The Role of the FRN in the Neural Mechanism for Social Conformity

Abstract

Recent research suggests that the neural mechanism responsible for detecting social errors to instigate conformity behaviors is the same pathway attributed to the error-monitoring system associated with reinforcement learning. It is unclear, however, if it is necessary for an individual to recognize his social discrepancy within the negative framework of an "error" for this mechanism to be activated or if it can result from any discrepancy from a social norm. To investigate the conditions necessary to elicit the feedback-related negativity (FRN) that activates the rest of the mechanism, we attempted to experimentally discourage conformity behaviors in a facial attractiveness rating task by disclosing details of the conformity manipulation to experimental participants. The possibility of elicitation of an FRN in response to disparate ratings was hypothesized to indicate a sub-aware social error detection system, while the absence of an FRN would emphasize the importance of conscious social intentions. Though past research indicated that disclosing the nature of the task would decrease conformity behaviors, we were unable to replicate that result. Rather, the conformity behaviors and FRN peak amplitudes in the two experimental groups were equally sensitive to social discrepancies, so no significant differences between groups were found. Several possibilities for this unexpected behavioral pattern are discussed.