Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human Orbital Prefrontal Cortex and Social Regulation

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，比尔和她的顾问奈特博士将对可能参与成功社交的大脑区域进行为期一年的研究。人类的社会互动发生在特定的语境中，在这种语境中，有规范规定哪些行为是适当的。先前的研究表明，当个体抑制他们的社交行为时，眼眶前额叶皮质可能参与其中。当个体抑制自己的情绪行为或使用情绪信息做出社会判断时，这一区域被认为是活跃的。在两项研究中，比尔和奈特将研究眼眶前额叶皮质是否介导情绪调节(即控制情绪表达的能力)，眼眶前额叶皮质的调节过程是否延伸到自我表露(即任何关于自己的信息，即与另一个人个人交流的任何信息)，以及眼眶前额叶皮质对于在做出社交判断时利用情绪信息是否重要？比尔和奈特将把眼眶前额叶皮质受损的个体与眼眶前额叶皮质完好的个体进行比较。这两组人都会被陌生人问到一系列私人问题，然后观看互动的录像带。如果眼眶前额叶皮质按照社会规范参与抑制社会行为，眼眶前额叶皮质受损组会比健康组不适当地表达情绪，泄露更多的个人信息。同样，如果眼眶前额叶皮质参与将情绪信息应用于社交判断，那么眼眶前额叶皮质受损的群体在观看了他们的社交互动录像带后，将不准确地判断他们的行为。这项研究可能会增加关于情绪调节、自我表露和情绪信息在行为判断中的应用的大脑基础的知识。这些行为和大脑功能在个人和社会生活中扮演着重要角色。

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.