Effects of social signals on human impulse control function

Abstract

This study examined the effects of social signals on human impulse control functions using go/stop tasks. The study subjects were 12 healthy people. In this study, the go stimulus was either (1) an arrow image or (2) a gaze image (a social signal). The go stimulus image was shown pseudo-randomly to each subject, together with a stop stimulus. The electroencephalogram (EEG) of each subject were recorded during the go/stop task and the event-related potential was extracted. The personality traits of each subject were investigated using the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). The range of the error rate was smaller in the gaze trial than in the arrow-direction trial. The difference in the error rate between the gaze and arrow-direction trials decreased as the difference in the reaction time between them increased. A subject with a higher extroversion score in the NEO-FFI had a longer reaction time. How much the reaction time was prolonged was related to the early-stage component (80-115ms)and the recognition-related component (205-280ms) of the event-related potential. Therefore, the differences in the EEG of the arrow-direction and gaze trials might play a role in the occurrence of errors in association with scores for extroversion. Social signals were shown to affect human impulse control functions. It is possible that social signals affect human attention functions.