The Neural Basis of Social Knowledge

描述(申请人提供)：在这项申请中，PI将探索这样的假设，即前颞叶(ATL)是支持社会认知的神经网络的一部分，当任务需要获得社会知识时，它们专门参与其中。来自气管造影术和细胞研究的解剖学证据，以及来自消融和神经成像研究的功能证据，都表明ATL的一部分在社会认知中发挥了一定的作用。在最近的fMRI研究中可以找到更直接的证据，证明该区域在加工社会知识方面发挥着特定的作用，这些研究表明，该区域对社会语义细节的敏感性，以及对不同任务的重叠激活，而不同任务的唯一相似之处在于其潜在的社会语义结构。在这项提案中，提出了功能磁共振实验，以检查三个相互关联的目标。目标1的目的是通过评估ATLS对社会知识的敏感性的特殊性和一般性来验证社会知识假说，同时检验相互竞争的假说。目标2将绘制该区域的地形组织图，以更好地了解其社会和语义功能。目标3将通过评估青少年社会知识的神经基础，将成人的研究结果扩展到发育中的大脑。如果得到资助，这些研究有望为一个相当神秘的大脑区域--ATL的功能提供新的线索，并澄清它在不同发育阶段的社会认知中的作用。由于冷漠的社会认知是几种精神和神经疾病的标志，这项提案中概述的实验对包括额颞痴呆在内的几种疾病都有影响。 公共卫生相关性：在理解和与社会世界互动方面的问题是许多精神和神经疾病的基础。在这项拨款中，我们建议进行实验，研究一种新的假设，即大脑的一部分，称为前颞叶，涉及社会处理的特定组成部分过程：存储和检索社会知识。从这些实验中获得的知识将有助于理解某些形式的额颞叶痴呆伴随的社会缺陷，以及理解伴随自闭症等发育障碍而获得社会知识的困难。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In this application, the PI will explore the hypothesis that the anterior temporal lobes (ATL) are part of a neuronal network supporting social cognition and that they are specifically engaged when tasks demand access to social knowledge. Anatomical evidence from tractography and cellular studies, and functional evidence from ablation and neuroimaging studies, all indicate that portions of the ATL play some role in social cognition. More direct evidence that this region plays a specific role in processing social knowledge can be found in recent fMRI studies showing sensitivity to social semantic detail, and overlapping ATL activations to disparate tasks whose only similarity is their underlying social semantic structure. In this proposal, fMRI experiments are proposed that will examine three interrelated aims. The goal of Aim 1 is to validate the social knowledge hypothesis by assessing the specificity and generality of the ATLs sensitivity to social knowledge while simultaneously testing competing hypotheses. Aim 2 will map the topographic organization of this region to better understand its social and semantic functions. Aim 3 will extend findings in adults to the developing brain by assessing the neural underpinnings of social knowledge in adolescents. If funded, these studies promise to shed new light on the functionality of a rather enigmantic brain region, the ATL, and also to clarify its role in social cognition at different points in development. Because abberant social cognition is a hallmark of several psychiatric and neurological diseases, the experiments outlined in this proposal have implications for several diseases, including frontotemporal dementia. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Problems in comprehending and interacting with the social world underlie many psychiatric and neurological disorders. In this grant we propose experiments that will study a novel hypothesis that a part of the brain called the anterior temporal lobes, are involved a specific component process of social processing: storing and retrieving social knowledge. The knowledge gained from these experiments will be helpful in understanding the social deficits that accompany some forms of frontotemporal dementia as well as in understanding difficulties in acquiring social knowledge that accompany developmental disorders such as autism.