Social Processing

How Prediction Errors Shape Social Perceptions: From Behavioral and Psychophysiological Correlates to Psychopathological Susceptibility.

Project coordinator: Dr. Carlos Ventura-Bort

 

This collaborative project, funded by the EDUC-WIDE Alliance and coordinated at the University of Potsdam, investigates how expectations and their fulfillment or violation shape social perception. Previous research has shown that individuals who behave in ways that align with observers’ expectations tend to be perceived as more trustworthy and likable than those who behave unexpectedly.

Building on these findings, the project seeks to advance our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying expectation-based social perception and to explore their relevance for psychopathological vulnerability. The project is organized into two complementary research branches involving researchers from the University of Potsdam (Dr. Carlos Ventura-Bort (PI), Prof. Dr. Mathias Weymar), the University Jaume I, Spain (Prof. Dr. Rosario Poy Gil, Prof. Pilar Segarra Cabedo, Dr. Pablo Ribes-Guardiola), and the University of Pécs, Hungary (Prof. Dr. Anita Déak).

The research branch conducted at the University of Potsdam explores whether neural and autonomic responses in social contexts can be understood as reflecting the dynamic interplay between expectations and their fulfillment or violation. The branch carried out at the University Jaume I and the University of Pécs investigates whether difficulties in integrating expectations during the formation of social perceptions are associated with individual differences in vulnerability to psychopathology, includinginternalizing and externalizing symptoms and behaviors.

Together, these research efforts aim to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how expectations shape social cognition, the biological mechanisms underlying these processes, and their implications for mental health.

 

Social Memory – Psychological and Neurobiological Correlates

Project coordinator: Kerrin Riedel

 

This doctoral project investigates how people process faces in social contexts, evaluate their trustworthiness, and store this information in memory. The project focuses on how encoding duration and task, stress, mental disorders, and neurostimulation influence these processes.

Changes in social perception and processing may play an important role in conditions such as borderline personality disorder and autism spectrum disorders. A better understanding of the underlying psychological and neurobiological mechanisms may therefore also provide important insights for psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care in the long term.

The project is conducted in the laboratories of MSH Medical School Hamburg in cooperation with the University of Potsdam. Its overarching aim is to better understand how stable social perception and memory processes are, under which conditions they change, and how they can be selectively influenced in a positive way.