Exploring the Relationship Between Social Expertise and Ability to Process Different Types of Abstract Concepts and the Neural Resources Allocated to Their Processing

NCT07112027 | Not Yet Recruiting DMC

• 2 other identifiers: EXPERTISE-SOC2022YJA4TB
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 84
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Social interaction is supported by several brain regions, which are involved in encoding socio-perceptual information, attributing affective and mental states to other conspecifics, and ultimately enabling the orchestration of an appropriate response. In this view, cognitive control mechanisms are necessary to select relevant information, allocate resources, and generate inferences. There is a close link between the mechanisms underlying social cognition and social conceptual knowledge, relating, for example, to abstract concepts such as "friendship". For example, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show impairments in social interactions, and also in the ability to use all those abstract concepts that relate to internal states of the individual as well as to interactions between people. Behavioral studies have shown how experience can impact the characterization of abstract concepts, influencing their personal, introspective, and contextual characteristics. Neuroimaging studies have also reported that, through mechanisms of brain plasticity, experience modulates neural networks shared with non-experts (e.g., by increasing brain volume and/or functional activity), but can also lead to the recruitment of additional brain resources, thus enriching the knowledge gained by experts. To date, the role of different types and levels of expertise in influencing the neural representation of specific categories of abstract concepts, and in particular social concepts, has not yet been fully elucidated.

Conditions

Healthy

Keywords

volounteers with different levels of social expertise

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Correlation between participants' accuracy rate and BOLD signal

  Evaluate whether and how social expertise modulate the neural representation of different types of abstract concepts, and in particular social concepts.

  baseline

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Correlation between participants' accuracy rate and scores in Autism Quotient Test, DASS-21, SIAS, DERS, Ekman test, SET and I-TIPI

  baseline

Study Arms (1)

Behavioral and MR imaging

EXPERIMENTAL

After enrollment, participants will be screened on the basis of the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Subsequently, during the single study, participants will be administered a series of questionnaires (Edinburgh Handedness Inventory - Short Form; Evaluation of social related abilities, competences, and traits: Autism Quotient Test, DASS-21, SIAS, DERS, Ekman test; SET; I-TIPI, and conceptual ratings on semantic dimensions (moral, social, political). Then, an MR acquisition without contrast will be performed. Specifically, we will acquire structural, resting state and functional (BOLD) sequences, in the latter case during the administration of a semantic categorization task. The task is aimed to ascertain participants' responses time and accuracy in processing abstract concepts. Participants will be required to indicate the category of each of the visually presented words by means of button press. The study visit will last 3 hours in total.

Other: Behavioral and MR scanning

Interventions

Behavioral and MR scanning OTHER

After enrollment, participants will be screened on the basis of the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Subsequently, during the single study, participants will be administered a series of questionnaires (Edinburgh Handedness Inventory - Short Form; Evaluation of social related abilities, competences, and traits: Autism Quotient Test, DASS-21, SIAS, DERS, Ekman test; SET; I-TIPI, and conceptual ratings on semantic dimensions (moral, social, political). Then, an MR acquisition without contrast will be performed. Specifically, we will acquire structural, resting state and functional (BOLD) sequences, in the latter case during the administration of a semantic categorization task. The task is aimed to ascertain participants' responses time and accuracy in processing abstract concepts. Participants will be required to indicate the category of each of the visually presented words by means of button press. The study visit will last 3 hours in total.

Behavioral and MR imaging

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 25 Years - 50 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study
• Male or female, aged between 25 and 50 years
• Right-handed dominance
• Normal vision or hypo-vision corrected with contact lenses
• Participant must have different levels of social expertise, in order to be assigned to one of the following groups: (1) participants with subclinical social skills dysfunction, parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, (2) participants with no specific social expertise, and (3) participants with high social expertise, namely social media influencers and politicians.

You may not qualify if:

• Clinical and/or anamnestic evidence of neurological, psychiatric, or systemic disorders
• Drug addiction and/or abuse of neuroactive drugs;
• Contraindications and incompatibilities with MRI, and specifically presence of para-magnetic or ferro-magnetic metal body prostheses; presence of permanent biomedical implants (e.g., pacemakers, neuro-stimulators); pregnancy status; claustrophobia. Pregnancy status will be self-reported by the participants.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele: lead

Study Sites (1)

Centro Eccellenza Risonanza Magnetica ad Alto Campo (CERMAC)

Milan, MI, 20132, Italy

Location

Related Publications (10)

• Buchweitz A, Shinkareva SV, Mason RA, Mitchell TM, Just MA. Identifying bilingual semantic neural representations across languages. Brain Lang. 2012 Mar;120(3):282-9. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2011.09.003. Epub 2011 Oct 5.

  PMID: 21978845 BACKGROUND

• Abutalebi J, Della Rosa PA, Ding G, Weekes B, Costa A, Green DW. Language proficiency modulates the engagement of cognitive control areas in multilinguals. Cortex. 2013 Mar;49(3):905-11. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2012.08.018. Epub 2012 Sep 1.

  PMID: 23021069 BACKGROUND

• Del Maschio, N., Abutalebi, J., Schwieter, J., & Paradis, M. Language Organization in the Bilingual and Multilingual Brain. 2019 Feb; pp. 197-213. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119387725.ch9

  BACKGROUND

• Borghi AM, Binkofski F, Castelfranchi C, Cimatti F, Scorolli C, Tummolini L. The challenge of abstract concepts. Psychol Bull. 2017 Mar;143(3):263-292. doi: 10.1037/bul0000089. Epub 2017 Jan 16.

  PMID: 28095000 BACKGROUND

• Bang J, Burns J, Nadig A. Brief report: Conveying subjective experience in conversation: production of mental state terms and personal narratives in individuals with high functioning autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013 Jul;43(7):1732-40. doi: 10.1007/s10803-012-1716-4.

  PMID: 23179342 BACKGROUND

• Baez S, Garcia AM, Ibanez A. The Social Context Network Model in Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases. Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2017;30:379-396. doi: 10.1007/7854_2016_443.

  PMID: 27130326 BACKGROUND

• Conca F, Catricala E, Canini M, Petrini A, Vigliocco G, Cappa SF, Della Rosa PA. In search of different categories of abstract concepts: a fMRI adaptation study. Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 19;11(1):22587. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-02013-8.

  PMID: 34799624 BACKGROUND

• Binney RJ, Ramsey R. Social Semantics: The role of conceptual knowledge and cognitive control in a neurobiological model of the social brain. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 May;112:28-38. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.030. Epub 2020 Jan 23.

  PMID: 31982602 BACKGROUND

• Adolphs R. Conceptual challenges and directions for social neuroscience. Neuron. 2010 Mar 25;65(6):752-67. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.006.

  PMID: 20346753 BACKGROUND

• Wolf SM, Paradise J, Caga-anan C. The law of incidental findings in human subjects research: establishing researchers' duties. J Law Med Ethics. 2008 Summer;36(2):361-83, 214. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2008.00281.x.

  PMID: 18547206 BACKGROUND

Central Study Contacts

Jubin Abutalebi, Specialist in Neurology

CONTACT

+39 3494121184; abutalebi.jubin@hsr.it

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: FACTORIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Director Center for Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics (CNPL)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 9, 2025
• First Posted: August 8, 2025
• Study Start: August 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2025
• Study Completion: February 1, 2026
• Last Updated: August 8, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-08

Locations

IT (1)