Collaborative Research: Orbitofrontal Cortex and Emotion-Cognition Interactions

尽管我们经常认为情绪是理性的敌人，但科学家最近发现，情绪有时有助于决策。例如，如果你前面的车突然刹车，你可能会感到一阵恐惧。恐惧的感觉表明必须迅速采取行动以避免伤害。另一方面，毫无根据的恐惧可能会促使人们做出决定，避免出现其他有益的情况。例如，一个害羞的学生可能不会从课堂讨论中受益，因为他们太害怕说话了。大脑如何计算哪些情绪对决策有帮助，以及何时应该抑制或整合情绪的影响？这个项目的目标是了解大脑如何代表(A)有益和有害的情绪，以及(B)纳入和抑制情绪对决策的影响。在国家科学基金会的支持下，德克萨斯大学的詹妮弗·比尔和加州大学伯克利分校的罗伯特·奈特将通过对健康人进行平行的神经成像(功能磁共振成像)研究，以及对假设与情绪和抑制有关的区域(即额叶的特定亚区)的脑损伤患者进行行为研究，来解决这些问题。这些研究将为人类志愿者提供被指定为有助于或有害于后续决定的情绪刺激。这些研究系统地评估了情绪对支持决策的一些计算的影响：对风险的感知、注意力以及对决策的考虑程度。神经成像研究将测试代表(A)有益和有害情绪以及(B)纳入和抑制情绪对决策影响的大脑区域。对脑损伤患者的研究将测试受损区域是否对这些过程是必要的。这项工作将导致对人类大脑如何表达情绪信息及其在决策中的作用有更全面的了解。这项研究可能会导致新的决策模式，这将对经济学和心理学等认知神经科学以外的学科产生重大影响。这项研究的资金将用于支持本科生和研究生在社会心理学、认知神经科学和脑成像方面的研究培训机会。项目成果将通过出版物和演示文稿向科学和非专业受众传播。

Although we often think of emotion as the foe of reason, scientists have recently discovered that emotions are sometimes helpful for decision-making. For example, if the car in front of you suddenly brakes, you may feel a jolt of fear. The feeling of fear signals that something must be done quickly to avoid harm. On the other hand, unwarranted fear may motivate the decision to avoid an otherwise rewarding situation. For example, a shy student may not benefit from a class discussion because they are too afraid to speak up. How does the brain compute which emotions are helpful for decision-making and when the influence of emotion should be suppressed or integrated? The goals of this project are to understand how the brain represents (a) helpful and hurtful emotions and (b) the incorporation and inhibition of emotional influences on decision-making. With support from the National Science Foundation, Jennifer Beer at the University of Texas and Robert Knight at the University of California, Berkeley will address these questions by conducting parallel neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) studies of healthy individuals and behavioral studies of patients with brain damage in regions that are hypothesized to be involved in emotion and inhibition (i.e., specific subregions of the frontal lobes). The studies will present human volunteers with emotional stimuli that are designated as helpful or hurtful for a subsequent decision. The studies systematically assess the influence of emotions on a number of computations that support decision-making: perceptions of risk, attention, and how deeply the decision is considered. The neuroimaging studies will test for brain regions that represent (a) helpful and hurtful emotion and (b) the incorporation and inhibition of emotional influences on decision-making. The studies of patients with brain damage will test whether the damaged region is necessary for these processes.This work will result in a more comprehensive understanding of how the human brain represents emotional information and its role in decision-making. This research may lead to new models of decision-making which would have significant implications for disciplines beyond cognitive neuroscience such as economics and psychology. The funding from this research will be used to support research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate trainees in social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and brain imaging. The project results will be disseminated through publications and presentations to scientific and lay audiences.