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）：注视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。注视跟踪对于共同注意力的发展和一种被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，构成了移情的基础。这些行为在神经发育障碍和严重精神疾病中受到深刻影响，包括精神分裂症，抑郁症和社交恐惧症。当杏仁核受损或功能异常时，注视跟踪和面部模仿也会受损，这表明杏仁核可能在这些行为中起重要作用。为了确定杏仁核在这些基本的社会行为中的作用，我们建议在猴子与自然主义视频“互动”时，让猴子的杏仁核“互动”，从而引发凝视和面部模仿。然而，杏仁核由几个核团组成，每个核团具有不同的连接性和不同的功能。我们建议选择性地观察杏仁核的每个主要核团，以检验以下假设：（1）灵长类杏仁核的基底外侧核团是注视跟随所必需的，（2）中央核团是面部模仿所必需的。这些假说是基于已知的解剖学连接的每个核群与皮质和皮质下结构参与社会行为。基底外侧核与控制眼球运动的皮层区域相连，并具有更高的认知功能，这可能是确定个体在看哪里所必需的。中央核团与皮层下回路相连，皮层下回路提供低水平的知觉和运动功能，这些功能可能是进行眼神交流和不由自主地模仿面部表情所必需的。这项拟议中的研究将确定不同杏仁核在制定基本社会行为中的作用。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单个核团在产生 注视跟踪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社会缺陷的原因。