy, in face recognition line-ups.

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Bate, Sarah; Bennetts, Rachel; Parris, Benjamin A; Bindemann, Markus; Udale, Robert; Bussunt, Amanda

2015-07-01

Previous work indicates that intranasal inhalation of oxytocin improves face recognition skills, raising the possibility that it may be used in security settings. However, it is unclear whether oxytocin directly acts upon the core face-processing system itself or indirectly improves face recognition via affective or social salience mechanisms. In a double-blind procedure, 60 participants received either an oxytocin or placebo nasal spray before completing the One-in-Ten task-a standardized test of unfamiliar face recognition containing target-present and target-absent line-ups. Participants in the oxytocin condition outperformed those in the placebo condition on target-present trials, yet were more likely to make false-positive errors on target-absent trials. Signal detection analyses indicated that oxytocin induced a more liberal response bias, rather than increasing accuracy per se. These findings support a social salience account of the effects of oxytocin on face recognition and indicate that oxytocin may impede face recognition in certain scenarios. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The antibacterial protein lysozyme identified as the termite egg recognition pheromone.

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Kenji Matsuura

Full Text Available Social insects rely heavily on pheromone communication to maintain their sociality. Egg protection is one of the most fundamental social behaviours in social insects. The recent discovery of the termite-egg mimicking fungus 'termite-ball' and subsequent studies on termite egg protection behaviour have shown that termites can be manipulated by using the termite egg recognition pheromone (TERP, which strongly evokes the egg-carrying and -grooming behaviours of workers. Despite the great scientific and economic importance, TERP has not been identified because of practical difficulties. Herein we identified the antibacterial protein lysozyme as the TERP. We isolated the target protein using ion-exchange and hydrophobic interaction chromatography, and the MALDI-TOF MS analysis showed a molecular size of 14.5 kDa. We found that the TERP provided antibacterial activity against a gram-positive bacterium. Among the currently known antimicrobial proteins, the molecular size of 14.5 kDa limits the target to lysozyme. Termite lysozymes obtained from eggs and salivary glands, and even hen egg lysozyme, showed a strong termite egg recognition activity. Besides eggs themselves, workers also supply lysozyme to eggs through frequent egg-grooming, by which egg surfaces are coated with saliva containing lysozyme. Reverse transcript PCR analysis showed that mRNA of termite lysozyme was expressed in both salivary glands and eggs. Western blot analysis confirmed that lysozyme production begins in immature eggs in queen ovaries. This is the first identification of proteinaceous pheromone in social insects. Researchers have focused almost exclusively on hydrocarbons when searching for recognition pheromones in social insects. The present finding of a proteinaceous pheromone represents a major step forward in, and result in the broadening of, the search for recognition pheromones. This novel function of lysozyme as a termite pheromone illuminates the profound influence

Emotion Recognition and Visual-Scan Paths in Fragile X Syndrome

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Shaw, Tracey A.; Porter, Melanie A.

2013-01-01

This study investigated emotion recognition abilities and visual scanning of emotional faces in 16 Fragile X syndrome (FXS) individuals compared to 16 chronological-age and 16 mental-age matched controls. The relationships between emotion recognition, visual scan-paths and symptoms of social anxiety, schizotypy and autism were also explored.…

Impaired recognition of happy facial expressions in bipolar disorder.

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Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Sponheim, Scott R; Goghari, Vina M

2014-08-01

The ability to accurately judge facial expressions is important in social interactions. Individuals with bipolar disorder have been found to be impaired in emotion recognition; however, the specifics of the impairment are unclear. This study investigated whether facial emotion recognition difficulties in bipolar disorder reflect general cognitive, or emotion-specific, impairments. Impairment in the recognition of particular emotions and the role of processing speed in facial emotion recognition were also investigated. Clinically stable bipolar patients (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 50) judged five facial expressions in two presentation types, time-limited and self-paced. An age recognition condition was used as an experimental control. Bipolar patients' overall facial recognition ability was unimpaired. However, patients' specific ability to judge happy expressions under time constraints was impaired. Findings suggest a deficit in happy emotion recognition impacted by processing speed. Given the limited sample size, further investigation with a larger patient sample is warranted.

Human face recognition ability is specific and highly heritable.

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Wilmer, Jeremy B; Germine, Laura; Chabris, Christopher F; Chatterjee, Garga; Williams, Mark; Loken, Eric; Nakayama, Ken; Duchaine, Bradley

2010-03-16

Compared with notable successes in the genetics of basic sensory transduction, progress on the genetics of higher level perception and cognition has been limited. We propose that investigating specific cognitive abilities with well-defined neural substrates, such as face recognition, may yield additional insights. In a twin study of face recognition, we found that the correlation of scores between monozygotic twins (0.70) was more than double the dizygotic twin correlation (0.29), evidence for a high genetic contribution to face recognition ability. Low correlations between face recognition scores and visual and verbal recognition scores indicate that both face recognition ability itself and its genetic basis are largely attributable to face-specific mechanisms. The present results therefore identify an unusual phenomenon: a highly specific cognitive ability that is highly heritable. Our results establish a clear genetic basis for face recognition, opening this intensively studied and socially advantageous cognitive trait to genetic investigation.

Object-Based Attention on Social Units: Visual Selection of Hands Performing a Social Interaction.

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Yin, Jun; Xu, Haokui; Duan, Jipeng; Shen, Mowei

2018-05-01

Traditionally, objects of attention are characterized either as full-fledged entities or either as elements grouped by Gestalt principles. Because humans appear to use social groups as units to explain social activities, we proposed that a socially defined group, according to social interaction information, would also be a possible object of attentional selection. This hypothesis was examined using displays with and without handshaking interactions. Results demonstrated that object-based attention, which was measured by an object-specific attentional advantage (i.e., shorter response times to targets on a single object), was extended to two hands performing a handshake but not to hands that did not perform meaningful social interactions, even when they did perform handshake-like actions. This finding cannot be attributed to the familiarity of the frequent co-occurrence of two handshaking hands. Hence, object-based attention can select a grouped object whose parts are connected within a meaningful social interaction. This finding implies that object-based attention is constrained by top-down information.

Social motivation in prospective memory: higher importance ratings and reported performance rates for social tasks.

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Penningroth, Suzanna L; Scott, Walter D; Freuen, Margaret

2011-03-01

Few studies have addressed social motivation in prospective memory (PM). In a pilot study and two main studies, we examined whether social PM tasks possess a motivational advantage over nonsocial PM tasks. In the pilot study and Study 1, participants listed their real-life important and less important PM tasks. Independent raters categorized the PM tasks as social or nonsocial. Results from both studies showed a higher proportion of tasks rated as social when important tasks were requested than when less important tasks were requested. In Study 1, participants also reported whether they had remembered to perform each PM task. Reported performance rates were higher for tasks rated as social than for those rated as nonsocial. Finally, in Study 2, participants rated the importance of two hypothetical PM tasks, one social and one nonsocial. The social PM task was rated higher in importance. Overall, these findings suggest that social PM tasks are viewed as more important than nonsocial PM tasks and they are more likely to be performed. We propose that consideration of the social relevance of PM will lead to a more complete and ecologically valid theoretical description of PM performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

Below and beyond the recognition of emotional facial expressions in alcohol dependence: from basic perception to social cognition.

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D'Hondt, Fabien; Campanella, Salvatore; Kornreich, Charles; Philippot, Pierre; Maurage, Pierre

2014-01-01

Studies that have carried out experimental evaluation of emotional skills in alcohol-dependence have, up to now, been mainly focused on the exploration of emotional facial expressions (EFE) decoding. In the present paper, we provide some complements to the recent systematic literature review published by Donadon and de Lima Osório on this crucial topic. We also suggest research avenues that must be, in our opinion, considered in the coming years. More precisely, we propose, first, that a battery integrating a set of emotional tasks relating to different processes should be developed to better systemize EFE decoding measures in alcohol-dependence. Second, we propose to go below EFE recognition deficits and to seek for the roots of those alterations, particularly by investigating the putative role played by early visual processing and vision-emotion interactions in the emotional impairment observed in alcohol-dependence. Third, we insist on the need to go beyond EFE recognition deficits by suggesting that they only constitute a part of wider emotional deficits in alcohol-dependence. Importantly, since the efficient decoding of emotions is a crucial ability for the development and maintenance of satisfactory interpersonal relationships, we suggest that disruption of this ability in alcohol-dependent individuals may have adverse consequences for their social integration. One way to achieve this research agenda would be to develop the field of affective and social neuroscience of alcohol-dependence, which could ultimately lead to major advances at both theoretical and therapeutic levels.

Relating corporate social investment with financial performance

OpenAIRE

Kgabo L. Kobo; Collins C. Ngwakwe

2017-01-01

Previous researchers have found conflicting results between CSI and firm financial performance. This paper moves this debate further by examining the extent to which corporate social investment (CSI) relates with corporate financial performance (CFP) from a developing country perspective. The main aim of the paper was to determine the relationship between CSI, stock price, sales turnover and return on equity (ROE) amongst the socially responsible investing (SRI) companies in the Johannesburg ...

Meta-analysis of social cognition in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): comparison with healthy controls and autistic spectrum disorder.

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Bora, E; Pantelis, C

2016-03-01

Impairment in social cognition is an established finding in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Emerging evidence suggests that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might be also associated with deficits in theory of mind (ToM) and emotion recognition. However, there are inconsistent findings, and it has been debatable whether such deficits persist beyond childhood and how similar social cognitive deficits are in ADHD v. ASD. We conducted a meta-analysis of social cognition, including emotion recognition and ToM, studies in ADHD compared with healthy controls and ASD. The current meta-analysis involved 44 studies comparing ADHD (n = 1999) with healthy controls (n = 1725) and 17 studies comparing ADHD (n = 772) with ASD (n = 710). Facial and vocal emotion recognition (d = 0.40-0.44) and ToM (d = 0.43) abilities were significantly impaired in ADHD. The most robust facial emotion recognition deficits were evident in anger and fear. Social cognitive deficits were either very subtle (emotion recognition) or non-significant (ToM) in adults with ADHD. Deficits in social cognition, especially ToM, were significantly more pronounced in ASD compared with ADHD. General cognitive impairment has contributed to social cognitive deficits in ADHD. Performance of individuals with ADHD on social cognition lies intermediate between ASD and healthy controls. However, developmental trajectories of social cognition probably differ between ADHD and ASD as social cognitive deficits in ADHD might be improving with age in most individuals. There is a need for studies investigating a potential subtype of ADHD with persistent social cognitive deficits and exploring longitudinal changes in social cognition during development.

RGB-D-T based Face Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nikisins, Olegs; Nasrollahi, Kamal; Greitans, Modris

2014-01-01

Facial images are of critical importance in many real-world applications from gaming to surveillance. The current literature on facial image analysis, from face detection to face and facial expression recognition, are mainly performed in either RGB, Depth (D), or both of these modalities. But......, such analyzes have rarely included Thermal (T) modality. This paper paves the way for performing such facial analyzes using synchronized RGB-D-T facial images by introducing a database of 51 persons including facial images of different rotations, illuminations, and expressions. Furthermore, a face recognition...... algorithm has been developed to use these images. The experimental results show that face recognition using such three modalities provides better results compared to face recognition in any of such modalities in most of the cases....

Discrepancies between parent and adolescent beliefs about daily life topics and performance on an emotion recognition task.

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De Los Reyes, Andres; Lerner, Matthew D; Thomas, Sarah A; Daruwala, Samantha; Goepel, Katherine

2013-08-01

Parents and children and adolescents commonly disagree in their perceptions of a variety of behaviors, including the family relationship and environment, and child and adolescent psychopathology. To this end, numerous studies have examined to what extent increased discrepant perceptions-particularly with regard to perceptions of the family relationship and environment-predict increased child and adolescent psychopathology. Parents' and children and adolescents' abilities to decode and identify others' emotions (i.e., emotion recognition) may play a role in the link between discrepant perceptions and child and adolescent psychopathology. We examined parents' and adolescents' emotion recognition abilities in relation to discrepancies between parent and adolescent perceptions of daily life topics. In a sample of 50 parents and adolescents ages 14-to-17 years (M = 15.4 years, 20 males, 54 % African-American), parents and adolescents were each administered a widely used performance-based measure of emotion recognition. Parents and adolescents were also administered a structured interview designed to directly assess each of their perceptions of the extent to which discrepancies existed in their beliefs about daily life topics (e.g., whether adolescents should complete their homework and carry out household chores). Interestingly, lower parent and adolescent emotion recognition performance significantly related to greater parent and adolescent perceived discrepant beliefs about daily life topics. We observed this relation whilst accounting for adolescent age and gender and levels of parent-adolescent conflict. These findings have important implications for understanding and using informant discrepancies in both basic developmental psychopathology research and applied research in clinic settings (e.g., discrepant views on therapeutic goals).

Performance Evaluation of Machine Learning Algorithms for Urban Pattern Recognition from Multi-spectral Satellite Images

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Marc Wieland

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, a classification and performance evaluation framework for the recognition of urban patterns in medium (Landsat ETM, TM and MSS and very high resolution (WorldView-2, Quickbird, Ikonos multi-spectral satellite images is presented. The study aims at exploring the potential of machine learning algorithms in the context of an object-based image analysis and to thoroughly test the algorithm’s performance under varying conditions to optimize their usage for urban pattern recognition tasks. Four classification algorithms, Normal Bayes, K Nearest Neighbors, Random Trees and Support Vector Machines, which represent different concepts in machine learning (probabilistic, nearest neighbor, tree-based, function-based, have been selected and implemented on a free and open-source basis. Particular focus is given to assess the generalization ability of machine learning algorithms and the transferability of trained learning machines between different image types and image scenes. Moreover, the influence of the number and choice of training data, the influence of the size and composition of the feature vector and the effect of image segmentation on the classification accuracy is evaluated.

Neural mechanisms of individual and sexual recognition in Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).

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Petrulis, Aras

2009-06-25

Recognizing the individual and sexual identities of conspecifics is critical for adaptive social behavior and, in most mammals this information is communicated primarily by chemosensory cues. Due to its heavy reliance on odor cues, we have used the Syrian hamster as our model species for investigating the neural regulation of social recognition. Using lesion, electrophysiological and immunocytochemical techniques, separate neural pathways underlying recognition of individual odors and guidance of sex-typical responses to opposite-sex odors have been identified in both male and female hamsters. Specifically, we have found that recognition of individual odor identity requires olfactory bulb connections to entorhinal cortex (ENT) rather than other chemoreceptive brain regions. This kind of social memory does not appear to require the hippocampus and may, instead, depend on ENT connections with piriform cortex. In contrast, sexual recognition, through either differential investigation or scent marking toward opposite-sex odors, depends on both olfactory and vomeronasal system input to the corticomedial amygdala. Preference for investigating opposite-sex odors requires primarily olfactory input to the medial amygdala (ME) whereas appropriately targeted scent marking responses require vomeronasal input to ME as well as to other structures. Within the ME, the anterior section (MEa) appears important for evaluating or classifying social odors whereas the posterodorsal region (MEpd) may be more involved in generating approach to social odors. Evidence is presented that analysis of social odors may initially be done in MEa and then communicated to MEpd, perhaps through micro-circuits that separately process male and female odors.

Construction of corporate social performance indicators for Czech manufacturing industry

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Marie Dočekalová

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This article aims to map out the level of social performance measurement of Czech companies, i.e. what social performance indicators companies monitor and what information they provide to their stakeholders and to construct alternative corporate social performance indicators. Based on an analysis of 24 corporate voluntary reports and results of an empirical research performed among 79 large companies operating in the manufacturing industry, it was found that companies partially monitor their social performance, but from the perspective of international standards (e.g. Global Reporting Initiative, International Federation of Accountants it is still insufficient. Czech companies usually provide only absolute numbers which disguise real trends and do not allow year on year comparison or comparison with other companies. Czech companies should provide a comprehensive picture of their overall performance, they should not focus only on financial indicators based on accounting data, since it is known that the performance measurement based only on financial and economic performance does not lead to long-term success and sustainability of organizations. Companies should monitor more their impact on society within which they operate. Proposed corporate social performance indicators in a measurable and thus manageable way express social issues.

The Impact of Social Networks on Students’ Performance

OpenAIRE

Jusuf Zekiri

2016-01-01

The objective of this study is to determine the impact of using social media and its impact on students’ performance and success. This research tries to identify the relationship between students’ use of social networks and their success in their studies. It tries also to find out whether time spent impacts students’ performance and success. Whether students use social media more for entertainment or for teaching and information sharing purposes. The paper uses a quantitative approach for col...

A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.

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Sunjeev K Kamboj

Full Text Available Subtle changes in social cognition are associated with naturalistic fluctuations in estrogens and progesterone over the course of the menstrual cycle. Using a dynamic emotion recognition task we aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the association between ovarian hormone levels and emotion recognition performance using a variety of performance metrics. Naturally cycling, psychiatrically healthy women attended a single experimental session during a follicular (days 7-13; n = 16, early luteal (days 15-19; n = 14 or late luteal phase (days 22-27; n = 14 of their menstrual cycle. Correct responses and reaction times to dynamic facial expressions were recorded and a two-high threshold analysis was used to assess discrimination and response bias. Salivary progesterone and estradiol were assayed and subjective measures of premenstrual symptoms, anxiety and positive and negative affect assessed. There was no interaction between cycle phase (follicular, early luteal, late luteal and facial expression (sad, happy, fearful, angry, neutral and disgusted on any of the recognition performance metrics. However, across the sample as a whole, progesterone levels were positively correlated with reaction times to a variety of facial expressions (anger, happiness, sadness and neutral expressions. In contrast, estradiol levels were specifically correlated with disgust processing on three performance indices (correct responses, response bias and discrimination. Premenstrual symptoms, anxiety and positive and negative affect were not associated with emotion recognition indices or hormone levels. The study highlights the role of naturalistic variations in ovarian hormone levels in modulating emotion recognition. In particular, progesterone seems to have a general slowing effect on facial expression processing. Our findings also provide the first behavioural evidence of a specific role for estrogens in the processing of disgust in humans.

Vehicle logo recognition using multi-level fusion model

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Ming, Wei; Xiao, Jianli

2018-04-01

Vehicle logo recognition plays an important role in manufacturer identification and vehicle recognition. This paper proposes a new vehicle logo recognition algorithm. It has a hierarchical framework, which consists of two fusion levels. At the first level, a feature fusion model is employed to map the original features to a higher dimension feature space. In this space, the vehicle logos become more recognizable. At the second level, a weighted voting strategy is proposed to promote the accuracy and the robustness of the recognition results. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, extensive experiments are performed, which demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve high recognition accuracy and work robustly.

Institutional Choice and Recognition in Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rutt, Rebecca Leigh

Abstract This thesis concerns the role of local institutions in fostering development including natural resource management, and how this role is shaped by relations with higher scale institutions such as development agencies and national governments. Specifically, it examines the choice of local...... objective of this thesis was to contribute to understanding processes and outcomes of institutional choice and recognition. It employed mixed methods but primarily semi structured interviews in multiple sites across Nepal. In responding to specific objectives, namely to better understand: i) the rationales...... behind choices of local institutional counterparts, ii) the belonging and citizenship available with local institutions, iii) the dynamics and mutuality of recognition between higher and lower scale institutions, and iv) the social outcomes of choice and recognition, this thesis shows that the way choice...

Longing for existential recognition: a qualitative study of everyday concerns for people with somatoform disorders.

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Lind, Annemette Bondo; Risoer, Mette Bech; Nielsen, Klaus; Delmar, Charlotte; Christensen, Morten Bondo; Lomborg, Kirsten

2014-02-01

Patients with somatoform disorders could be vulnerable to stressors and have difficulties coping with stress. The aim was to explore what the patients experience as stressful and how they resolve stress in everyday life. A cross-sectional retrospective design using 24 semi-structured individual life history interviews. Data-analysis was based on grounded theory. A major concern in patients was a longing for existential recognition. This influenced the patients' self-confidence, stress appraisals, symptom perceptions, and coping attitudes. Generally, patients had difficulties with self-confidence and self-recognition of bodily sensations, feelings, vulnerability, and needs, which negatively framed their attempts to obtain recognition in social interactions. Experiences of recognition appeared in three different modalities: 1) "existential misrecognition" covered the experience of being met with distrust and disrespect, 2) "uncertain existential recognition" covered experiences of unclear communication and a perception of not being totally recognized, and 3) "successful existential recognition" covered experiences of total respect and understanding. "Misrecognition" and "uncertain recognition" related to decreased self-confidence, avoidant coping behaviours, increased stress, and symptom appraisal; whereas "successful recognition" related to higher self-confidence, active coping behaviours, decreased stress, and symptom appraisal. Different modalities of existential recognition influenced self-identity and social identity affecting patients' daily stress and symptom appraisals, self-confidence, self-recognition, and coping attitudes. Clinically it seems crucial to improve the patients' ability to communicate concerns, feelings, and needs in social interactions. Better communicative skills and more active coping could reduce the harm the patients experienced by not being recognized and increase the healing potential of successful recognition. Copyright © 2013

Subthreshold social cognitive deficits may be a key to distinguish 22q11.2DS from schizophrenia.

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Peyroux, Elodie; Rigard, Caroline; Saucourt, Guillaume; Poisson, Alice; Plasse, Julien; Franck, Nicolas; Demily, Caroline

2018-03-25

Social cognitive impairments are core features in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) and schizophrenia (SCZ). Indeed, adults with 22q.11.2 DS often have poorer social competence as well as poorer performance on measures of social cognitive skills (emotion recognition and theory of mind, ToM) compared with typically developing people. However, studies comparing specific social cognitive components in 22q11.2DS and SCZ have not yet been widely conducted. In this study we compared performances of 22q11.2DS and SCZ on both facial emotion recognition and ToM. Patients with 22q11.2DS (n = 18) and matched SCZ patients were recruited. After neuropsychological testing, the facial emotion recognition test assessed the patients' ability to recognize six basic, universal emotions (joy, anger, sadness, fear, disgust, and contempt). The Versailles-situational intentional reading evaluated ToM with six scenes from movies showing characters in complex interactions (involving hints, lies, and indirect speech). We show that 22q11.2DS exhibited significantly lower performance in emotion recognition than SCZ patients did, especially for disgust, contempt, and fear. This impairment seems to be a core cognitive phenotype in 22q11.2DS, regardless of the presence of SCZ symptoms. Concerning ToM, our results may highlight the same impairment level in 22q11.2DS and SCZ but require to be replicated in a larger cohort. Our results document the existence of threshold social cognitive deficits distinguishing 22q11.2DS from SCZ. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The influence of social disclosure on the relationship between Corporate Financial Performance and Corporate Social Performance*

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Editinete André da Rocha Garcia

2018-02-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT This study’s general objective is to investigate the moderating effect of Corporate Social Performance Disclosure (D-CSP on the relationship between Corporate Social Performance (CSP and Corporate Financial Performance (CFP. Based on this objective, the study presented a model in which D-CSP acts as a moderator in relation to primary stakeholders (employees, community, and suppliers. D-CSP is a mechanism through which the various social aspects involved in discretionary policies, actions, and activities identified in the management for stakeholders process can be evaluated. A sample of 1,147 companies belonging to 10 different sectors and five continents was used to test the model. Data were collected from the Bloomberg database, totaling 5,735 observations, from 2010 to 2014. The relationship was tested using the multiple linear regression model involving panel data with fixed effects, and the Newey-West robust standard errors correction. Three constructs, D-CSP, CSP, and CFP, were used to perform the tests. As a CSP measure, the CSP of the employee, supplier, and community stakeholders was used. As a D-CSP measure, the CSP disclosure scores available from the database were used, and return on assets (ROA was used as a CFP measure. The tests carried out indicated the existence of a positive moderating effect of disclosure on the relationship between the CSP of primary stakeholders and CFP. Besides presenting a positive CSP in relation to the primary stakeholders the results enable it to be inferred that these results need to be disclosed, thus contributing to higher corporate financial performance.

Modulation of the storage of social recognition memory by neurotransmitter systems in the insular cortex.

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Cavalcante, Lorena E S; Zinn, Carolina G; Schmidt, Scheila D; Saenger, Bruna F; Ferreira, Flávia F; Furini, Cristiane R G; Myskiw, Jociane C; Izquierdo, Ivan

2017-09-15

The insular cortex (IC) receives projections from prefrontal, entorhinal and cingulate cortex, olfactory bulb and basal nuclei and has reciprocal connections with the amygdala and entorhinal cortex. These connections suggest a possible involvement in memory processes; this has been borne out by data on several behaviors. Social recognition memory (SRM) is essential to form social groups and to establish hierarchies and social and affective ties. Despite its importance, knowledge about the brain structures and the neurotransmitter mechanisms involved in its processing is still scarce. Here we study the participation of NMDA-glutamatergic, D1/D5-dopaminergic, H2-histaminergic, β-adrenergic and 5-HT 1A -serotoninergic receptors of the IC in the consolidation of SRM. Male Wistar rats received intra-IC infusions of substances acting on these receptors immediately after the sample phase of a social discrimination task and 24h later were exposed to a 5-min retention test. The intra-IC infusion of antagonists of D1/D5, β-adrenergic or 5-HT 1A receptors immediately after the sample phase impaired the consolidation of SRM. These effects were blocked by the concomitant intra-IC infusion of agonists of these receptors. Antagonists and agonists of NMDA and H2 receptors had no effect on SRM. The results suggest that the dopaminergic D1/D5, β-adrenergic and serotonergic 5-HT 1A receptors in the IC, but not glutamatergic NMDA and the histaminergic H2 receptors, participate in the consolidation of SRM in the IC. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Social memory, social stress, and economic behaviors

OpenAIRE

Taiki Takahashi

2005-01-01

Social memory plays a pivotal role in social behaviors, from mating behaviors to cooperative behaviors based on reciprocal altruism. More specifically, social/person recognition memory is supposed, by behavioral-economic and game-theoretic analysis, to be required for tit- for-tat like cooperative behaviors to evolve under the N-person iterated prisoner fs dilemma game condition. Meanwhile, humans are known to show a social stress response during face-to-face social interactions, which might ...

Meta-Analysis of Facial Emotion Recognition in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia: Comparison With Alzheimer Disease and Healthy Controls.

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Bora, Emre; Velakoulis, Dennis; Walterfang, Mark

2016-07-01

Behavioral disturbances and lack of empathy are distinctive clinical features of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) in comparison to Alzheimer disease (AD). The aim of this meta-analytic review was to compare facial emotion recognition performances of bvFTD with healthy controls and AD. The current meta-analysis included a total of 19 studies and involved comparisons of 288 individuals with bvFTD and 329 healthy controls and 162 bvFTD and 147 patients with AD. Facial emotion recognition was significantly impaired in bvFTD in comparison to the healthy controls (d = 1.81) and AD (d = 1.23). In bvFTD, recognition of negative emotions, especially anger (d = 1.48) and disgust (d = 1.41), were severely impaired. Emotion recognition was significantly impaired in bvFTD in comparison to AD in all emotions other than happiness. Impairment of emotion recognition is a relatively specific feature of bvFTD. Routine assessment of social-cognitive abilities including emotion recognition can be helpful in better differentiating between cortical dementias such as bvFTD and AD. © The Author(s) 2016.

Sudden Event Recognition: A Survey

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Mohd Asyraf Zulkifley

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Event recognition is one of the most active research areas in video surveillance fields. Advancement in event recognition systems mainly aims to provide convenience, safety and an efficient lifestyle for humanity. A precise, accurate and robust approach is necessary to enable event recognition systems to respond to sudden changes in various uncontrolled environments, such as the case of an emergency, physical threat and a fire or bomb alert. The performance of sudden event recognition systems depends heavily on the accuracy of low level processing, like detection, recognition, tracking and machine learning algorithms. This survey aims to detect and characterize a sudden event, which is a subset of an abnormal event in several video surveillance applications. This paper discusses the following in detail: (1 the importance of a sudden event over a general anomalous event; (2 frameworks used in sudden event recognition; (3 the requirements and comparative studies of a sudden event recognition system and (4 various decision-making approaches for sudden event recognition. The advantages and drawbacks of using 3D images from multiple cameras for real-time application are also discussed. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research directions in sudden event recognition.

Super-recognition in development: A case study of an adolescent with extraordinary face recognition skills.

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Bennetts, Rachel J; Mole, Joseph; Bate, Sarah

2017-09-01

Face recognition abilities vary widely. While face recognition deficits have been reported in children, it is unclear whether superior face recognition skills can be encountered during development. This paper presents O.B., a 14-year-old female with extraordinary face recognition skills: a "super-recognizer" (SR). O.B. demonstrated exceptional face-processing skills across multiple tasks, with a level of performance that is comparable to adult SRs. Her superior abilities appear to be specific to face identity: She showed an exaggerated face inversion effect and her superior abilities did not extend to object processing or non-identity aspects of face recognition. Finally, an eye-movement task demonstrated that O.B. spent more time than controls examining the nose - a pattern previously reported in adult SRs. O.B. is therefore particularly skilled at extracting and using identity-specific facial cues, indicating that face and object recognition are dissociable during development, and that super recognition can be detected in adolescence.

Development of Face Recognition in 5- to 15-Year-Olds

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Kinnunen, Suna; Korkman, Marit; Laasonen, Marja; Lahti-Nuuttila, Pekka

2013-01-01

This study focuses on the development of face recognition in typically developing preschool- and school-aged children (aged 5 to 15 years old, "n" = 611, 336 girls). Social predictors include sex differences and own-sex bias. At younger ages, the development of face recognition was rapid and became more gradual as the age increased up…

Face puzzle—two new video-based tasks for measuring explicit and implicit aspects of facial emotion recognition

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Kliemann, Dorit; Rosenblau, Gabriela; Bölte, Sven; Heekeren, Hauke R.; Dziobek, Isabel

2013-01-01

Recognizing others' emotional states is crucial for effective social interaction. While most facial emotion recognition tasks use explicit prompts that trigger consciously controlled processing, emotional faces are almost exclusively processed implicitly in real life. Recent attempts in social cognition suggest a dual process perspective, whereby explicit and implicit processes largely operate independently. However, due to differences in methodology the direct comparison of implicit and explicit social cognition has remained a challenge. Here, we introduce a new tool to comparably measure implicit and explicit processing aspects comprising basic and complex emotions in facial expressions. We developed two video-based tasks with similar answer formats to assess performance in respective facial emotion recognition processes: Face Puzzle, implicit and explicit. To assess the tasks' sensitivity to atypical social cognition and to infer interrelationship patterns between explicit and implicit processes in typical and atypical development, we included healthy adults (NT, n = 24) and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 24). Item analyses yielded good reliability of the new tasks. Group-specific results indicated sensitivity to subtle social impairments in high-functioning ASD. Correlation analyses with established implicit and explicit socio-cognitive measures were further in favor of the tasks' external validity. Between group comparisons provide first hints of differential relations between implicit and explicit aspects of facial emotion recognition processes in healthy compared to ASD participants. In addition, an increased magnitude of between group differences in the implicit task was found for a speed-accuracy composite measure. The new Face Puzzle tool thus provides two new tasks to separately assess explicit and implicit social functioning, for instance, to measure subtle impairments as well as potential improvements due to social cognitive

Neural substrates of social facilitation effects on incentive-based performance

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Chib, Vikram S; Adachi, Ryo; O’Doherty, John P

2018-01-01

Abstract Throughout our lives we must perform tasks while being observed by others. Previous studies have shown that the presence of an audience can cause increases in an individual’s performance as compared to when they are not being observed—a phenomenon called ‘social facilitation’. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this effect, in the context of skilled-task performance for monetary incentives, are not well understood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity while healthy human participants performed a skilled-task during conditions in which they were paid based on their performance and observed and not observed by an audience. We found that during social facilitation, social signals represented in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) enhanced reward value computations in ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). We also found that functional connectivity between dmPFC and ventral striatum was enhanced when participants exhibited social facilitation effects, indicative of a means by which social signals serve to modulate brain regions involved in regulating behavioral motivation. These findings illustrate how neural processing of social judgments gives rise to the enhanced motivational state that results in social facilitation of incentive-based performance. PMID:29648653

Association between recognition and help-seeking preferences and stigma towards people with mental illness.

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Picco, L; Abdin, E; Pang, S; Vaingankar, J A; Jeyagurunathan, A; Chong, S A; Subramaniam, M

2018-02-01

The ability to recognise a mental illness has important implications as it can aid in timely and appropriate help-seeking, and ultimately improve outcomes for people with mental illness. This study aims to explore the association between recognition and help-seeking preferences and stigmatising attitudes, for alcohol abuse, dementia, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia, using a vignette-based approach. This was a population-based, cross-sectional survey conducted among Singapore Residents (n = 3006) aged 18-65 years. All respondents were asked what they think is wrong with the person in the vignette and who they should seek help from. Respondents were also administered the Personal and Perceived sub scales of the Depression Stigma Scale and the Social Distance Scale. Weighted frequencies and percentages were calculated for categorical variables. A series of multiple logistic and linear regression models were performed separately by vignette to generate odd ratios and 95% confidence intervals for the relationship between help-seeking preference, and recognition and beta coefficients and 95% confidence intervals for the relationship between stigma and recognition. Correct recognition was associated with less preference to seek help from family and friends for depression and schizophrenia. Recognition was also associated with increased odds of endorsing seeking help from a psychiatric hospital for dementia, depression and schizophrenia, while there was also an increased preference to seek help from a psychologist and psychiatrist for depression. Recognition was associated with less personal and perceived stigma for OCD and less personal stigma for schizophrenia, however, increased odds of social distancing for dementia. The ability to correctly recognise a mental illness was associated with less preference to seek help from informal sources, whilst increased preference to seek help from mental health professionals and services and less

Social Sensations of Symptoms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meinert, Lotte; Whyte, Susan Reynolds

2017-01-01

The interpretation of sensations and the recognition of symptoms of a sickness, as well as the movement to seek treatment, have long been recognized in medical anthropology as inherently social processes. Based on cases of HIV and trauma (PTSD) in Uganda, we show that even the first signs....../symptoms; differential recognition of symptoms; and the embodied sociality of treatment....... and sensations of sickness can be radically social. The sensing body can be a ‘social body’ – a family, a couple, a network – a unit that transcends the individual body. In this article we focus on four aspects of the sociality of sensations and symptoms: mode of transmission; the shared experience of sensations...

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ITS FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

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Raluca Miruna Zapciu

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR has grown exponentially in the last two decades. There are different views of the role of the firm in society and disagreement as to whether wealth maximization should be the sole goal of a corporation. Nevertheless, there still remains a debate about the legitimacy and value of corporate responses to CSR concerns. This paper examines the effect of CSR on financial performance. It examines the effect CSR- related shareholder proposals lead to positive announcements returns and superior accounting performance. Also, the channels through which companies benefit from CSR are examined. The paper finds that CSR improves employee satisfaction and helps companies cater to customers that are responsive to sustainable practices and that the adoption of CSR proposals is associated with an increase in labor productivity and sales growth. The results indicate that the sign of the relationship is positive and statistically significant relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance, supporting the view that socially responsible corporate performance can be associated with a series of bottom-line benefits.

Individual differences in the ability to recognise facial identity are associated with social anxiety.

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Davis, Joshua M; McKone, Elinor; Dennett, Hugh; O'Connor, Kirsty B; O'Kearney, Richard; Palermo, Romina

2011-01-01

Previous research has been concerned with the relationship between social anxiety and the recognition of face expression but the question of whether there is a relationship between social anxiety and the recognition of face identity has been neglected. Here, we report the first evidence that social anxiety is associated with recognition of face identity, across the population range of individual differences in recognition abilities. Results showed poorer face identity recognition (on the Cambridge Face Memory Test) was correlated with a small but significant increase in social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) but not general anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). The correlation was also independent of general visual memory (Cambridge Car Memory Test) and IQ. Theoretically, the correlation could arise because correct identification of people, typically achieved via faces, is important for successful social interactions, extending evidence that individuals with clinical-level deficits in face identity recognition (prosopagnosia) often report social stress due to their inability to recognise others. Equally, the relationship could arise if social anxiety causes reduced exposure or attention to people's faces, and thus to poor development of face recognition mechanisms.

A model for evaluating the social performance of construction waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Hongping

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Scant attention is paid to social performance of construction waste management (CWM). ► We develop a model for assessing the social performance of CWM. ► With the model, the social performance of CWM can be quantitatively simulated. - Abstract: It has been determined by existing literature that a lot of research efforts have been made to the economic performance of construction waste management (CWM), but less attention is paid to investigation of the social performance of CWM. This study therefore attempts to develop a model for quantitatively evaluating the social performance of CWM by using a system dynamics (SD) approach. Firstly, major variables affecting the social performance of CWM are identified and a holistic system for assessing the social performance of CWM is formulated in line with feedback relationships underlying these variables. The developed system is then converted into a SD model through the software iThink. An empirical case study is finally conducted to demonstrate application of the model. Results of model validation indicate that the model is robust and reasonable to reflect the situation of the real system under study. Findings of the case study offer helpful insights into effectively promoting the social performance of CWM of the project investigated. Furthermore, the model exhibits great potential to function as an experimental platform for dynamically evaluating effects of management measures on improving the social performance of CWM of construction projects.

[Recognition and management of Tourette syndrome].

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Chao, Kuo-Yu; Wang, Huei-Shyong; See, Lai-Chu

2009-10-01

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a chronic tic disorder that occurs in childhood. Children with TS may have multiple tic incidents during a day, even many times per minute. Such sudden, rapid and short utterings or movements may influence sufferers' ability to perform daily activities and present barriers to normal interaction with others. Anger, depression and low self-esteem are commonly seen in many children with TS. Awareness of TS is not great in Taiwan, and so many pediatric patients fail to obtain an early diagnosis and / or are mistreated or punished due to disorder-related behaviors. Such results in elevated physical, psychological and social stresses for sufferers. In this paper, we briefly introduce TS symptoms, diagnosis, classification, prognosis, co-morbidity, related psycho-social stresses, and common treatments. In order to facilitate the effective management of TS, we provide suggestion for patient families and schools as well as recommendations on how to interact effectively with others. We hope this article is helpful for healthcare workers, patients, families and schools to improve the recognition and management of TS.