Neuro-cognitive mechanisms of attentional prioritization in social interactions

Dr. Tobias Brosch (Université de Genève)

27 novembre 2012, 16h, Uni-Mail M5193

To successfully negotiate our complex environment, we have to rapidly detect important information and prepare appropriate responses. To deal with the limited processing capacity of the human brain, multiple attention systems select a subset of all incoming information for more in-depth processing. Humans are the “social animal”, essentially living and operating in social environments. Given the high relevance of social interactions, it is adaptive to rapidly select and prioritize social information. I will provide an overview of how brief signals about the emotional state, intentions and interests of social interaction partners modulate our attention and perception. I will focus on two complementary attention mechanisms involved in social interactions: (1) Attention capture by socio-affective information, and (2) Joint attention: Using others’ eye gaze to direct one’s own attention.