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Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and...
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Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuropsychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 22104

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Michael Schaefer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Medical School Berlin, 12247 Berlin, Germany
Interests: social neuroscience; somatosensory cortex; empathy; fMRI; placebos; MEG; plasticity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is an essential ability of our brain to provide and maintain an image of our own body as well as an image of others in our mind. Research over the past few decades has identified processes and brain regions that are related to those processes. For example, it is well known that an image of our body surface is mapped onto the somatosensory cortices. This Special Issue aims to present a collection of high-quality theoretical or research articles within this broad field of research that may provide new insights into the perception of ourselves and others and the neural underpinnings of those processes. We welcome studies from behavioral, cognitive, affective, social, clinical, and computational neuroscience that address processes, neural signatures, or interindividual differences in these processes. Authors are invited to submit original research articles, as well as opinion and review papers.

Prof. Dr. Michael Schaefer
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social, cognitive, affective processes
  • personality
  • neuroimaging
  • neurotransmitters
  • somatosensory cortex

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 163 KiB  
Editorial
Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World
by Michael Schaefer
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(10), 1388; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12101388 - 14 Oct 2022
Viewed by 1551
Abstract
An essential task of any system is to distinguish between itself and its environment, between what is inside and that which is outside [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World)

Research

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9 pages, 584 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Error Rates in the Distractor-Induced Deafness Paradigm
by Lars Michael, Ana Böke and Henry Ipczynski
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(6), 738; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12060738 - 4 Jun 2022
Viewed by 1687
Abstract
To further understand how consciousness emerges, certain paradigms inducing distractor-induced perceptual impairments are promising. Neuro-computational models explain the inhibition of conscious perception of targets with suppression of distractor information when the target and distractor share the same features. Because these gating mechanisms are [...] Read more.
To further understand how consciousness emerges, certain paradigms inducing distractor-induced perceptual impairments are promising. Neuro-computational models explain the inhibition of conscious perception of targets with suppression of distractor information when the target and distractor share the same features. Because these gating mechanisms are controlled by the prefrontal cortex, transcranial direct current stimulation of this specific region is expected to alter distractor-induced effects depending on the presence and number of distractors. To this end, participants were asked to perform an auditory variant of the distractor-induced blindness paradigm under frontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Results show the expected distractor-induced deafness effects in a reduction of target detection depending on the number of distractors. While tDCS had no significant effects on target detection per se, error rates due to missed cues are increased under stimulation. Thus, while our variant led to successful replication of behavioral deafness effects, the results under tDCS stimulation indicate that the chosen paradigm may have difficulty too low to respond to stimulation. That the error rates nevertheless led to a tDCS effect may be due to the divided attention between the visual cue and the auditory target. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World)
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10 pages, 604 KiB  
Article
Of Orchids and Dandelions: Empathy but Not Sensory Processing Sensitivity Is Associated with Tactile Discrimination Abilities
by Michael Schaefer, Marie-Christin Kevekordes, Hanna Sommer and Matti Gärtner
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 641; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050641 - 12 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3273
Abstract
Many concepts of the human personality are based on assumptions about underlying physiological processes. The most prominent example is probably the concept of extraversion introduced by H.J. Eysenck decades ago. However, more recent approaches also propose that personality traits may be reflected by [...] Read more.
Many concepts of the human personality are based on assumptions about underlying physiological processes. The most prominent example is probably the concept of extraversion introduced by H.J. Eysenck decades ago. However, more recent approaches also propose that personality traits may be reflected by physiological processes. For example, empathic personality dimensions have been linked to tactile perception, suggesting that individuals with higher tactile sensitivity are also more empathetic to the sensations of others. Another recent example is the concept of sensory processing sensitivity, which has been linked to enhanced primary sensory processing. However, the exact relationship between tactile abilities and personality is still unclear, thus the current study aims to test whether different personality dimensions affect the performance in a tactile acuity task. Tactile abilities of healthy participants were tested with tactile 2-point-thresholds on the hands. Personality dimensions were examined with respect to empathy, sensory processing sensitivity, and the Big Five. Results revealed that empathy, but not sensory processing sensitivity, was associated with tactile performance. We conclude that the ability to feel with someone else seems to be linked to the perception of our own body. Thus, the sense of touch may play an important role for empathy. We discuss explanations of these results and highlight possible implications of our findings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World)
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22 pages, 2566 KiB  
Article
Intrinsic Shapes of Empathy: Functional Brain Network Topology Encodes Intersubjective Experience and Awareness Traits
by Sjoerd J. H. Ebisch, Andrea Scalabrini, Georg Northoff, Clara Mucci, Maria Rita Sergi, Aristide Saggino, Antonio Aquino, Francesca R. Alparone, Mauro Gianni Perrucci, Vittorio Gallese and Simone Di Plinio
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(4), 477; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12040477 - 5 Apr 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4479
Abstract
Trait empathy is an essential personality feature in the intricacy of typical social inclinations of individuals. Empathy is likely supported by multilevel neuronal network functioning, whereas local topological properties determine network integrity. In the present functional MRI study (N = 116), we aimed [...] Read more.
Trait empathy is an essential personality feature in the intricacy of typical social inclinations of individuals. Empathy is likely supported by multilevel neuronal network functioning, whereas local topological properties determine network integrity. In the present functional MRI study (N = 116), we aimed to trace empathic traits to the intrinsic brain network architecture. Empathy was conceived as composed of two dimensions within the concept of pre-reflective, intersubjective understanding. Vicarious experience consists of the tendency to resonate with the feelings of other individuals, whereas intuitive understanding refers to a natural awareness of others’ emotional states. Analyses of graph theoretical measures of centrality showed a relationship between the fronto-parietal network and psychometric measures of vicarious experience, whereas intuitive understanding was associated with sensorimotor and subcortical networks. Salience network regions could constitute hubs for information processing underlying both dimensions. The network properties related to empathy dimensions mainly concern inter-network information flow. Moreover, interaction effects implied several sex differences in the relationship between functional network organization and trait empathy. These results reveal that distinct intrinsic topological network features explain individual differences in separate dimensions of intersubjective understanding. The findings could help understand the impact of brain damage or stimulation through alterations of empathy-related network integrity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World)
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Graphical abstract

13 pages, 1886 KiB  
Article
The Development of a Multi-Modality Emotion Recognition Test Presented via a Mobile Application
by Rwei-Ling Yu, Shu-Fai Poon, Hsin-Jou Yi, Chia-Yi Chien and Pei-Hsuan Hsu
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(2), 251; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12020251 - 11 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2191
Abstract
Emotion recognition ability is the basis of interpersonal communication and detection of brain alterations. Existing tools for assessing emotion recognition ability are mostly single modality, paper-and-pencil test format, and using only Western stimuli. However, various modalities and cultural factors greatly influence emotion recognition [...] Read more.
Emotion recognition ability is the basis of interpersonal communication and detection of brain alterations. Existing tools for assessing emotion recognition ability are mostly single modality, paper-and-pencil test format, and using only Western stimuli. However, various modalities and cultural factors greatly influence emotion recognition ability. We aimed to develop a multi-modality emotion recognition mobile application (MMER app). A total of 169 healthy adults were recruited as participants. The MMER app’s materials were extracted from a published database, and tablets were used as the interface. The Rasch, factor analysis, and related psychometric analyses were performed. The Cronbach alpha was 0.94, and the test–retest reliability was 0.85. Factor analyses identified three factors. In addition, an adjusted score formula was provided for clinical use. The MMER app has good psychometric properties, and its further possible applications and investigations are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World)
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Other

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24 pages, 730 KiB  
Opinion
Clinical Manifestations of Body Memories: The Impact of Past Bodily Experiences on Mental Health
by Antje Gentsch and Esther Kuehn
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 594; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050594 - 3 May 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 8029
Abstract
Bodily experiences such as the feeling of touch, pain or inner signals of the body are deeply emotional and activate brain networks that mediate their perception and higher-order processing. While the ad hoc perception of bodily signals and their influence on behavior is [...] Read more.
Bodily experiences such as the feeling of touch, pain or inner signals of the body are deeply emotional and activate brain networks that mediate their perception and higher-order processing. While the ad hoc perception of bodily signals and their influence on behavior is empirically well studied, there is a knowledge gap on how we store and retrieve bodily experiences that we perceived in the past, and how this influences our everyday life. Here, we explore the hypothesis that negative body memories, that is, negative bodily experiences of the past that are stored in memory and influence behavior, contribute to the development of somatic manifestations of mental health problems including somatic symptoms, traumatic re-experiences or dissociative symptoms. By combining knowledge from the areas of cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuroscience with insights from psychotherapy, we identify Clinical Body Memory (CBM) mechanisms that specify how mental health problems could be driven by corporeal experiences stored in memory. The major argument is that the investigation of the neuronal mechanisms that underlie the storage and retrieval of body memories provides us with empirical access to reduce the negative impact of body memories on mental health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Perceiving Ourselves and Others: Neural Signatures of Cognitive, Social, and Affective Processes Related to the Perception of Ourselves, Our Body, and the Social World)
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