Neural mechanism of the task performance under pressure of audience eyes

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25780454
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University (2014-2016); National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (2013)
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Noriya 名古屋大学, 環境学研究科, 学振特別研究員(PD) (90637133)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 社会的ヒエラルキー / 観衆効果 / 生理的覚醒 / 課題成績

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Human task performance is not only decided by reward magnitude but also several external and internal factors. One of such factor is eyes of audience which can deteriorate task performance. In this study, we investigated the effect of social status of the audience to task performance. As a result of review study, we found that amygdala and lateral prefrontal cortex are essential regions for the perception of social dominance. We also conducted experiments with simultaneous data acquisition of pupillometry and fMRI. The data analysis of pupil dynamics showed that the effect of physiological arousal prior to task execution was different between success and failure trials. Additionally by fMRI data analysis, we identified that activity of amygdala and caudate nucleus were increased in failure trials compared to success trials.

Free Research Field

実験心理学