Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human Orbital Prefrontal Cortex and Social Regulation

在国家科学基金会的支持下，比尔女士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调查。 人类的社会互动发生在特定的环境中，其中有规范规定哪些行为是适当的。 先前的研究表明，当个体约束他们的社会行为时，眶前额叶皮层可能会参与其中。 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，这个区域被认为是活跃的。 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， 任何关于自己的信息，是个人传达给另一个人），以及是否眶前额叶皮层是重要的，利用情感信息时，作出社会判断？ Beer和Knight将比较眼眶前额叶皮质受损的个体和眼眶前额叶皮质完整的个体。 两组人都会被一个陌生人问一系列的个人问题，然后观看一盘关于这种互动的录像带。 如果眶前额叶皮质参与约束符合社会规范的社会行为，那么眶前额叶皮质受损的群体会比健康群体不恰当地表达情绪并透露更多的个人信息。同样，如果眶前额叶皮层参与了将情绪信息应用于社会判断的过程，那么眶前额叶皮层受损的那组人在观看了他们的社会互动录像带后，就会对自己的行为做出不准确的判断。这项研究可能会增加有关情绪调节，自我表露和情绪信息应用于行为判断的大脑基础的知识。 这些行为和大脑功能在个人和社会生活中发挥着重要作用。

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.