SNS use in individuals from Gen Z, emotional stimuli processing, and its neural correlates. Evidence from the functional near-infrared spectroscopy

This project focuses on the comparisons of the processing of visual (tasks named SIE-T in dataset) vs. linguistic emotional stimuli (tasks named TRE in dataset) and the examination of neural mechanisms underlying this processing in representatives of the Z generation (i.e. born after 1995). we examined 57 participants. We aim to compare affective information processing in the two groups: 1st used SNSs to a very large extent (name of a variable: high SNS), and 2nd, those who use SNS elementary (name of a variable: low SNS). We hypothesize that people representing generation Z perform better visual emotional tasks (name of a variable: SIE-T) than linguistic tasks (name of a variable: TRE). Their emotional competencies such as recognition of emotions and naming affective events are high, however, those competencies which are based on visual stimuli such as recognition of emotions are better than linguistic emotional competencies. Then, based on the data on the association between SNS use and brain activation we expect that SNSs overutilization can differentiate emotional tasks performance and brain activation in persons from Gen Z. We expect there are the differences in activation of frontal, occipital, and temporal cortical regions between two groups, i.e. frequently used of SNSs vs. low use of SNSs. The several techniques have been used: The Scale of Emotional Intelligence - Faces (SIE-T), Emotion Understanding Test (TRE), The Social Network Sites (SNSs) Usage Scale (a variable was named SNS). Cortical activity was measured using fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) with optodes located in the occipital, temporal, and frontal regions. Occipital regions have been excluded from the analysis as the channels registered activation in the occipital areas did not meet the appropriate quality, i.e. we remove channels with a signal-to-noise threshold below 73% (SCI=0.80, PSP=0.10). All cortical areas activated during tasks performance (variables) are labelled as follow dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, frontopolar cortex, ITG –inferior temporal gyrus, MTG - middle temporal gyrus, STG - superior temporal gyrus, Wernicke’s area, Broca’s area, fusiform gyrus, temporopolar area, L - left hemisphere, R - right hemisphere. The file 1 contains raw data with data of behavioral measures. The file 2 contains NIRS data. The number of participants in the second file is lower than in the file 1 because we excludes some NIRS channels which had not appropriate parameters, and thus, some participants were excluded.

本课题聚焦于视觉任务（数据集中命名为SIE-T）与语言情感刺激（数据集中命名为TRE）处理之比较，以及对Z世代（即1995年之后出生的人群）在处理此类任务背后的神经机制进行探讨。本研究共招募了57名参与者。我们的研究目标在于对比两组人群的情感信息处理能力：第一组大量使用社交网络服务（变量名称：高SNS），第二组则仅基础性地使用社交网络服务（变量名称：低SNS）。我们假设代表Z世代的个体在视觉情感任务（变量名称：SIE-T）上的表现优于语言任务（变量名称：TRE）。他们的情感能力，如情感识别和情感事件命名，较为突出，然而，基于视觉刺激的情感能力，例如情感识别，相较于语言情感能力更为优越。在此基础上，基于社交网络使用与大脑激活之间的相关性数据，我们预计社交网络服务的过度使用能够区分Z世代人群在情感任务表现和大脑激活方面的差异。我们预计两组人群在大脑额叶、枕叶和颞叶皮层区域的激活存在差异，即频繁使用社交网络服务与低频使用社交网络服务之间。研究过程中采用了多种技术：情感智力量表-面部表情（SIE-T）、情感理解测试（TRE）、社交网络服务使用量表（变量名称：SNS）。通过位于枕叶、颞叶和额叶区域的光极，利用功能性近红外光谱技术（fNIRS）测量了皮层活动。由于枕叶区域注册的信号质量未达到适宜标准，即信号与噪声比值低于73%（SCI=0.80，PSP=0.10），故将其排除在分析之外。所有在任务执行过程中激活的皮层区域（变量）均被标记如下：背外侧前额叶皮层、眶额叶皮层、前极皮层、ITG-下颞叶回、MTG-中颞叶回、STG-上颞叶回、韦尼克区、布罗卡区、梭状回、颞极区，L-左半球，R-右半球。文件1包含行为测量的原始数据。文件2包含NIRS数据。由于排除了某些参数不合适的NIRS通道，因此文件2中的参与者数量少于文件1。