Ventromedial prefrontal volume predicts understanding of others and social network size.
Ventromedial prefrontal volume predicts understanding of others and social network size.
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.030
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发表时间：
2011-08-15
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Dunbar RI
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Lewis PA;Rezaie R;Brown R;Roberts N;Dunbar RI
认知能力，如心理理论(Tom)，以及更普遍的心智能力，是人类社会性的核心。神经成像已将这些能力与特定的大脑区域联系起来，包括颞顶交界处、颞上沟、额极和腹内侧额前皮质。以前的研究已经表明，将能力转化为正确理解他人信仰状态的能力与社会网络规模有关，而社会群体规模与灵长类物种的额叶体积相关(社会大脑假说)。有鉴于此，我们预测，心智能力和一个人可以同时维持的社会关系的数量，都将是与传统心理理论相关的这些区域中灰质体积的函数。我们使用基于体素的磁共振成像(MRI)形态计量学在人类身上验证了这一假设。具体地说，我们将个体的心理能力和社交网络规模与灰质体积进行了回归。结果表明，双侧额后极、左侧顶叶交界处和颞叶上腔灰质体积随脑化能力的变化呈参数变化。此外，内侧眼眶额叶皮质和内侧额回腹侧部分的灰质体积随心智能力和社会网络规模的不同而参数变化，表明这些非常不同的社交方面具有共同的神经基础。这些发现为社会性大脑假说提供了第一个精细的解剖学支持。因此，它们对我们理解限制人类社会认知和社会网络大小的限制，以及我们理解这些能力是如何在灵长类动物中进化的具有重要意义。
Cognitive abilities such as Theory of Mind (ToM), and more generally mentalizing competences, are central to human sociality. Neuroimaging has associated these abilities with specific brain regions including temporo-parietal junction, superior temporal sulcus, frontal pole, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Previous studies have shown both that mentalizing competence, indexed as the ability to correctly understand others’ belief states, is associated with social network size and that social group size is correlated with frontal lobe volume across primate species (the social brain hypothesis). Given this, we predicted that both mentalizing competences and the number of social relationships a person can maintain simultaneously will be a function of grey matter volume in these regions associated with conventional theory of mind. We used voxel-based morphometry of Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) to test this hypothesis in humans. Specifically, we regressed individuals’ mentalizing competences and social network sizes against grey matter volume. This revealed that grey matter volume in bilateral posterior frontal pole and left temporoparietal junction and superior temporal sucus varies parametrically with mentalizing competence. Furthermore, grey matter volume in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the ventral portion of medial frontal gyrus, varied parametrically with both mentalizing competence and social network size, demonstrating a shared neural basis for these very different facets of sociality. These findings provide the first fine-grained anatomical support for the social brain hypothesis. As such, they have important implications for our understanding of the constraints limiting social cognition and social network size in humans, as well as for our understanding of how such abilities evolved across primates.
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影响因子：
3.2
作者：
German, TP;Niehaus, JL;Miller, MB
通讯作者：
Miller, MB
DOI：
10.1098/rstb.2006.2001
发表时间：
2007-04-29
影响因子：
6.3
作者：
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通讯作者：
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2007.0564
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2007-09-07
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1.7
作者：
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作者：
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Fekete, S.