Exploring Online and Offline Social Hierarchies and their Influence on the Motor Resonance System

Abstract

Previous physiological work has established that factors such as power and status modulate the motor resonance system. Motor resonance is classified as motor activity that occurs during action observation in the absence of action execution. However, no previous work has explored whether these factors have downstream behavioural effects on automatic imitation using a community sample (as opposed to a university student sample). In addition, no prior work has examined whether online social hierarchies (as opposed to real-world social hierarchies) also modulate this system. As such, this dissertation aims to corroborate and extend on previous physiological work in the field and explore whether online status has similar downstream effects on motor resonance compared to previously documented effects of offline (real-world) status using behavioural and physiological methods. In chapters 2-3, I provide evidence from community-based behavioural studies that suggest high socioeconomic status (SES) and high power individuals are less susceptible to automatically imitating “other-oriented” social stimuli compared to their low SES and low power counterparts. In chapters 4-5, I show that Instagram followers exhibit significantly greater motor cortical output (via transcranial magnetic stimulation induced motor-evoked potentials) during action observation compared to Instagram leaders. I also show that this effect can be extended behaviourally using the automatic imitation task, whereby Instagram leaders are less susceptible to automatically imitating “other-oriented” social stimuli compared to Instagram followers. In chapter 6, I begin to explore the effect of online status on behavioural mimicry. I show that Instagram leaders exhibit reduced behavioural mimicry during an online interaction compared to Instagram followers. In the final chapter of this dissertation, I summarize the contributions and limitations of each chapter and recommend future avenues of research. Overall, this dissertation furthers our understanding on how online and offline social hierarchies modulate the motor resonance system using behavioural and physiological methods.