Functional network connectivity has previously been shown to distinguish patient groups from heal... more Functional network connectivity has previously been shown to distinguish patient groups from healthy controls (HC). However, the overlap across schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar (BP), and schizoaffective disorder (SAD) is not clear yet. This study focuses on finding overlap across these three psychotic disorders using dynamic FNC (dFNC) and compares it with static FNC (sFNC). We used resting-state fMRI, demographics, and clinical information from the Bipolar– Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes cohort. The data includes three groups of patients with schizophrenia (SZP, N=102), bipolar (BPP, N=102), and schizoaffective (SADP, N=102), their relatives SZR (N=102), BPR (N=102), SADR (N=102), and HC (N=118) groups. After estimating each individual’s dFNC, we put them into three identical states. We estimated five different features, including occupancy rate (OCR), number of transitions, the total number of transitions, and the total distance traveled. Finally, the extracted featur...
Technology continues to advance at exponential rates and we are exposed to a multitude of electro... more Technology continues to advance at exponential rates and we are exposed to a multitude of electronic interfaces in almost every aspect of our lives. In order to achieve seamless integration of both, human and technology, we must examine the objective and subjective responses to such interactions. The goal of this study was to examine neurophysiological responses to movement, communication, and usability with a robot assistant, in comparison to human assistant, in a real-world setting. OSHbot (robot assistants designed by Fellow Robots) were utilized as mobile store clerks to identify and locate merchandise in order to assist customers in finding items within a hardware store. By acquiring neurophysiological measures (electroencephalogram; EEG and electrocardiogram; ECG) of human perception and interaction with robots, we found evidence of Mirror Neuron System (MNS) elicitation and motor imagery processing, which is consistent with other studies examining human-robot interactions. Mu...
What does it take to have a creative mind? Theories of creative cognition assert that the quantit... more What does it take to have a creative mind? Theories of creative cognition assert that the quantity of automatic associations places fundamental constraints on the probability of reaching creative solutions. Due to the difficulties inherent in isolating automated associative responses from cognitive control, the neural basis underlying this faculty remains unknown. Here we acquired fMRI data in an incidental-viewing paradigm in which subjects performed an attention-demanding task whilst viewing task-irrelevant objects. By assigning a standard creativity task on the same objects out of the scanner, as well as a battery of psychometric creativity tests, we could assess whether stimulus-bound neural activity was predictive of state or trait variability in creativity. We found that stimulus-bound responses in superior occipital regions were linearly predictive of trial-by-trial variability in creative performance (state-creativity), and that in more creative individuals (trait-creativity...
Pathological gambling is an addictive disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to gamble de... more Pathological gambling is an addictive disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to gamble despite severe consequences. One of the hallmarks of pathological gambling is maladaptive and highly risky decision-making, which has been linked to dysregulation of reward-related brain regions such as the ventral striatum. However, previous studies have produced contradictory results regarding the implication of this network, revealing either hypo- or hypersensitivity to monetary gains and losses. One possible explanation is that the gambling brain might be misrepresenting the benefits and costs when weighting the potential outcomes, and not the gains and losses per se. To address this issue, we investigated whether pathological gambling is associated with abnormal brain activity during decisions that weight the utility of possible gains against possible losses. Pathological gamblers and healthy human subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they accepted or rejecte...
Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is noted by an obsession with shopping and a chronic, repetitive... more Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is noted by an obsession with shopping and a chronic, repetitive purchasing behavior with adverse consequences for the sufferer and their social surroundings. While CBD is often classified as an impulse control disorder (ICD), little is still known about the actual psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. By comparing subjects with CBD to a control group, we find that CBD is not associated with lower performance on executive function or emotional responses. Rather, an observed increase in willingness to pay (WTP) specifically for fashion products was associated with a stronger emotional response in CBD subjects, while no relationship between emotions and WTP could be observed in healthy controls. This suggests that CBD, instead of being tentatively classified as an ICD, should rather be understood as a behavioral addiction. By this token, products of interest (e.g. fashion items) produce bottom-up emotional responses that...
ABSTRACT Framing is a well-established research method in neuroeconomics and consumer neuroscienc... more ABSTRACT Framing is a well-established research method in neuroeconomics and consumer neuroscience. Framing effects of price, country of origin (CoO), and brands have all been demonstrated in many different conditions. However, our knowledge of framing effects woefully lacks any understanding of the relative strength of these effects, and how they may dynamically interact. To abate this problem, we conducted an experiment in which we recruited participants from three regions (Italy, France and rest of world), to undergo wine testing and rating of wine taste preference, and willingness to pay (WTP) while being exposed to the CoO and price of each wine. Unbeknownst to the participants, they all tasted the same wine. To provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the observed effects, emotional arousal was assessed using pupillometry. Using a linear regression model, our results demonstrate that price and CoO individually have a significant effect on the hedonic experience of wine (R2=0.11, p<0.0001). Two-way interactions demonstrate that price has a differential effect on preference depending on CoO. Here, we also find that preference is highly correlated with subjects’ WTP for the wine. Finally, we show that WTP is differentially affected by price and CoO depending on nationality. By studying the relationship between arousal and WTP, we find that during framing, pupil dilation is positively related to subsequent WTP, while during product evaluation; this relationship was negative. Taken together, our results demonstrate that branding effects can have both individual and dynamic effects that may depend on the recipient’s background. Furthermore, our results suggest that framing is related to a dynamic response that is different for the framing and product evaluation time points. This provides hints for how framing effects can be studied and managed in both academic and commercial settings.
ABSTRACT Little is still understood about the actual in-store purchase process. Here, we report t... more ABSTRACT Little is still understood about the actual in-store purchase process. Here, we report that prior ad exposure affects in-store decision-making. By using mobile eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG), we demonstrate that, unbeknownst to participants, the ad effect was driven by increased visual exploration of the product shelves for the brand that was presented during ad exposure, and a stronger motivation score, as assess by the brain's prefrontal asymmetry. These findings are discussed in the light of the academic and commercial need to integrate neuroscientific tools in the study of consumer perception and choice. Word count: 96.
Functional network connectivity has previously been shown to distinguish patient groups from heal... more Functional network connectivity has previously been shown to distinguish patient groups from healthy controls (HC). However, the overlap across schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar (BP), and schizoaffective disorder (SAD) is not clear yet. This study focuses on finding overlap across these three psychotic disorders using dynamic FNC (dFNC) and compares it with static FNC (sFNC). We used resting-state fMRI, demographics, and clinical information from the Bipolar– Schizophrenia Network on Intermediate Phenotypes cohort. The data includes three groups of patients with schizophrenia (SZP, N=102), bipolar (BPP, N=102), and schizoaffective (SADP, N=102), their relatives SZR (N=102), BPR (N=102), SADR (N=102), and HC (N=118) groups. After estimating each individual’s dFNC, we put them into three identical states. We estimated five different features, including occupancy rate (OCR), number of transitions, the total number of transitions, and the total distance traveled. Finally, the extracted featur...
Technology continues to advance at exponential rates and we are exposed to a multitude of electro... more Technology continues to advance at exponential rates and we are exposed to a multitude of electronic interfaces in almost every aspect of our lives. In order to achieve seamless integration of both, human and technology, we must examine the objective and subjective responses to such interactions. The goal of this study was to examine neurophysiological responses to movement, communication, and usability with a robot assistant, in comparison to human assistant, in a real-world setting. OSHbot (robot assistants designed by Fellow Robots) were utilized as mobile store clerks to identify and locate merchandise in order to assist customers in finding items within a hardware store. By acquiring neurophysiological measures (electroencephalogram; EEG and electrocardiogram; ECG) of human perception and interaction with robots, we found evidence of Mirror Neuron System (MNS) elicitation and motor imagery processing, which is consistent with other studies examining human-robot interactions. Mu...
What does it take to have a creative mind? Theories of creative cognition assert that the quantit... more What does it take to have a creative mind? Theories of creative cognition assert that the quantity of automatic associations places fundamental constraints on the probability of reaching creative solutions. Due to the difficulties inherent in isolating automated associative responses from cognitive control, the neural basis underlying this faculty remains unknown. Here we acquired fMRI data in an incidental-viewing paradigm in which subjects performed an attention-demanding task whilst viewing task-irrelevant objects. By assigning a standard creativity task on the same objects out of the scanner, as well as a battery of psychometric creativity tests, we could assess whether stimulus-bound neural activity was predictive of state or trait variability in creativity. We found that stimulus-bound responses in superior occipital regions were linearly predictive of trial-by-trial variability in creative performance (state-creativity), and that in more creative individuals (trait-creativity...
Pathological gambling is an addictive disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to gamble de... more Pathological gambling is an addictive disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to gamble despite severe consequences. One of the hallmarks of pathological gambling is maladaptive and highly risky decision-making, which has been linked to dysregulation of reward-related brain regions such as the ventral striatum. However, previous studies have produced contradictory results regarding the implication of this network, revealing either hypo- or hypersensitivity to monetary gains and losses. One possible explanation is that the gambling brain might be misrepresenting the benefits and costs when weighting the potential outcomes, and not the gains and losses per se. To address this issue, we investigated whether pathological gambling is associated with abnormal brain activity during decisions that weight the utility of possible gains against possible losses. Pathological gamblers and healthy human subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they accepted or rejecte...
Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is noted by an obsession with shopping and a chronic, repetitive... more Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is noted by an obsession with shopping and a chronic, repetitive purchasing behavior with adverse consequences for the sufferer and their social surroundings. While CBD is often classified as an impulse control disorder (ICD), little is still known about the actual psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. By comparing subjects with CBD to a control group, we find that CBD is not associated with lower performance on executive function or emotional responses. Rather, an observed increase in willingness to pay (WTP) specifically for fashion products was associated with a stronger emotional response in CBD subjects, while no relationship between emotions and WTP could be observed in healthy controls. This suggests that CBD, instead of being tentatively classified as an ICD, should rather be understood as a behavioral addiction. By this token, products of interest (e.g. fashion items) produce bottom-up emotional responses that...
ABSTRACT Framing is a well-established research method in neuroeconomics and consumer neuroscienc... more ABSTRACT Framing is a well-established research method in neuroeconomics and consumer neuroscience. Framing effects of price, country of origin (CoO), and brands have all been demonstrated in many different conditions. However, our knowledge of framing effects woefully lacks any understanding of the relative strength of these effects, and how they may dynamically interact. To abate this problem, we conducted an experiment in which we recruited participants from three regions (Italy, France and rest of world), to undergo wine testing and rating of wine taste preference, and willingness to pay (WTP) while being exposed to the CoO and price of each wine. Unbeknownst to the participants, they all tasted the same wine. To provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of the observed effects, emotional arousal was assessed using pupillometry. Using a linear regression model, our results demonstrate that price and CoO individually have a significant effect on the hedonic experience of wine (R2=0.11, p<0.0001). Two-way interactions demonstrate that price has a differential effect on preference depending on CoO. Here, we also find that preference is highly correlated with subjects’ WTP for the wine. Finally, we show that WTP is differentially affected by price and CoO depending on nationality. By studying the relationship between arousal and WTP, we find that during framing, pupil dilation is positively related to subsequent WTP, while during product evaluation; this relationship was negative. Taken together, our results demonstrate that branding effects can have both individual and dynamic effects that may depend on the recipient’s background. Furthermore, our results suggest that framing is related to a dynamic response that is different for the framing and product evaluation time points. This provides hints for how framing effects can be studied and managed in both academic and commercial settings.
ABSTRACT Little is still understood about the actual in-store purchase process. Here, we report t... more ABSTRACT Little is still understood about the actual in-store purchase process. Here, we report that prior ad exposure affects in-store decision-making. By using mobile eye-tracking and electroencephalography (EEG), we demonstrate that, unbeknownst to participants, the ad effect was driven by increased visual exploration of the product shelves for the brand that was presented during ad exposure, and a stronger motivation score, as assess by the brain's prefrontal asymmetry. These findings are discussed in the light of the academic and commercial need to integrate neuroscientific tools in the study of consumer perception and choice. Word count: 96.
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