The Visuo-attentional Mediator of Social Facilitation (VAMOS)

Social psychology has long established that the mere presence of others influences the investigator's individual behavior and performance. "Social facilitation" refers to any improvement or deterioration of performance due to the presence of others. For more than a century, social psychology has acquired a solid knowledge of the principles governing this fundamental form of social influence.

But the underlying mechanism of social facilitation remains debated, as behavior alone cannot identify it with certainty. This major unresolved problem makes it particularly difficult to translate laboratory results on social facilitation into real applications in areas such as school or work, where others are ubiquitous. The purpose of this study will therefore be to identify the mediator of social facilitation.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Social Facilitation
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Social Facilitation

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 43
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Bron, France, 69500
    • Centre de Recherche en Neuroscience de Lyon

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 35 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male or female
• Aged 18 to 35 years old
• Signed written informed consent
• Insurance coverage

Exclusion Criteria:

• Neurological or psychiatric or ophthalmological disorder
• Non-stabilized medical condition

• Ongoing treatment with drugs that affect the central nervous system

  • Uncorrected visual inadequacy
  • No fluency in French reading
  • Pregnant and / or breastfeeding woman, this exclusion criterion will be sought by questioning the subject
  • Subject commonly in care in a health or social facility for purposes other than that of research
  • Subject under guardianship
  • Subject deprived of liberty by a judicial or administrative decision
  • Incompatibility with the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examination determined by answering the following questions:
• Carrier of a neurological stimulator, cardiac (battery) or defibrillator
• Carrier of a cardiac prosthesis (valve, stent ...) or vascular
• Holder of intracranial clips or clamps (staples)
• Carrier of a cerebrospinal fluid bypass
• Presence of metal chips in the eyes
• Metal prosthesis carrier (teeth, knees)
• Pump carrier or infusion system
• Presence of metal tattoo near the head
• Presence of permanent makeup
• Claustrophobia or respiratory disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Social Facilitation; Cognitive tasks during the 2 functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) observed or not by a subject's known peer.	Behavioral: Social Facilitation; During the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans, the subject will perform cognitive tasks measuring eye movements and attention alternatively observed by a familiar peer (in an adjacent room) or not.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain activation	Cerebral Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent (BOLD) signals	50 minutes

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Behavioral performances	pupillary diameter	50 minutes
Behavioral performances	error rate	50 minutes
Behavioral performances	reaction time	50 minutes
Behavioral performances	oculomotor kinematic parameters: velocity of saccades.	50 minutes
Behavioral performances	oculomotor kinematic parameters: duration of saccades.	50 minutes
Behavioral performances	oculomotor kinematic parameters: precision of saccades.	50 minutes

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Denis PELISSON, Centre de Recherche en Neuroscience de Lyon

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Tricoche L, Royer d'Halluin M, Meunier M, Pelisson D. Neural bases of social facilitation and inhibition: how peer presence affects elementary eye movements. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2025 Jun 17;20(1):nsae079. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsae079.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 16, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): May 18, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): May 18, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 12, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 25, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): April 26, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 3, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 26, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Healthy Subjects; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Social Behavior; Social Facilitation
• Other Study ID Numbers: 69HCL19_0268; 2019-A01027-50 (Other Identifier: ID-RCB)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No