Mapping the social brain with fMRI and interactive games

人类社会行为的神经生物学知识仍处于初级阶段。在国家科学基金会的资助下，里林博士和他的同事们将进行一系列实验，为社会认知神经科学这个年轻但快速增长的领域做出贡献。功能磁共振成像(FMRI)将被用来监测参与真正社交活动的人的大脑功能。这将通过一个已经研究了几十年的简单互动游戏--囚犯困境(PD)游戏来实现，以及一个允许核磁共振扫描仪中的受试者查看未扫描的伴侣的行为并对其做出反应的计算机界面。该项目的主要目标是继续了解社会合作和不合作的神经生物学。这将涉及对亲社会情绪的神经基础的实验，这种情绪有助于维持和加强合作，如同志情谊和信任。这项研究还将让我们了解大脑如何正常运作，以维持有益的人际关系。将进行四个实验，以解决以下相关问题：1)对相互合作做出反应的大脑奖赏区域的激活(先前观察到的)是否依赖于伴随的金钱收益，或者奖励是否纯粹是社会性质的；2)对相互合作的神经反应是否在属于共同的、统一的组与不同的组中不同；3)男性和女性对相互合作的神经反应是否不同；4)决策过程中的激活是否可以预测受试者的合作；以及5)使用欺骗来实现更大的实验控制是否会影响结果。该项目的更广泛影响之一是，了解大脑如何正常运作以维持有益的人际关系，将为患有社交行为障碍(如自闭症、品行障碍或社交异常)的患者提供大脑系统故障位置的线索。这个项目可以揭示友情和社会纽带的神经关联，它们偶尔会在帮派暴力、战争、种族灭绝等社会破坏性行为中表现出来。

Knowledge of the neurobiology of human social behavior is still in its infancy. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Rilling and colleagues will conduct a series of experiments that will contribute to the young but rapidly growing field known as social cognitive neuroscience. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to monitor brain function in people engaged in genuine social interactions. This will be accomplished with a simple interactive game that has been studied for decades, the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) Game, and a computer interface that allows subjects in the MRI scanner to view and respond to a non-scanned partner's behavior. The primary goal of the project is to continue to understand the neurobiology of social cooperation and non-cooperation. This will involve experiments on the neural bases of the prosocial emotions, emotions that help to sustain and reinforce cooperation, such as camaraderie and trust. The research will also inform our knowledge of how the brain normally functions to maintain beneficial interpersonal relationships. Four experiments will be conducted that will address the following related questions: 1) Whether activation of brain reward areas in response to mutual cooperation (observed previously) is dependent on accompanying monetary gains, or whether the reward is purely social in nature; 2) Whether the neural response to mutual cooperation differs for individuals belonging to a common, unifying group vs. different groups; 3) Whether men and women differ in their neural response to mutual cooperation; 4) Whether activation during decision-making can predict subjects' cooperation; and 5) Whether using deception to achieve greater experimental control affects results. Among the broader impacts of this project is the possibility that understanding how the brain normally functions to maintain beneficial interpersonal relationships will provide clues as to the location of brain system malfunctions in patients with social behavioral disorders, such as autism, conduct disorder, or sociopathy. This project can shed light on the neural correlates of camaraderie and social bonding, which can occasionally manifest themselves in socially destructive behaviors such as gang violence, warfare, genocide.