Early categorization of social affordances during the visual encoding of bodily stimuli

Moreau, Q.; Parrotta, E.; Pesci, U. G.; Era, V.; Candidi, M.

doi:10.1101/2022.09.29.510147

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.09.29.510147

Early categorization of social affordances during the visual encoding of bodily stimuli

Moreau, Q.·Parrotta, E.·Pesci, U. G.·Era, V.·Candidi, M.

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Abstract

Interpersonal interactions rely on various communication channels, both verbal and non-verbal, through which information regarding ones intentions and emotions are perceived. Here, we investigated the neural correlates underlying the visual processing of hand postures conveying social affordances (i.e., hand-shaking), compared to control stimuli such as hands performing non-social actions (i.e., grasping) or showing no movement at all. Combining univariate and multivariate analysis on electroencephalography (EEG) data, our results indicate that occipito-temporal electrodes show early differential processing of stimuli conveying social information compared to non-social ones. First, the amplitude of the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN, an Event-Related Potential related to the perception of body parts) is modulated differently during the perception of social and non-social content carried by hands. Moreover, our multivariate classification analysis (MultiVariate Pattern Analysis - MVPA) expanded the univariate results by revealing early (<200ms) categorization of social affordances over occipito-parietal sites. In conclusion, we provide new evidence suggesting that the encoding of socially relevant hand gestures is categorized in the early stages of visual processing.

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Moreau, Q., Parrotta, E., Pesci, U. G., Era, V., Candidi, M.. 2022-10-02. Early categorization of social affordances during the visual encoding of bodily stimuli. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.29.510147

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