Herding Brains: A Core Neural Mechanism for Social Alignment

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2019.01.002

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Volume 23, Issue 3, March 2019, Pages 174-186

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.01.002 Get rights and content

Highlights

Traditionally, the diverse behaviors that involve social alignment have been considered individually.

We synthesize models of collective action across species with an emerging body of neuroscience, neurocomputational, and psychology research to propose that different manifestations of social alignment are actually linked, with motor synchrony, emotional alignment, and conformity influencing one another in a reciprocal manner.

Building on the predictive coding framework, we argue that these different levels of alignment reflect the workings of a prototype feedback-loop model.

The social alignment feedback loop includes three core components. One system is in place to react to alignment, and another system reacts to misalignment. Based on the misalignment detected, a further system is responsible for aligning to the point of perceived alignment.

When we clap our hands in synchrony, feel the sadness of a friend, or match our attitudes to peer norms, we align our behavior with others. We propose here a model that views synchronized movement, emotional contagion, and social conformity as interrelated processes that rely on shared neural networks. Building on the predictive coding framework, we suggest that social alignment is mediated by a three-component feedback loop – an error-monitoring system that reacts to misalignment, an alignment system, and a reward system that is activated when alignment is achieved. We describe herding-related syndromes (autism, loneliness) and call for innovative research to investigate the links between the levels of alignment.

Section snippets

From Herds to Conformism

Herding is ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom. Birds fly together in flocks, schools of fish move in a coordinated manner, and swarming ants exhibit collective behavior [1]. Although group living has various benefits including foraging efficiency [2] and reduction of predation risk [3], individuals may benefit from sociality only if they remain connected to other members [4], indicating that achieving connectedness is a key motivator of behavior across species. In humans, collective

The Various Levels of Herding are Behaviorally Linked

Interpersonal motor synchrony involves the alignment in time of the behavior of two or more interacting individuals. Close to the constructs of mimicry or imitation, motor synchronization also introduces the importance of coordination in the timing of the action [9]. Synchronization can occur implicitly (coordination of walking pace in humans) but can also occur explicitly (soldiers marching [10]).

Emotional contagion represents the alignment of one’s emotions with the emotions expressed by

The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Herding

A well-accepted model of herding in animals argues that there are three basic principles that guide most types of herds [37]. These principles include: approaching other individuals, while at the same time moving away from very nearby neighbors, and aligning with the direction of movement of those that are close by. These principles indicate that social alignment involves a mechanism that is responsible for detecting the gap between the self and others to evaluate the level of approach versus

Herding-Related Psychopathology

Although herding is a ubiquitous and naturally occurring phenomenon, there are some conditions where some impairment leads to a reduced capacity and/or motivation participate in herding.

For example, individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) show aberrant performance at all levels of social alignment, including motor synchronization [88], emotional contagion [89], and conformity [90]. Recent studies have used Bayesian predictive coding approaches to explain the social interaction

Concluding Remarks and Future Directions

Building on emerging research from multiple fields, the present social alignment model offers an integrative framework for understanding the mechanisms underlying herding. We demonstrate how the different behavioral manifestations of herding are linked, adhere to similar principles, and rely on a feedback loop of three networks. Although the three ‘core’ systems of the loop participate in all types of social alignment, each component may play a more dominant role depending on the specific type

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. Rachel Tomer and Dr Uri Hertz for their feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript, and Rotem Perlmutter for her illustration of Figure 2. Completion of the manuscript was supported by grants 2510/16 from the Israel Science Foundation (ISF)–Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 959/18 from the ISF, I-142-105.3-2016 from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), and 2015068 from the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation

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Trends in Cognitive Sciences

OpinionHerding Brains: A Core Neural Mechanism for Social Alignment

Highlights

Section snippets

From Herds to Conformism

The Various Levels of Herding are Behaviorally Linked

The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Herding

Herding-Related Psychopathology

Concluding Remarks and Future Directions

Acknowledgments

Behav. Processes

Ecol. Modell.

Curr. Biol.

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.

Curr. Opin. Psychol.

J. Exp. Soc. Psychol.

Curr. Opin. Psychol.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

Trends Neurosci.

Neuroscience

Curr. Biol.

Neuroimage

Neuroimage

Neuroimage

Neuron

Neuroimage

Curr. Biol.

Neuroimage

Curr. Biol.

Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev.

Brain Cogn.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

J. Res. Pers.

Curr. Biol.

Human–human interaction forces and interlimb coordination during side-by-side walking with hand contact

Front. Physiol.

Rocking to the beat: effects of music and partner’s movements on spontaneous interpersonal coordination

J. Exp. Psychol. Gen.

Social postural coordination

J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform.

The antecedents and consequences of human behavioral mimicry

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

Rhythm in joint action: psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms for real-time interpersonal coordination

Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci.

Emotion in the wilds of nature: the coherence and contagion of fear during threatening group-based outdoors experiences

Emotion

Let the weakest link go! Empirical explorations on the relative importance of weak and strong ties on social networking sites

Societies

The mere co-presence: synchronization of autonomic signals and emotional responses across co-present individuals not engaged in direct interaction

PLoS One

Conformity: definitions, types, and evolutionary grounding

The brain’s temporal dynamics from a collective decision to individual action

J. Neurosci.

Following the crowd: brain substrates of long-term memory conformity

Science

Social influence and perceptual decision making

Personal. Soc. Psychol. Bull.

Morality and conformity: the Asch paradigm applied to moral decisions

Soc. Influ.

Embodiment in social psychology

Top. Cogn. Sci.

Mind your mannerisms: behavioral mimicry elicits stereotype conformity

J. Exp. Soc. Psychol.

Thinking inside the box: how conformity promotes creativity and innovation

Creat. Groups

Psychosocial effects of perceived emotional synchrony in collective gatherings

J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.

Face the noise: embodied responses to nonverbal vocalizations of discrete emotions

J. Pers. Soc. Psychol.

The ripple effect: emotional contagion and its influence on group behavior

Adm. Sci. Q.

Too late to coordinate: contextual influences on behavioral synchrony

Eur. J. Soc. Psychol.

A collaborator’s reputation can bias decisions and anxiety under uncertainty

J. Neurosci.

Infants’ and young children’s imitation of linguistic in-group and out-group informants

Child Dev.

Opinion
Herding Brains: A Core Neural Mechanism for Social Alignment