A Common Cortical Metric for Spatial, Temporal, and Social Distance
A Common Cortical Metric for Spatial, Temporal, and Social Distance
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DOI：
10.1523/jneurosci.2159-13.2014
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发表时间：
2014-01-29
影响因子：
5.3
通讯作者：
Wheatley, Thalia
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Parkinson, Carolyn;Liu, Shari;Wheatley, Thalia
距离不仅仅描述物理空间：我们谈论亲密的朋友和遥远的亲戚，以及不久的将来和遥远的过去。这些无处不在的空间隐喻是偶然出现在语言中，还是因为它们植根于共同的神经计算？为了解决这个问题，我们使用统计模式识别技术来分析人类功能磁共振成像数据。首先，训练机器学习算法以基于来自一个距离域（例如，在空间距离试验中相对靠近或远离观察者的物体的照片）。接下来，我们测试了从这种训练中生成的决策边界是否可以根据两个独立距离域中的每一个内的相对自我中心距离来区分大脑反应（例如，在时间距离试验中指最近或更遥远的未来的短语;在社交距离试验中参与者的朋友或熟人的照片）。使用距离域的所有可能组合重复该过程以训练和测试分类器。在所有情况下，在右顶下小叶（IPL）的距离域上的机会解码是可能的。此外，该脑区的表征相似性结构反映了参与者自己对空间距离、时间快度和社会熟悉度的判断。因此，正确的IPL可能包含在空间、时间和社会参考框架中接近自我的简约编码。
Distance describes more than physical space: we speak of close friends and distant relatives, and of the near future and distant past. Did these ubiquitous spatial metaphors arise in language coincidentally or did they arise because they are rooted in a common neural computation? To address this question, we used statistical pattern recognition techniques to analyze human fMRI data. First, a machine learning algorithm was trained to discriminate patterns of fMRI responses based on relative egocentric distance within trials from one distance domain (e.g., photographs of objects relatively close to or far away from the viewer in spatial distance trials). Next, we tested whether the decision boundary generated from this training could distinguish brain responses according to relative egocentric distance within each of two separate distance domains (e.g., phrases referring to the immediate or more remote future within temporal distance trials; photographs of participants' friends or acquaintances within social distance trials). This procedure was repeated using all possible combinations of distance domains for training and testing the classifier. In all cases, above-chance decoding across distance domains was possible in the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Furthermore, the representational similarity structure within this brain area reflected participants' own judgments of spatial distance, temporal soon-ness, and social familiarity. Thus, the right IPL may contain a parsimonious encoding of proximity to self in spatial, temporal, and social frames of reference.