The Neural Basis of Social Knowledge

描述（由申请人提供）：在本申请中，PI将探索以下假设：前颞叶（ATL）是支持社会认知的神经元网络的一部分，并且当任务需要访问社会知识时，它们会特别参与。来自纤维束成像和细胞研究的解剖学证据，以及来自消融和神经影像学研究的功能证据，都表明ATL的部分在社会认知中发挥一定作用。更直接的证据表明，该区域在处理社会知识中起着特定的作用，可以在最近的功能磁共振成像研究中找到，这些研究显示出对社会语义细节的敏感性，以及对不同任务的重叠ATL激活，这些任务的唯一相似之处是它们的潜在社会语义结构。在这个提议中，功能磁共振成像实验将研究三个相互关联的目标。目标1的目标是通过评估ATL对社会知识敏感性的特异性和一般性来验证社会知识假设，同时测试竞争性假设。目标2将绘制该地区的地形组织图，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，将成人的发现扩展到发育中的大脑。如果获得资助，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，并阐明其在不同发育阶段的社会认知中的作用。由于异常的社会认知是几种精神和神经疾病的标志，本提案中概述的实验对几种疾病有影响，包括额颞叶痴呆症。 公共卫生相关性：理解和与社会世界互动的问题是许多精神和神经疾病的基础。在这项资助中，我们提出了一个新的假设，即大脑中被称为前颞叶的部分参与了社会处理的特定组成过程：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伴随某些形式的额颞叶痴呆症的社会缺陷，以及理解伴随自闭症等发育障碍的社会知识获取困难。

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.