Strategies and neural systems for social partner choice in primates.

伙伴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伙伴选择的策略，以获得更多的奖励和神经系统的社会伙伴选择。在人类实验中，我比较了当被试可以选择他们的伴侣时和当他们的伴侣已经被预先确定时的行为策略。结果表明，当被试能够自主选择同伴时，被试表现出更多的合作行为。在猴子实验中，我记录了猴子在同伴面部表情指导下从两个选项中选择一个时杏仁核神经元的活动。我发现神经元对不同种类的刺激有不同的反应。这一结果表明，杏仁核参与了处理谁是伴侣的过程。

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.