Motor Correlates of Motivated Social Interactions

Social cues such as facial or verbal expressions are powerful triggers for motivated social interactions. Likewise, affective cues, such as a physical threat, can generate fast and adaptive responses. In this sense, social and affective neuroscience converge on similar questions and potentially similar theoretical propositions. A common theme is that the physical and social environment is assessed in terms of threats and opportunities (i.e., negative or positive valenced items) by dedicated neural structures. Likely similar psychological and neural processes are responsible for motivated behaviors (and action dispositions) in our complex and multi-valued environments. More recently, this line of research has witnessed a growing recognition of the role of motor control processes that underlie these behaviors, such as the control of fast approach- or avoidance-related bodily actions. Such motor behaviors are often termed ‘peripheral’ by psychologists, whereas in fact they may constitute the very essence of motivated interactions.

In this Research Topic, we aim to gather contributions (review, research articles, etc) which focus on new approaches proposed among cognitive neuroscience, computational neuroscience, philosophy, movement science, complexity science, etc., dedicated to disentangle the link between the affective and the motor processes involved in motivated social interactions. This link can be explored both empirically, philosophically or computationally, focusing on central (neural) and peripheral (motor output) control processes embodying social interactions. As this interaction between motor and affective processes is fundamental to consider within the framework of motivated social interactions, it is important to understand both the interaction of these processes at the level of the individual but also at the dyadic level of the interaction, e.g. by explaining how different individuals interact and/or synchronize together in various contexts. The level of analysis does not have to be restricted to the individual actor, but may also be considered at the system level, i.e., the dynamic interaction between brains and bodies, embedded in a social environment. We especially welcome contributions that focus on social interactions which are not properly attuned, as in the case of certain psychopathologies, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder.

As this field/question is to us in exponential development, this seems important to gather both strong reviews of scientific topics (the contribution of posturography for example has been important) and original scientific reports on computational models of motivated social interactions.
Articles types that would be important to consider in this research topic are: Original Research, Methods, Hypothesis and Theory, Review, Perspective, Mini Review, Systematic Review.