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Although decision-making processes are typically studied with isolated individuals in the laboratory to control external factors, we mostly make decisions in a social environment in the presence of other individuals. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of social conditions on individuals' decision-making performance in economic and moral contexts. Forty-four pairs of participants of the same gender (42 females and 46 males) constituted the sample for this study. Each pair was required to complete both economic and moral tasks under three types of social conditions, namely, “individual,” “joint,” and “joint with gaze-cueing.” Furthermore, eye- and mouse-tracking technologies were utilized to record the participants' responses to the decision tasks. We hypothesized that even a minimal social context would influence people's decisions, as manifested in their gaze and mouse responses. The results revealed that the minimalist social condition in which participants do not communicate or interact with each other affected their decision-making performance. The interplay among social conditions, diverse task types, and stimuli type were identified as some of the factors that impact the decision-making process in this setting.

Existing studies in cognitive neuroscience predominantly focus on a single participant’s behavioral and brain re-sponses. Lack of an interactive context for joint action particularly limited social neuroscience studies to simulated socialcontexts. Advances in portable brain imaging technologies have made it practical to simultaneously monitor the brain activityof two or more people in an interactive context to investigate neural correlates of social interaction. In this study, the rela-tionship between behavioral synchrony and inter-brain coherence is investigated during simultaneous reading of matching andmismatching sentences in different auditory conditions. A dual-fNIRS hyperscanning setup was used to obtain simultaneousrecordings of hemodynamic activity from the prefrontal cortices of the participants while they jointly read-aloud the sentencesdisplayed on their screens. The results suggest that the level of inter-brain coherence in the right superior cortex tends toincrease depending on the level of behavioral synchrony among the participants.

Existing neuroimaging studies in decision makingpredominantly employ the fMRI method. Despite its superiorspatial resolution, fMRI is an expensive and impracticalneuroimaging technology for purchasing behavior studies inthe field. This study aims to explore the role of prefrontalcortex during purchasing behavior by utilizing functional nearinfrared(fNIR) spectroscopy; a low-cost, non-invasive andportable optical brain imaging methodology. The findingssuggest that fNIRS can be effectively used for developing aneuro-physiologically informed, predictive model ofpurchasing behavior based on multivariate effects ofactivations in frontopolar, dorso-medial and dorso-lateralprefrontal cortex.

Supramolecular polymer gels show promise for use in batteries, supercapacitors, and multifunctional sensors. However, their poor stiffness and ionic conductivity hinder their large‐scale utilization. Herein, a cellulose‐based supramolecular bio‐polymer gel (SBPG) with high ionic conductivity and exceptional stiffness is reported. These properties are translated into proof‐of‐concept iontronic pressure sensors with an ultra‐high sensitivity of 1 475 000 kPa−1. The technological potential is demonstrated via fabrication of a prototype smart glove using only eight pressure sensors based on this novel gel. Smart glove sensors with 90% classification accuracy for object recognition are demonstrated using a tactile feedback algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to collaborate effectively in group discourse on a topic like mathematical patterns, group participants must organize their activities in ways that share the significance of their utterances, inscriptions, and behaviors. Here, we report the results of a ethnomethodological case study of collaborative math problem-solving activities mediated by a synchronous multimodal online environment. We investigate the moment-by-moment details of the interaction practices through which participants organize their chat utterances and whiteboard actions as a coherent whole. This approach to analysis foregrounds the sequentiality of action and the implicit referencing of meaning making--fundamental features of interaction. In particular, we observe that the sequential construction of shared drawings and the deictic references that link chat messages to features of those drawings and to prior chat content are instrumental in the achievement of intersubjectivity among group members' understandings. We characterize this precondition of collaboration as the co-construction of an indexical field that functions as a common ground for group cognition. Our analysis reveals methods by which the group co-constructs meaningful inscriptions in the dual-interaction spaces of its CSCL environment. The integration of graphical, narrative, and symbolic semiotic modalities in this manner also facilitates joint problem solving. It allows group members to invoke and operate with multiple realizations of their mathematical artifacts, a characteristic of deep learning of mathematics.

Coding interactional data for statistical analysis presents theoretical, methodological and practical challenges. Coding schemes rely on categories that are decided by their relevance to the analytical problem under investigation. We suggest that (1) endogenous and publicly displayed concerns of participants provide for the observable organisation and achievement of participation, and (2) these observable features of interaction constitute appropriate data for analysis. We identify coding categories using conversation analysis that are consistent with and are constitutive of the production of the local order of interaction. Coding is based on observed units of interaction. With the approach we are developing, we believe that statistical analysis will be more parsimonious and produce a more precise description of group process and interaction.