We study sales presentation anxiety (SPA) using multilevel analysis of a quasi-natural field experiment: the final exam of an executive training course where sales professionals (n = 128) compete in teams to present an account plan to a critical audience who then ask questions and evaluate their performance. The best team is announced the winner of the competition. Compared to pre-presentation levels, overall cortisol (C) levels first increased after the question period and subsequently decreased 20 and 50 minutes after, indicating a relatively fast recovery rate. Negative significant correlations were found between self-reported experience of stress and C levels in periods 3 and 4 which might indicate affect labeling, a coping technique that focuses on the underlying physiological response. Using two candidate genes, DRD2 and DRD4, we investigated associations between C levels in the four periods. Carriers of DRD2 Taq A1+ and DRD4 7R+ alleles had lower C levels compared to non-carriers, both right after the question period and 20 minutes later which might indicate flexibility in using coping strategies involving distraction from the task. The gained insights reveal that SPA entails multilevel processes that affect one another reciprocally.

Fragile X syndrome is the most common monogenetic form of intellectual disability and autism. Although the Fmr1 knockout mouse model recapitulates many aspects of the human FXS condition, the establishment of robust social behavioural phenotypes suitable for drug screening has been difficult. Here, we describe a novel social behavioural paradigm, the Automated Tube Test (ATT), for which Fmr1 knockout mice demonstrate a highly reliable and robust phenotype. Fmr1 KO mice show highly dominant behaviour over wild-type littermates in the ATT. Consistent with previous findings, we observed a highly significant, albeit partial, rescue of the altered social behaviour of Fmr1 knockout mice in the ATT, using genetic (mGluR5 deletion) or pharmacological inhibition (mGluR5 antagonist) of mGluR5 signalling independently. Together, our results validate the Automated Tube Test as a robust outcome measure for social behaviour in preclinical research for FXS, and confirm the pathophysiological relevance of mGluR5 signalling. Moreover, our findings highlight the strategy of initiating pharmacological intervention in adulthood as holding significant clinical potential.

Managers increasingly realize the importance of involving the sales force in new product development. However, despite recent progress, research on the specific role of the sales force in product innovation-related activities remains scarce. In particular, the importance of a salespersons' internal knowledge brokering has been neglected. This study develops and empirically validates the concept of internal knowledge brokering behavior and its effect on selling new products and developing new business, and explores whether a salesperson's internal brokering qualities are determined by biological traits. The findings reveal that salespeople with the DRD2A1 gene variant engage at significant lower levels of internal knowledge-brokering behavior than salespeople without this gene variant, and as a result are less likely to engage effectively in new product selling. The DRD4 gene variant had no effect on internal knowledge brokering. Management and future research implications are discussed.

TWO CLASSIC STRATEGIC ORIENTATIONS HAVE BEEN FOUND TO PERVADE THE BEHAVIOR OF MODERN SALESPERSONS: a sales orientation (SO) where salespersons use deception or guile to get customers to buy even if they do not need a product, and a customer orientation (CO) where salespersons first attempt to discover the customer's needs and adjust their product and selling approach to meet those needs. Study 1 replicates recent research and finds that the Taq A1 variant of the DRD2 gene is not related to either sales or CO, whereas the 7-repeat variant of the DRD4 gene is related to CO but not SO. Study 2 investigates gene × phenotype explanations of orientation of salespersons, drawing upon recent research in molecular genetics and biological/psychological attachment theory. The findings show that attachment style regulates the effects of DRD2 on CO, such that greater avoidant attachment styles lead to higher CO for persons with the A2/A2 variant but neither the A1/A2 nor A1/A1 variants. Likewise, attachment style regulates the effects of DRD4 on CO, such that greater avoidant attachment styles lead to higher CO for persons with the 7-repeat variant but not other variants. No effects were found on a SO, and secure and anxious attachment styles did not function as moderators.

The establishment of social hierarchies is a naturally occurring, evolutionarily conserved phenomenon with a well-established impact on fitness and health. Investigations of complex social group dynamics may offer novel opportunities for translational studies of autism spectrum disorder. Here we describe a robust behavioral paradigm using an automated version of the tube test. Isogenic groups of male and female mice establish linear social hierarchies that remain highly stable for at least 14 days, the longest interval tested. Remarkably, however, their social strategy is sex-specific: females primarily utilize intrinsic attributes, whereas males are strongly influenced by prior social experience. Using both genetic and pharmacological manipulations, we identify testosterone as a critical sex-specific factor for determining which social strategy is used. Males inheriting a null mutation of the sex-determining region Y (Sry) gene used a similar social cognitive strategy as females. In contrast, females with transgenic expression of Sry utilized a typically male social strategy. Analogously, castration of males and testosterone supplementation of females yielded similar outcomes, with a reversal of their social cognitive strategy. Together, our results demonstrate a sex-specific mechanism underlying social hierarchy, in which both males and females retain the functional capacity to adapt their social strategy. More generally, we expect the automated tube test to provide an important complementary approach for both fundamental and translational studies of social behavior.

Polymorphisms of the OXTR gene affect people's social interaction styles in various social encounters: carriers of the OXTR GG, compared to the OXTR AA/AG in general, are more motivated to interact socially and detect social salience. We focus on sales professionals operating in knowledge intensive organizations. Study 1, with a sample of 141 sales people, shows that carriers of the OXTR GG allele, compared to the OXTR AA/AG allele, are more motivated to help customers than to manipulatively impose goods/services on them. Study 2, using genomic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on a sample of 21 sales professionals processing facial pictures with different emotional valences, investigates key nuclei of social brain regions (SBRs). Compared to OXTR AA/AG carriers, OXTR GG carriers experience greater effective connectivity between SBRs of interest measured by Granger causality tests using univariate Haugh tests. In addition, the multivariate El-Himdi and Roy tests demonstrate that the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and pars opercularis (inferior frontal gyrus) play key roles when processing emotional expressions. The bilateral amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) show significantly greater clout—influence on other brain regions—for GG allele carriers than non-carriers; likewise, the bilateral pars opercularis, left amygdala, and left mPFC are more receptive to activity in other brain regions among GG allele carriers than AG/AA allele carriers are. Thus, carriers of the OXTR GG allele are more sensitive to changes in emotional cues, enhancing social salience. To our knowledge, this is the first study on how insights from imaging genetics help understanding of the social motivation of people operating in a professional setting.

We study theory of mind (ToM) and empathic underpinnings of Machiavellianism by use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, where account managers are used as participants in 3 studies. Study 1 finds evidence for activation of the medial prefrontal cortex, left and right temporo-parietal junction, and left and right precuneus regions; all five regions are negatively correlated with Machiavellianism, suggesting that Machiavellians are less facile than non-Machiavellians with ToM skills. Study 2 presents evidence for activation of the left and right pars opercularis, left and right insula, and left precuneus regions; the former four regions of the motor neuron system were positively associated, and the latter negatively associated, with Machiavellianism, implying that Machiavellians resonate more readily with the emotions of others than non-Machiavellians. This is the first study to our knowledge to show a negative correlation between perspective taking and emotional sharing in empathic processes in general and Machiavellianism in particular. Study 3 tests implications of managerial control on both performance and organizational citizenship behaviors, as moderated by Machiavellianism in the field. Our study grounds the functioning of Machiavellianism in organizations in basic neuroscience processes, resolves some long-standing ambiguities with self-report investigations, and points to conditions under which Machiavellianism both inhibits and promotes performance and citizenship behavior.

We explore genetic and neurological bases for customer orientation (CO) and contrast them with sales orientation (SO). Study 1 is a field study that establishes that CO, but not SO, leads to greater opportunity recognition. Study 2 examines genetic bases for CO and finds that salespeople with CO are more likely to have the 7R variant of the DRD4 gene. This is consistent with basic research on dopamine receptor activity in the brain that underlies novelty seeking, the reward function, and risk taking. Study 3 examines the neural basis of CO and finds that salespeople with CO, but not SO, experience greater activation of their mirror neuron systems and neural processes associated with empathy. Managerial and research implications are discussed.

Several studies indicate that the cerebellum might play a role in experiencing and/or controlling emphatic emotions, but it remains to be determined whether there is a distinction between positive and negative emotions, and, if so, which specific parts of the cerebellum are involved in these types of emotions. Here, we visualized activations of the cerebellum and extracerebellar regions using high-field fMRI, while we asked participants to observe and imitate images with pictures of human faces expressing different emotional states or with moving geometric shapes as control. The state of the emotions could be positive (happiness and surprise), negative (anger and disgust), or neutral. The positive emotional faces only evoked mild activations of crus 2 in the cerebellum, whereas the negative emotional faces evoked prominent activations in lobules VI and VIIa in its hemispheres and lobules VIII and IX in the vermis. The cerebellar activations associated with negative emotions occurred concomitantly with activations of mirror neuron domains such as the insula and amygdala. These data suggest that the potential role of the cerebellum in control of emotions may be particularly relevant for goal-directed behavior that is required for observing and reacting to another person's (negative) expressions.

University of MichiganMachiavellianism is a personality style marked by the use of such tactics as deceptionand manipulation so as to perform well and achieve power, status, or material wealth.Based on the assumption that Machiavellians are very sensitive to status seeking insocial contexts, which leads over time to changes in neuroplasticity, we hypothesizeand Þnd that salespeople who score high versus low on the Mach IV Machiavellianismscale exhibit changes in gray matter volume in the following brain regions: basalganglia, prefrontal cortex, insula, and hippocampus. A Voxel-Based Morphometry(VBM) advanced MRI technique is used to test the hypothesis on a sample of 43healthy salespeople. Conjectures are made on the linkage between social psychologicalresearch on Machiavellianism and neuroscience research on the brain regions inquestion as they relate to social behavior.Keywords:

It is considered one of the biggest challenges neuroscientists face at present, and progress is only made slowly, but step by step we are getting closer to unraveling the neural representation of a memory: how the brain encodes information. The brain represents an interconnected neural circuit of several systems, which each have their own functions. Besides the unmatched qualities of the human brain, there are some operations for which the human brain performs relatively poorly compared to computers. While information storage capabilities are improving rapidly on computers, the brain seems to fall short compared to the enormous amounts of data that can be stored on even a simple NAND flash memory chip. Looking further into the strengths and weaknesses of the human brain provides some clues as to how the brain might inspire microelectronics engineers in trying to develop next-generation memory devices. Controlled Vocabulary Terms brain; integrated memory circuits