PROCESSING BASIC SOCIAL REWARDS

本项目研究了在做出简单社会决策时的基本计算，并将其与简单的非社会决策（例如，基于果汁或金钱的价值，而不是基于其他人的价值）进行对比。它为研究社会奖励的表现方式以及与非社会奖励的比较奠定了基础。非社交决策的一个例子是通过按汽水分配机上的几个按钮来选择喝什么，社交决策的一个例子是选择打电话给谁去约会。在这里，我们解决了这些问题：在杏仁核和前额叶皮层中，是否存在像在非社会情况下（口渴时喝果汁）那样，在社会领域（看到微笑或美丽的面孔）中编码选择时的刺激值和结果时的体验（享乐）值的区域？是否存在专门用于评估社会刺激的神经元，或者相同的细胞是否在社会和非社会决策中编码价值？对不同类型社会刺激的评价是否需要特定的子电路？人们之间的个体差异是如何在这些过程中反映出来的？我们将通过在人类和恒河猴中进行平行实验来解决这些问题，在这两个物种中使用功能磁共振成像和电生理记录的互补技术，并使用各种基本的社会和非社会刺激。将进行跨物种、单单元、局部场电位和BOLD-fMRI数据的比较，以及与其他项目的数据和个体差异的比较。

This Project investigates the basic computations at work in making simple social decisions, and contrasts them with simple non-social decisions (e.g., ones based on the value of juice or money, rather than the value of other people). It sets the stage for all the others in investigating how social reward is represented and compares to nonsocial reward. An example of a non-social decision is choosing what to drink by pushing one of several buttons on a soda dispensing machine, an example of a social decision is choosing what person to call to go on a date. Here we address these questions: Are there regions in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex that encode stimulus values at the time of choice, and experienced (hedonic) values at the time of outcome, in the social domain (seeing smiling or beautiful faces), as they do in the nonsocial case (getting juice when thirsty)? Are there neurons specialized for valuation of social stimuli, or do the same cells encode value in social and non-social decisions? Does the valuation of different types of social stimuli require specific sub-circuits? And how are individual differences between people reflected in these processes? We will address these questions by carrying out parallel experiments in humans and rhesus monkeys, using the complementary techniques of fMRI and electrophysiological recording in both species, and using a variety of basic social and non-social stimuli. Comparisons will be made across species and across single-unit, local field potential, and BOLD-fMRI data, as well as with data from the other Projects and across individual differences.