*Perception of Emotional Expressions in a different Social Contexts
Allows People to Infer Each Other Preferences*

The social perspective of emotions implies that they have the purpose to
co-ordinate social interactions by means of conveying information which assists
and facilitates individuals in their reasoning about the others* feelings,
mental states, preferences and intentions (Parkinson,
1996). Experiencing others* emotional states by mere observation and internal
simulation is giving the observer an appropriate somatosensory framework that
promotes deducing their goals, attitudes, and preferences (Keysers, Kaas, and
Gazzola, 2010). The presence of friend is likely to facilitate individual
emotional expression and communication, a process known as social facilitation
(Buck, Losow, Murphy and Costanzo, 1992). Being in familiar social environment
as opposed to being in complete isolation might enhance emotional behaviour and
expressiveness in relation to certain external stimuli. We believe that an
observer will perform better in inferring others* mental states, feelings, and
preferences from their facial expressiveness in relation to emotionally
relevant stimuli when the observed people are in the presence of friend (social
context) rather than in complete isolation. We assume that the degree of
inferring accuracy will be reflected in specific inter-subject synchronization
patterns across observers* brain activity which in turn might be modulated by
the different social conditions in which the observed person is placed.

Primary objective

We investigate whether observers* inferring accuracy differs when the consumer
is in the presence of a friend compared to being completely alone. We test
whether observers* brain activations during inferring observation differ across
conditions. We examine whether observers* brain activation correlates with
successful inferring performance and we control for moderating effect of social
condition.

Secondary objective

We examine whether the emotional expressiveness of the consumer is moderated by
the social context. We also examine whether stronger stated preferences/more
emotionally arousing stimuli by consumer are better inferred by the observer
(in general or in relation to specific social context). We investigate whether
consumer show different activation patterns across condition. We test whether
he and his friend show higher inter-subject synchronization during equally
rated (subjective feelings) viewing trials.

Experiment 1: Static visual stimuli (pictures)

Experiment 1 consists of two separate phases which will be accomplished in
different days.

Phase 1: Social condition variation with Dual Electroencephalogram (EEG)

In the first phase we will have to separate session. The order of the session
will be counterbalanced across the subjects. In the first session the
participant (we will refer to this participant as a consumer from here on) will
be completely alone.The consumer will be instructed to attentively watch a
sequence (full randomization) of 50 product pictures (e.g., beverages, ice
cream, and chocolates) and rate each one after seeing it on a 7-point Likert
scale with *strongly not preferred/ strongly preferred* as end-points and
*neutral* as mid-point. Visual stimuli will be selected on the basis of a
validation study for the emotional qualities. The consumer will be asked to
indulge himself into emotional situations and to facially express his emotional
feelings as soon as they arose. Particular care will be taken to ensure that
the consumer understood correctly that he was not meant to pose emotional
expressions but to try not to restrain his emotional feelings as they arose.

Each picture will be shown only ones during the specific EEG session. The
visual stimuli will be delivered on LG computer screen (27 inch; 1920 x 1080
pixels) using Presentation software PsychoPy (). The
experiment will begin with 60s fixation screen. Next, each picture will be
shown on the screen for 10-s, followed by 6-s period in which the consumer can
express preference. Finally, 5-s fixation cross will appear on the screen
before the consumer can view the next generic product. To assure that consumer
will rate each product in accordance with his real preferences, he will be told
that at the end of the experiment he will receive some randomly selected
products base on his stated preferences and that one of the products need to be
consumed immediately after the end of the experiment. The consumers* face will
be recorded during the entire experiment with small web camera. During the
experiment he will be completely unaware of the fact that the video recordings
will be used in the second phase of the experiment where another person
(observer) will have the task to infer his preferences based on his facial
expressions.

In the second session (social condition) we will invite another person
(consumers* friend) to join the consumer in the EEG room. He will be seated
beside the consumer and they will both watch another sequence (full
randomization) of 50 completely different product pictures. The timing and
sequence of events will exactly the same as in the first session (Figure 2).
Both consumer and his friend will be asked to express their preferences on a
7-point Likert scale with *strongly not preferred/ strongly preferred* as
end-points and *neutral* as mid-point. At the end of the experiment both
participants (consumer and friend) will receive some randomly selected products
base on their stated preferences and subsequently asked to eat one of them.
Again as in the first session only the face of the consumer will be video
recorded.

The data collection process will employ self-assessment questionnaires and
brain signal monitoring equipment. The brain signal monitoring system will be
represented by the Emotiv EPOC EEG wireless headset with 14 channels
(). The Emotiv EPOC is a high resolution, neuro-signal
acquisition and processing wireless headset that monitors 14 channels of EEG
data and has gyroscope measure for 2 dimensional control. The electrodes will
be located at the positions AF3, F7, F3, FC5, T7, P7, O1, O2, P8, T8, FC6, F4,
F8, AF4 according to the International 10-20 system forming 7 sets of symmetric
channels.

After both EEG sessions participants will be separated and seated in two
different rooms. They will be ask to rate their emotional state related to the
visual stimuli using Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) scale questionnaire for each
picture separately.In addition, both the consumer and his friend will be asked
to indicate how well they knew each other before the experiment on a 7-point
scale ranging between total stranger (1) an best friend (7). Finally, we
debrief consumer and his friend and tell them about the video camera. We will
ask permission to use their videotaped images in the second phase of our study.

Phase 2: Observer inferring accuracy with functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI)

Phase 2 of the experiment will be performed a few weeks after phase 1 (EEG data
collection). Phase two will be also composed of two separate sessions. The
order of the sessions will be again counterbalanced across participants. The
recorded videos of the consumers* experimental sessions (alone and social
condition) will be shown to the observer. In total we will recruit 30 observers
and to each of them we will randomly assign one of the 30 consumer experimental
video registration. The observer will be placed in an MRI scan and instructed
to watch a video of another persons* face in order to infer his preferences.

He will be asked to explicitly mentally simulate, as accurately as possible,
the thoughts, feelings, and preferences of the observed individual. It will be
stressed that no actual motor actions should be performed during the experiment
except for giving an answer for the consumer preferences. The observer will be
informed about the moment in which the consumer is viewing the stimuli/resting
and told about the exact moment in which he will be asked to infer consumers*
preference (6s). Observer will view consumers* face all the time except for the
moment in which he will need to make a judgment about consumer*s preference
(6s). To assure that the observer will put maximum effort in the game he will
be told that for each correct trial he will receive money (1 euro per correctly
inferred preference). Eye movements will be allowed and recorded during the
task, because high-level human perception strongly depends on saccadic eye
movements.

The observer will not be informed that the difference between the two sessions
is the social context in which the consumer is placed. Only the consumers* face
will be visible to the observer.

The data collection process will employ self-assessment questionnaires and
brain signal monitoring equipment. The brain signal monitoring system will be
represented by whole body 3T MAGNETOM Prisma fit
(). Immediately after the fMRI session the observer
will be seated in a room and asked to fill in a questionnaire. The observer
will be asked to indicate the degree of emotional expressiveness of the
consumer on a 7-point scale ranging between not expressive at all (1) and
extremely expressive (7) for each of the two sessions separately.

Experiment 2

Dynamic visual stimuli (commercials)

Experiment 2 fill follow the exact same experimental procedure. All
participants will receive exactly the same instructions. Phase 1 of experiment
1 and 2 will be performed in the same day (in counterbalanced order) and data
will be collected from the same subjects. They will do again alone a with a
friend sessions (counterbalanced). The experiment will begin again with 60s
fixation screen. The only difference will be that this time we will replace the
10s static pictures (50 per condition) with 60s dynamic audio-video commercial
movies (4 per condition). Sounds will be manually adjusted and the loudness
will be individually fine-tuned to a comfort level. Consumer will not be asked
to give a preference for each video. Instead, after each stimulus consumer will
be told to rate valance and activation using the Self-Assessment Manikin scale.
In Phase 2 (Experiment 2) of the experiment will be performed in the same day
with Phase 2 (Experiment 1), counterbalanced across participants. The observer
will be asked to infer the consumer valance and activation after each
commercial video for both alone and social condition. Eye movements will be
allowed and recorded during the task, because high-level human perception
strongly depends on saccadic eye movements.

Again, at the end of the fMRI session observer will be asked to indicate the
degree of emotional expressiveness of the consumer on a 7-point scale ranging
between not expressive at all (1) and extremely expressive (7) for each of the
two sessions separately. He will be informed about his inferring performance
and he will receive the respective amount of money.

Not applicable.