THE ROLE OF THE PRIMATE AMYGDALA IN GAZE FOLLOWING AND FACIAL MIMICRY

灵长类杏仁核在目光跟随和面部模仿中的作用

• 批准号: 8432429
• 负责人: Katalin M Gothard
• 金额: $ 18.18万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-03-01 至 2014-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8432429
• 关键词: Affect; Amygdaloid structure; Area; Behavior; Behavioral; Bilateral; Cell Nucleus; Clinical; Cognitive; Complement; Complex; Development; Elements; Emotions; Empathy; Event; Eye; Eye Movements; Face; Facial Expression; Failure; Human; Individual; Injection of therapeutic agent; Laboratories; Link; Maintenance; Mediating; Mental Depression; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Methods; Mind; Monkeys; Motor; Muscimol; Muscle; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Nuclear; One-Step dentin bonding system; Outcome; Parietal Lobe; Persons; Planning Techniques; Play; Positioning Attribute; Primates; Process; Production; Psyche structure; Research; Risk; Role; Saccades; Schizophrenia; Social Behavior; Social Perception; Social Phobia; Source; Stimulus; Structure; Testing; Therapeutic Intervention; Time; Widow; base; cognitive function; extrastriate visual cortex; frontal lobe; gaze; joint attention; meetings; mental state; mimicry; neural circuit; nonhuman primate; relating to nervous system; research study; sample fixation; severe mental illness; shared attention; social; social communication; social skills; theories

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Gaze following and facial mimicry are fundamental elements of social behavior in both humans and non-human primates. Gaze following is critical for the development of shared attention and for a mental phenomenon called theory of mind. Facial mimicry is a form of shared emotion and constitutes the basis of empathy. These behaviors are profoundly affected in neurodevelopmental disorders and in severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, depression, and social phobia. When the amygdala is damaged or is functioning abnormally gaze following and facial mimicry are also impaired, suggesting that the amygdala may play an important role in these behaviors. To determine the role of the amygdala in these basic social behaviors, we propose to inactivate the amygdala of monkeys while they "interact" with naturalistic videos that elicit gaze following and facial mimicry. The amygala, however, comprises several nuclei, each with a different connectivity and different functions. We propose to inactivate selectively each main nucleus of the amygdala to test the following hypotheses: (1) the basolateral nuclei of the primate amygdala are necessary for gaze following, and (2) the central nuclei are necessary for facial mimicry. These hypotheses are based on the known anatomical connectivity of each nuclear group with cortical and subcortical structures involved in social behavior. The basolateral nuclei are connected to cortical areas involved the control of eye movements and in higher cognitive functions that might be necessary to determine where individuals are looking. The central nuclei are connected to subcortical circuits that serve low- level perceptual and motor functions that might be necessary to make eye contact and to imitate involuntarily facial expression. The proposed research will determine the role (s) of different amygdala nuclei in the elaboration of basic social behaviors. This will complement our current understanding of the role of the amygdala in social perception. A more detailed understanding of the role that individual nuclei of the amygdala play in the production of gaze following and facial mimicry will take us one step closer toward identifying the causes of shared social deficits in neurodevelopmental and other psychiatric disorders.

描述（由申请人提供）：目光跟随和面部模仿是人类和非人类灵长类动物社会行为的基本要素。目光跟随对于共同注意力的发展以及一种称为心理理论的心理现象至关重要。面部模仿是一种共享情感的形式，构成了同理心的基础。这些行为在神经发育障碍和严重精神疾病（包括精神分裂症、抑郁症和社交恐惧症）中受到深刻影响。当杏仁核受损或功能异常时，注视和面部模仿也会受损，这表明杏仁核可能在这些行为中发挥重要作用。为了确定杏仁核在这些基本社会行为中的作用，我们建议在猴子与引起目光跟随和面部模仿的自然视频“互动”时使猴子的杏仁核失活。然而，杏仁核由多个细胞核组成，每个细胞核具有不同的连接性和不同的功能。我们建议选择性地灭活杏仁核的每个主要核，以测试以下假设：（1）灵长类杏仁核的基底外侧核对于凝视跟踪是必需的，（2）中央核对于面部拟态是必需的。这些假设基于每个核群与参与社会行为的皮质和皮质下结构的已知解剖学连通性。基底外侧核与涉及眼球运动控制和高级认知功能的皮质区域相连，这可能是确定个体正在看哪里所必需的。中央核与皮层下回路相连，这些回路提供低水平的感知和运动功能，这些功能可能是进行眼神交流和模仿不自觉的面部表情所必需的。拟议的研究将确定不同杏仁核在基本社会行为的阐述中的作用。这将补充我们目前对杏仁核在社会感知中的作用的理解。更详细地了解杏仁核的各个核在产生 目光跟随和面部模仿将使我们更接近于确定神经发育和其他精神疾病中共同的社交缺陷的原因。