Neurobiological correlates of social conformity and independence during mental rotation
Berns and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging while adults judged whether pairs of abstract three-dimensional shapes matched after mental rotation. Before each judgement the participants saw the answers of four apparent peers, who were actors, and in a separate session the answers came from computer icons said to run a simple algorithm. Errors rose from about 14 per cent at baseline to about 41 per cent when the group was wrong and about 32 per cent when the computer was wrong. Conforming to a wrong group, compared with a wrong computer, was linked to activity in an occipital and parietal network and independence to the right amygdala and caudate. The authors read the first result as a sign that group answers may alter perception and the second as the emotional weight of standing apart, and they called the amygdala result tentative. Reading depth: full text; figures used are 32 analysed participants of 33 recruited, 14, 41 and 32 per cent.
Berns and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging while adults judged whether pairs of abstract three-dimensional shapes matched after mental rotation. Before each judgement the participants saw the answers of four apparent peers, who were actors, and in a separate session the answers came from computer icons said to run a simple algorithm. Errors rose from about 14 per cent at baseline to about 41 per cent when the group was wrong and about 32 per cent when the computer was wrong. Conforming to a wrong group, compared with a wrong computer, was linked to activity in an occipital and parietal network and independence to the right amygdala and caudate. The authors read the first result as a sign that group answers may alter perception and the second as the emotional weight of standing apart, and they called the amygdala result tentative. Reading depth: full text; figures used are 32 analysed participants of 33 recruited, 14, 41 and 32 per cent.
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Berns, G. S., Chappelow, J., Zink, C. F., Pagnoni, G., Martin-Skurski, M. E., & Richards, J. (2005). Neurobiological correlates of social conformity and independence during mental rotation. Biological Psychiatry, 58(3), 245-253. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.012 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.012