Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of the Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 Jan 14;34(1). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhad484.
Individuals inherently seek social consensus when making decisions or judgments. Previous studies have consistently indicated that dissenting group opinions are perceived as social conflict that demands attitude adjustment. However, the neurocognitive processes of attitude adjustment are unclear. In this electrophysiological study, participants were recruited to perform a face attractiveness judgment task. After forming their own judgment of a face, participants were informed of a purported group judgment (either consistent or inconsistent with their judgment), and then, critically, the same face was presented again. The neural responses to the second presented faces were measured. The second presented faces evoked a larger late positive potential after conflict with group opinions than those that did not conflict, suggesting that more motivated attention was allocated to stimulus. Moreover, faces elicited greater midfrontal theta (4-7 Hz) power after conflict with group opinions than after consistency with group opinions, suggesting that cognitive control was initiated to support attitude adjustment. Furthermore, the mixed-effects model revealed that single-trial theta power predicted behavioral change in the Conflict condition, but not in the No-Conflict condition. These findings provide novel insights into the neurocognitive processes underlying attitude adjustment, which is crucial to behavioral change during conformity.
个体在做决策或判断时天生会寻求社会共识。先前的研究一致表明，不同群体的意见被视为需要态度调整的社会冲突。然而，态度调整的神经认知过程尚不清楚。在这项电生理学研究中，参与者被招募来执行面部吸引力判断任务。在对一张脸做出自己的判断后，参与者被告知一个据称的群体判断（与他们的判断一致或不一致），然后关键的是，同一张脸再次呈现。测量了对第二次呈现的面孔的神经反应。与群体意见冲突后的第二次呈现的面孔比没有冲突的面孔诱发了更大的晚期正电位，这表明更多的动机注意被分配给刺激。此外，与群体意见一致相比，与群体意见冲突后，面孔诱发了更大的额中线theta（4-7 Hz）功率，这表明认知控制被启动以支持态度调整。此外，混合效应模型显示，单次试验 theta 功率预测了冲突条件下的行为变化，但在无冲突条件下则没有。这些发现为态度调整的神经认知过程提供了新的见解，这对于从众行为期间的行为改变至关重要。
