Collaborative Research: Dissociating Perceptual and Motor Correlates of EEG Mu-Alpha and Beta Oscillations in Emotional Action Simulation

从开合跳到高兴地跳，人类运动的“肢体语言”提供了关于他人意图和情绪的重要信息。越来越多的证据表明，我们通过内部重现或模拟他人的外部行为来理解他人的心理状态。然而，不同的大脑系统是如何促成动作模拟的，以及这个过程是否与社会感知能力的个体差异有关，这些问题仍然存在。本研究使用脑电图（EEG）来检查在观察情绪身体运动时与动作模拟相关的大脑活动，研究对象包括典型发育个体和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者，ASD是一种与社会感知障碍相关的疾病。通过在广泛的个体社会情绪功能样本中测试动作模拟的脑电图测量和情绪感知能力之间的联系，这些数据将为理解情绪动作模拟的神经基础提供严格的理论框架。更广泛地说，这项研究可能为ASD中观察到的社会障碍的神经起源提供新的见解，可能导致改进诊断和治疗。最后，这些活动将通过为包括女性和代表性不足的少数民族在内的学生提供真正的研究机会，促进STEM学科的本科培训。本研究将探讨情绪模拟中知觉回路与运动回路之间的关系。在之前的脑电图研究中，研究人员发现了与观察情绪和情绪中性行为相关的独特神经标记。情绪行为导致与知觉模拟相关的皮层“mu”α节律（9-12 Hz）减少，但中性行为产生与运动规划和反应抑制相关的β带振荡（14-20 Hz）增强。这两种影响在报告更有自闭症倾向的个体的非临床样本中都减弱了，这表明这些神经标记对社会情感特征的个体差异很敏感。本研究将通过比较动作执行与观察到的情绪动作，以及改变模拟观察到的情绪动作的熟悉程度和难度，来研究运动回路对情绪动作的抑制作用。对ASD患者的检查将区分mu和β带活动与情绪处理的个体差异之间的关系，从而评估感觉运动系统的神经发育中断是否在情绪模拟缺陷中起作用。总的来说，这些研究将为脑电图测量、动作模拟过程和情绪感知之间的关系提供重要的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

From jumping jacks to jumping for joy, the "body language" of human movement providesimportant information about the intentions and emotions of others. Growing evidence suggeststhat we understand others' mental states by internally recreating, or simulating, their externalactions. Yet questions remain about how different brain systems contribute to action simulation,and whether this process is linked to individual differences in social perception abilities. Thisresearch uses electroencephalography (EEG) to examine brain activity associated with actionsimulation during observation of emotional body movements, both in typically developingindividuals and in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a condition associated withsocial perception impairments. By testing the link between EEG measures of action simulationand emotion perception capabilities across a broad sample of individual socio-emotionalfunctioning, these data will provide a rigorous theoretical framework for understanding theneural basis of emotional action simulation. More broadly, the research may provide newinsights into the neural origins of social impairments observed in ASD, potentially leading toimproved diagnoses and therapies. Finally, these activities will promote undergraduate trainingin the STEM disciplines by providing authentic research opportunities for students includingwomen and underrepresented minorities.The proposed research will examine the relation between perceptual and motor circuits inemotion simulation. In a previous EEG study, the investigators found distinct neural markersassociated with the observation of emotional and emotionally-neutral actions. Emotional actionselicited a reduction of cortical "mu" alpha rhythms (9-12 Hz) linked to perceptual aspects ofaction simulation, but neutral actions produced enhanced beta-band oscillations (14-20 Hz)associated with motor planning and response inhibition. Both effects were attenuated in a nonclinicalsample of individuals reporting greater autistic tendencies, suggesting these neuralmarkers are sensitive to individual differences in social-emotional traits. The proposed researchwill investigate the contribution of motor circuits to mu-alpha suppression for emotional actionsby comparing action execution with observed emotional action and varying the familiarity andease of simulating observed emotional actions. Examination of individuals with ASD willdistinguish how mu and beta band activity relate to individual differences in emotionalprocessing, allowing assessment of whether neurodevelopmental disruptions of sensorimotorsystems play a role in emotion simulation deficits. Collectively, these studies will provideimportant insights into the relations between EEG measures, action simulation processes, andemotion perception.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.