Abstract
Past physiological evidence, indicates that inferences on the mind of another person (i.e., goals, intentions, beliefs), is a well-defined brain process characterized by specific temporal and spatial properties. This study investigated brain responses during passive viewing (consumers’ role) of branded products (i.e., chocolates, chips, non alcoholic beverages) and preference inferences (sales consultants’ role) from eye-related information. Using EEG methods, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants passively viewed pictures of branded products versus when they tried to infer others’ product preferences from eye-related information. ERP amplitudes were examined in two time windows, corresponding to the P3 component and the late positive potential (LPP). Dissimilar brain responses were found for preference inferences compared to passive viewing for the P3 and LPP components. P3 and LPP amplitudes were greater for preference inferences compared to passive viewing. In addition, enhanced P3 and LPP amplitudes were found for preference inferences compared to passive viewing for the High Inferring Performance (HI) as opposed to the Low Inferring Performance (LI) group. Finally, enhanced posterior P3 and LPP amplitudes were found for preference inferences compared to passive viewing for the GG as opposed to the A-allele carrier individuals of oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. Taken together, the results suggest that posterior P3 and LPP amplitude during preference inferences from eye-related cues as opposed to passive viewing of branded products reflects increased socially motivated attention allocation required for the social inferring task, for the GG compared to A-allele carrier individuals.
Highlights
Social scientists acknowledge that the ability to identify the goals and internal states of other people is a key skill which facilitates our navigation into different social contexts
This study examined variation in a candidate gene, the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene, known to affect social cognition (Skuse et al, 2014: Smith et al, 2014) as one possible source of differences in cortical brain activity between preference inferences from eye-related cues compared to passive viewing of branded products
This study investigated the relationship between a well-known SNP in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and individual behavioural differences, measured by inferring performance, as well as physiological differences, measured by event-related potentials (ERPs), in preference inferences from eye-related cues as opposed to passive viewing of branded products.The results revealed higher P3 and early late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes for preference inferences from eye-related cues as opposed to passive viewing of branded products
Summary
Social scientists acknowledge that the ability to identify the goals and internal states of other people is a key skill which facilitates our navigation into different social contexts. In this study we focus on specific sales-consumer settings where people taking the role of sales consultant infer other people’s internal states and product preferences from external cues such as facial expressions and eye-related information in order to figure out what a consumer likes. The first question addressed in the current study was related to the physiological processes associated with the inferring of others’ product preferences from eye-related information. The current study investigated whether these physiological processes are influenced by the salesperson’s genetic makeup. To address these questions the current investigation explored the electro physiological differences between preference inferences from eye-related information versus passive viewing of branded products. The inferring performance of each individual was used as behavioural validation of the EEG recordings
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