Preference For Social Stimuli Research Articles

Selective effects of conspecific movement on social preference in zebrafish (Danio rerio) using real-time 3D tracking and 3D animation

Zebrafish show social behavior such as shoaling and schooling, which is a result of complex and interdependent interactions among conspecifics. Zebrafish social behavior is interdependent in the sense that one fish’s behavior affects both conspecific behavior and, as a result, their own behavior. Previous research examined effects of the interdependent interactions on the preference for social stimulus but lacked clear evidence that specific conspecific movements were reinforcing. The present research examined whether dependency between individual experimental fish’s motion and a social-stimulus fish’s motions contributes to preference for the social stimulus. In Experiment 1, a 3D animated stimulus fish either chased individual experimental fish or was motionless, serving as dependent and independent motions, respectively. In Experiment 2, the stimulus fish either chased experimental fish, moved away, or moved independently of the experimental fish. In both experiments, experimental fish spent more time near the stimulus fish showing dependent and interactive movements, indicating preference for dependent motion over independent motion, and chasing over other motions. Implications of these results are discussed including a potential role of operant conditioning in the preference for social stimuli.

Truncated dopamine transporter's epigenetics: Heterozigosity of the grandmother rat temperates the vulnerable phenotype in second-generation offspring.

Behavioral phenotype differs among epigenotypes of dopamine-transporter heterozygous (DAT-HET) rats. Epigenetic regulations act through transgenerational effects, referring to phenotypic variations emerging at second or third generation. To investigate transgenerational influences exerted by maternal grandmothers, we developed breeding schemes where only the genotype of maternal grandmothers varied. HET females, to serve as MAT vs. MIX mothers, were generated, respectively, from WT × KO = MAT and MAT × KO = MIX breeding, with KO males acting as grandfather. The HET experimental groups, generated from either MAT or MIX mothers, were called MIX-by-MAT and MIX2 (male-fathers KO; asset-M: wild/healthy-allele from dam) or SOT and SIX (male-fathers WT; asset-P: mutated-allele from dam). Thus, sequelae of first encounter between wild/healthy and mutated DAT alleles (in maternal-lineage) were compared at first- (MAT-dam, WT-grandmother) vs. at second- (MIX-dam, HET-grandmother) generation. We characterized, within these epigenotypes, (1) circadian home-cage activity and (2) preference for social stimuli. Marked alterations of circadian activity appeared in MIX-by-MAT HETs, offspring of MAT-dams, compared with MIX2 HET (offspring of MIX-dams); The latter, in turn, were undistinguishable from WT-controls. A clear-cut social preference by WT rats was expressed towards SIX compared with SOT stimulus rats, confirming that the latter elicited reduced social motivations. In conclusion, significant epigenetic modulations took place in DAT-HET rats, as a function of maternal grandmother's genotype.

Social visual attentional engagement and memory in Phelan-McDermid syndrome and autism spectrum disorder: a pilot eye tracking study

BackgroundThe current study used eye tracking to investigate attention and recognition memory in Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS), a rare genetic disorder characterized by intellectual disability, motor delays, and a high likelihood of comorbid autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Social deficits represent a core feature of ASD, including decreased propensity to orient to or show preference for social stimuli.MethodsWe used a visual paired-comparison task with both social and non-social images, assessing looking behavior to a novel image versus a previously viewed familiar image to characterize social attention and recognition memory in PMS (n = 22), idiopathic ASD (iASD, n = 38), and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 26). The idiopathic ASD cohort was divided into subgroups with intellectual disabilities (ID; developmental quotient < 70) and without (developmental quotient > 70) and the PMS group into those with and without a co-morbid ASD diagnosis.ResultsOn measures of attention, the PMS group with a comorbid ASD diagnosis spent less time viewing the social images compared to non-social images; the rate of looking back and forth between images was lowest in the iASD with ID group. Furthermore, while all groups demonstrated intact recognition memory when novel non-social stimuli were initially presented (pre-switch), participants with PMS showed no preference during the post-switch memory presentation. In iASD, the group without ID, but not the group with ID, showed a novelty preference for social stimuli. Across indices, individuals with PMS and ASD performed more similarly to PMS without ASD and less similarly to the iASD group.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate further evidence of differences in attention and memory for social stimuli in ASD and provide contrasts between iASD and PMS.

A study on visual preference for social stimuli in typical Ecuadorian preschoolers as a contribution to the identification of autism risk factors

The goal of this study was to examine the visual preference towards socially salient stimuli, using a low-cost eye-tracking device in a group of typically developing (TD) Ecuadorian preschoolers aged 11 to 60 months, from rural and urban areas, and from families with low to high socioeconomic status (SES). Series of original stimuli inspired by those used in Western experiments on the early detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were proposed in two eye-tracking tasks. Two types of movements (human vs. object) were presented in task 1, and dynamic speaking faces in task 2. Parental perceptions of the adaptability of the low-cost eye-tracking device used here were also investigated through a questionnaire. The analyses of mean fixation times showed a visual preference for human movements compared to moving objects whatever age, residency location or SES. In task 2, visual preference for the mouth’s area compared to the eyes’ area was observed in specific conditions, modulated by residency location and SES but not by age. The analyses of the parental perception indicated that the eye-tracking technique is well accepted. The findings suggest that these stimuli, along with the experimental procedure and low-cost eye-tracking device used in the present study may be a relevant tool that can be used in clinical settings as a contribution to the early identification of at-risk factors of ASD in low- and middle-income contexts.

P.2.025 - Age differences in social preference

Starting with puberty and ending with adult independence, adolescence is a time of significant biological and social change that is characterised by dynamic brain development and interactions with the social environment [1]. Adolescence has been proposed as a period of hyper sensitivity to the social environment [2] and a sensitive period for the onset of mental health problems [3]. Evidence has shown that adolescents are particularly sensitive to their social surroundings. It is therefore surprising to find a paucity of data reporting whether or not typically developing adolescents have a preference for social stimuli over non-social stimuli, such as objects and landscapes. We developed an experiment to test the hypothesis that adolescents would be more likely to spend more time than adults choosing to look at social (vs. non-social) stimuli, in preference to an academic diligence task. Participants were adolescents (aged 11-16) and adults (23-30), recruited from the greater London area. Individuals were ineligible if currently taking any psychoactive medication or with a history of neurological or psychiatric disorder. Demographic, social reward and autism quotient questionnaires were administered, followed by the Academic Diligence Task; ADT. In the ADT, participants are given the option to engage in a basic and boring maths task for up to 10 minutes. Participants are told that practicing basic maths skills makes you a better problem solver. Participants are told that at any point they can stop doing maths and switch over to a less boring task – looking at pleasant and rewarding photographs. There were two conditions: social (the photographs were of people interacting) or non-social (the photographs were of landscapes). The order of conditions was counterbalanced between participants. The dependent variable was the ratio of time participants spent doing boring maths versus looking at rewarding photographs, and the design was a 2x2 factorial, with age group (adolescents vs adults) as the between subjects factor and condition (social vs non-social) as the within subjects factor. A repeated measures mixed model ANOVA (age group; condition) was conducted on the data. We predicted a significant interaction between age group and condition, with adolescents spending less time engaging with maths (than adults) when given the option to look at social stimuli, whilst both adolescents and adults would spend an equal amount of time playing maths when given the option to look at non-social stimuli. We also tested the prediction that individuals who report higher levels of autistic traits would show less preference towards the social stimuli and would be spend more time than individuals with low levels of autistic traits engaging with the maths task. We made the prediction that adolescents would spend less time on the maths task when given the option to look at social stimuli (compared to non-social stimuli) because this period of development represents a time of heightened sensitivity to peer evaluation [4] and sociocultural processing [5], thus orientating adolescence to social stimuli.

Comparison of choose-a-movie and approach\u2013avoidance paradigms to measure social motivation

Social motivation is a subjective state which is rather difficult to quantify. It has sometimes been conceptualised as “behavioural effort” to seek social contact. Two paradigms: approach–avoidance (AA) and choose a movie (CAM), based on the same conceptualisation, have been used to measure social motivation in people with and without autism. However, in absence of a direct comparison, it is hard to know which of these paradigms has higher sensitivity in estimating preference for social over non-social stimuli. Here we compare these two tasks for their utility in (1) evaluating social seeking in typical people and (2) identifying the influence of autistic traits on social motivation. Our results suggest that CAM reveals a clear preference for social stimuli over non-social in typical adults but AA fails to do so. Also, social seeking measured with CAM but not AA has a negative relationship between autistic traits.

Preference for Dynamic Human Images and Gaze-Following Abilities in Preterm Infants at 6 and 12 Months of Age: An Eye-Tracking Study.

Preterm children are reported to be at higher risk of social communication problems such as autism spectrum disorder compared with full-term infants. Although previous studies have suggested that preference for social stimuli in infancy is a possible indicator of later social communication development, little is known about this relation in preterm infants. We examined the gaze behavior of low-risk preterm and full-term infants at 6 and 12months' corrected ages using two types of eye-tracking tasks, which measured 1) preference for social stimuli by biological motion and human geometric preference and 2) ability to follow another's gaze direction. We found that preterm (compared with full-term) infants at both 6 and 12months of age spent less time looking toward dynamic human images, followed another's gaze less frequently, and looked for a shorter time at an object cued by another. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between looking time toward dynamic human images and frequency of gaze following at 12months of age in full-term, but not preterm, infants. We discuss the relation between the atypical patterns of gaze behavior in preterm infants and their higher risk of later social communication problems.