The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies
Abstract Background Compared to nonsocial information, the human brain is more highly sensitive to social information. As a kind of typical social semantic information, the words describing person traits differ from the nonsocial semantic information describing inanimate objects in many ways. It rem...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2023-08-01
|
| Series: | BMC Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01286-0 |
| _version_ | 1797555611441823744 |
|---|---|
| author | Xinfang Fan Qiang Xu Juan Liu Hongwei Xing Liangyu Ning Qingwei Chen Yaping Yang |
| author_facet | Xinfang Fan Qiang Xu Juan Liu Hongwei Xing Liangyu Ning Qingwei Chen Yaping Yang |
| author_sort | Xinfang Fan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Compared to nonsocial information, the human brain is more highly sensitive to social information. As a kind of typical social semantic information, the words describing person traits differ from the nonsocial semantic information describing inanimate objects in many ways. It remains to be seen whether the processing of trait words has a valence asymmetric and whether it differs from the processing of nonsocial semantic information in terms of behavioral responses and neural temporal processes. Method Taking person and object names as priming stimuli and adjective words only used for describing humans or objects as target stimuli, the present study aimed to investigate the processing characteristics of social and nonsocial semantic information by recording both behavioral and ERP data. Results Behavioral results showed that the response times for negative words were significantly slower than those for positive words whether for social or nonsocial semantic information. The accuracy rates of negative words were significantly lower than those of positive words when the targets were social words which is contrary to the nonsocial words. The ERP results indicated that there was a negative bias effect on the processing of both types of information during the whole time course of brain neural activity; that is, the P2, N400, and LPP amplitudes elicited by negative words were larger than those elicited by positive words; However, the negative bias effect of social semantic information started at the early perceptual stage which was significantly earlier than the onset of negative bias of nonsocial semantic information, and was significantly affected by the prime type. In addition, there was a significant semantic conflict N400 effect only for nonsocial semantic information. Conclusions Overall, the present study revealed the existence of an early negative bias of social information and provided evidence for the specificity of social information. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:49:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8d0bb355bbf04c87b30f19b74a006df7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-7283 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:49:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-8d0bb355bbf04c87b30f19b74a006df72023-11-20T11:20:29ZengBMCBMC Psychology2050-72832023-08-0111111410.1186/s40359-023-01286-0The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studiesXinfang Fan0Qiang Xu1Juan Liu2Hongwei Xing3Liangyu Ning4Qingwei Chen5Yaping Yang6Department of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityNational Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityAbstract Background Compared to nonsocial information, the human brain is more highly sensitive to social information. As a kind of typical social semantic information, the words describing person traits differ from the nonsocial semantic information describing inanimate objects in many ways. It remains to be seen whether the processing of trait words has a valence asymmetric and whether it differs from the processing of nonsocial semantic information in terms of behavioral responses and neural temporal processes. Method Taking person and object names as priming stimuli and adjective words only used for describing humans or objects as target stimuli, the present study aimed to investigate the processing characteristics of social and nonsocial semantic information by recording both behavioral and ERP data. Results Behavioral results showed that the response times for negative words were significantly slower than those for positive words whether for social or nonsocial semantic information. The accuracy rates of negative words were significantly lower than those of positive words when the targets were social words which is contrary to the nonsocial words. The ERP results indicated that there was a negative bias effect on the processing of both types of information during the whole time course of brain neural activity; that is, the P2, N400, and LPP amplitudes elicited by negative words were larger than those elicited by positive words; However, the negative bias effect of social semantic information started at the early perceptual stage which was significantly earlier than the onset of negative bias of nonsocial semantic information, and was significantly affected by the prime type. In addition, there was a significant semantic conflict N400 effect only for nonsocial semantic information. Conclusions Overall, the present study revealed the existence of an early negative bias of social information and provided evidence for the specificity of social information.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01286-0Social semantic informationTrait wordsValenceNegative biasP2 |
| spellingShingle | Xinfang Fan Qiang Xu Juan Liu Hongwei Xing Liangyu Ning Qingwei Chen Yaping Yang The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies BMC Psychology Social semantic information Trait words Valence Negative bias P2 |
| title | The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies |
| title_full | The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies |
| title_fullStr | The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies |
| title_full_unstemmed | The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies |
| title_short | The early negative bias of social semantics: evidence from behavioral and ERP studies |
| title_sort | early negative bias of social semantics evidence from behavioral and erp studies |
| topic | Social semantic information Trait words Valence Negative bias P2 |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01286-0 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT xinfangfan theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT qiangxu theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT juanliu theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT hongweixing theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT liangyuning theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT qingweichen theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT yapingyang theearlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT xinfangfan earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT qiangxu earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT juanliu earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT hongweixing earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT liangyuning earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT qingweichen earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies AT yapingyang earlynegativebiasofsocialsemanticsevidencefrombehavioralanderpstudies |