Strategies and neural systems for social partner choice in primates.

伴侣选择是包括人类在内的灵长类动物社会生活中最重要的决策之一。本研究的目的是阐明社会伴侣选择的策略，以获得更多的回报和神经系统潜在的社会伴侣选择。在人体实验中，我比较了受试者何时可以选择他们的伴侣和他们的伴侣已经预先确定的时候的行为策略。结果表明，当被试能够自主选择伴侣时，他们表现出更多的合作行为。在猴子的实验中，我记录了杏仁核的神经元活动，当猴子在两个选项中选择一个时，这两个选项是由伴侣的面部表情指导的。我发现神经元对不同身份的刺激表现出不同的活动。这一结果表明，杏仁核参与了对谁是伴侣的处理。

Partner choice is one of the most important decision making for social life in primates including human. The aims of this study are to elucidate a strategy of social partner choice to get more rewards and neural systems underlying social partner choice. In human experiment, I compared behavioral strategies between when subjects could choose their partners and when their partners had been pre-determined. The results showed that the subjects showed more cooperative behaviors when they could choose their partners by themselves. In monkey experiment, I recorded neuronal activity from the amygdala while the monkeys were choosing one of the two options which were directed by facial expression of partners. I found the neuron showing different activity in response to different identity of the stimuli. This result indicates that the amygdala is involved in processing of who is the partner.