Reason Explanation For Reconciliation? The Buffering Effect Of Contextual Cues On The Negative Effects Of Partner Phubbing

Based on symbolic interaction theory,the partner’s phubbing brings about a series of negative interaction perceptions and emotional experiences for the phubbee because the person defines the situation as the other person not being fully engaged in the interaction,or the other person is more interested in his or her device than in himself or herself in the present interaction.Contextual definitions are based on contextual cues,and contextual cues play an important role in this,so this study selected two variables,verbal cues(in the form of explanations of why)and non-verbal cues(in the form of mobile phone use),to investigate whether they buffered the negative effects of partner phubbing on the interaction and emotions of the phubbee.At the same time,researchers have mostly examined partner phubbing at the behavioural level,and the underlying neural mechanisms of the behaviour are unclear.Therefore,to address these issues,the present study investigates the role of contextual cues on the negative effects of partner phubbing at both the behavioural and cognitive neural levels,in order to investigate the cognitive neural mechanisms of partner phubbing in a comprehensive and dynamic manner,and to help researchers further understand phubbing in intimate relationships.In Experiment 1,the researchers explored the buffering effect of contextual cues on the negative effects of partner’s phubbing.A total of 194 participants were recruited for the experiment,and the researcher created five experimental conditions regarding the type of mobile phone use(active,reactive)and the form of explanation of cause(verbal explanation,screen sharing).Participants were randomly assigned to groups of five experimental conditions to complete different imagery tasks in order to investigate whether there were differences in the effects of partner’s phubbing on the perceived quality of interaction,feelings of rejection and emotional state of the chilled person in the five different experimental conditions.The results found that participants who used their phones reactively reported better interaction experiences and emotional feelings compared to the active phone use group.Participants in the screen interpretation group reported better interactive experiences and emotional feelings compared to the verbal interpretation group.This suggests that contextual cues have a buffering effect on the negative effects of partner’s phubbing.Based on Experiment 1,Experiment 2 explored the role of verbal contextual cues(reason explanations)in partner phubbing and their underlying neural mechanisms using functional near-infrared spectroscopy(f NIRS)-based hyperscanning based on partner interactions in real-life situations.A total of 60 couples were recruited,of which 54 were valid participants.The pairs were randomly assigned to three groups: the verbal explanation group,the screen-sharing group and the phubbing group.It was found that during the cause explanation phase,subjects in the verbal explanation group had significantly higher blood oxygen activation in the right temporoparietal joint area than in the screen explanation group.During the second interaction phase,the verbal explanation group showed significantly higher oxygen activation in the right temporoparietal joint area than the screen explanation group and the head-down group.Only the screen interpretation group showed a significant increase in interbrain synchrony in the right temporoparietal joint area during the cause interpretation and second interaction phase,and a resurgence of interbrain synchrony was observed,indicating that cause interpretation through shared screens was a better form of cause interpretation,but the quality of the interaction restored did not reach the level prior to the phubbing,implying that the effects of partner phubbing on the interaction were often irreversible.In addition to this,the results show that interbrain synchrony in the right prefrontal cortex and right temporoparietal association area is significantly and positively correlated with the quality of interactions reported by the participants.Overall,this study found that contextual cues buffered the negative effects of partner phubbing on the phubbee,and further research found that even if this negative effect could be buffered or repaired,the quality of the interaction was difficult to restore to the initial state level.In addition,it was verified that the right temporoparietal association area and the right prefrontal cortex are brain areas associated with theory of mind.It was also verified that synchrony in brain regions associated with theory of mind is a neural indicator of effective interaction between partners.