Citation

Kim WS, Jolicœur P, Gagnon J. Soc. Neurosci. 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/17470919.2021.1888790

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

We investigated the influences of hostile and non-hostile schemas activations in non-aggressive individuals on their intent attribution processes in various social contexts. 38 non-aggressive participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups, one primed with negative words, to be conditioned as temporarily hostile (TH), and the other with positive words, be conditioned as temporarily non-hostile (TNH). They were asked to read social scenarios composed of positive or negative behaviors of others whose intentions are ambiguous followed by a disambiguation of others' real intentions (hostile vs non-hostile) behind their behaviors. Neural activity related to spontaneous intent attribution processes was measured using electroencephalography (EEG). Event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the presentation of unexpected intentions produced an N400 component. The results showed that when non-hostile intentions were revealed following ambiguous-negative behaviors of others, the N400 effect was observed only in the TH group and not in the TNH group. Similarly, when hostile intentions were revealed following ambiguous-positive behaviors of others, the N400 effect was observed only in the TNH group and not in the TH group. In other words, non-aggressive individuals were led to attribute either hostile or non-hostile intentions to the same ambiguous behaviors of others depending on which concepts or thoughts (hostile vs non hostile) were activated and accessible in memory by priming at the time of social interactions.

Language: en

Keywords

hostility; event-related potentials; intent attribution; N400; schema activation