Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human Orbital Prefrontal Cortex and Social Regulation

在美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的支持下，比尔女士和她的导师奈特博士将对可能与成功的社会互动有关的大脑区域进行为期一年的调查。人类的社会互动发生在特定的环境中，在这些环境中有规范规定哪些行为是适当的。先前的研究表明，当个体约束自己的社会行为时，眶前额叶皮层可能会参与其中。这个区域被认为是活跃的，当个人抑制自己的情绪行为或使用情绪信息作出社会判断。在两项研究中，Beer和Knight将研究眶前额叶皮层是否介导情绪调节（即控制情绪表达的能力），眶前额叶皮层的调节过程是否延伸到自我表露（即个人与他人交流的任何关于自己的信息），以及眶前额叶皮层在做出社会判断时是否对利用情绪信息很重要？Beer和Knight将眼眶前额皮质受损的个体与眼眶前额皮质完好的个体进行比较。两组参与者都将被一个陌生人问一系列私人问题，然后观看这一互动的录像带。如果眶额叶前部皮层参与按照社会规范约束社会行为，眶额叶前部皮层损伤组会比健康组不恰当地表达情绪和披露更多的个人信息。同样，如果眶前额叶皮层参与将情绪信息应用于社会判断，眶前额叶皮层受损的小组在观看社交互动录像后会对自己的行为做出不准确的判断。这项研究可能会增加对情绪调节、自我表露和情绪信息应用于行为判断的大脑基础的认识。这些行为和大脑功能在个人和社会生活中起着重要作用。

With National Science Foundation support, Ms. Beer and her advisor Dr. Knight will conduct a year-long investigation of brain areas that may be involved in successful social interaction. Human social interaction occurs in specific contexts in which there are norms dictating which behaviors are appropriate. Previous research suggests that the orbital prefrontal cortex may be involved when individuals restrain their social behavior. This area is thought to be active when individuals inhibit their emotional behavior or use emotional information to make social judgments. In two studies, Beer and Knight will examine whether orbital prefrontal cortex mediates emotional regulation (i.e., the ability to control the expression of emotion), whether the regulatory processes of orbital prefrontal cortex extend to self-disclosure (i.e., any information about oneself that is personally communicated to another individual), and whether the orbital prefrontal cortex is important for utilizing emotional information when making social judgments? Beer and Knight will compare individuals with orbital prefrontal cortex damage to individuals with intact orbital prefrontal cortex. Both groups will be asked a series of personal questions by a stranger and subsequently watch a videotape of this interaction. If the orbital prefrontal cortex is involved in restraining social behavior in accordance with social norms, the group with orbital prefrontal cortex damage will inappropriately express emotion and disclose more personal information than the healthy group. Similarly, if the orbital prefrontal cortex is involved in applying emotion information to social judgments, the group with orbital prefrontal cortex damage will inaccurately judge their behavior after watching the videotape of their social interaction. This research is likely to increase knowledge about the brain basis of emotional regulation, self-disclosure, and the application of emotional information to behavioral judgments. These behavioral and brain functions have significant roles in personal and social life.