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Abstract
There is growing evidence in cognitive neuroscience that processing of information about social groups involves the associated affective features, compared with processing in formation about nonsocial semantic categories. With the present study we aimed at assessing the extent of such involvement by measuring event-related potentials in healthy individuals while they performed an affective priming paradigm requiring evaluative responses. Behavioral results showed a greater affective priming for social group than for nonsocial category targets, while the analysis of the neural correlates revealed a modulation in the late positive component, which was higher in the positive valence social groups as compared to positive valence nonsocial categories. The present findings complement previous neuropsychological and brain stimulation studies by showing how the engagement in affective processing enhances the representation of social groups compared to nonsocial categories, as indicated by the emergence of a distinct behavioral and neurophysiological response.
Article downloadable here: https://psyarxiv.com/kewu5/
Tiziano Suran, Ph.D. 