Performance monitoring in social interactions: Dynamics of internal and external signal processing

对于性能监控，认知系统使用内部的、自我生成的信号和外部的信号。外部信号通常是其他人给出的反馈，可以是口头或非口头的，比如面部表情。我们的认知系统可以灵活地在内部和外部信号之间切换，以进行性能监控。然而，这些动力学在以病态倾向于自我为特征的心理障碍的研究中从未被考虑过。此外，在社会背景下的内部和外部处理的动力学的直接调查仍然在很大程度上失踪。在本项目中，我们的目标是调查内部和外部信号处理之间的动态变化，在各种社会情况下，以及在患有恐慌症的临床人群的性能监测。焦虑症的表现监测系统的过度活跃以前曾有报道。我们将特别关注在惊恐障碍患者中是否仍然存在用于性能监测的内部和外部信号之间的灵活转换。更具体地说，我们将调查是否减少灵活性的注意力分配到内部或外部信号平行恐慌症状。第二个实验旨在研究两个人在一起工作时，在各种社会环境中进行绩效监控的内部和外部信号处理的动态。

For performance monitoring the cognitive system uses both internal, self-generated signals and external ones. External signals are most often feedback given by others that could be either verbal or non-verbal like face expressions. Our cognitive system can flexibly shift between internal and external signals for performance monitoring. These dynamics, however, have never been considered in the study of psychological disorders characterized by a pathological inclination toward the self. Moreover, the direct investigation of the dynamics of internal and external processing in a social context is still largely missing. With the present project we aim at investigating dynamic shifts between internal and external signal processing for performance monitoring in various social situations as well as in a clinical population suffering from panic disorder. A hyperactivity of the performance monitoring system in anxiety was previously reported. We will especially focus on whether flexible shifts between internal and external signals for performance monitoring are still present in patients suffering from panic disorder. More concretely, we will investigate whether reduced flexibility in attentional allocation to internal or external signals parallels panic symptoms. A second line of experiments aims to investigate the dynamics of internal and external signal processing for performance monitoring in various social contexts when two people work together.