Neuroimaging of the Development of Neural Mechanisms Social Cognition

心理学家们已经提出了关于社会认知基本组成部分的理论和大量的经验证据。这种理解最近受益于功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）的使用，以确定支持社交活动各个方面的大脑区域网络。 人类的认知能力研究我们如何看待自己和他人的思想，我们如何模仿和回应，以及我们如何调节自己的情绪，使我们能够了解通往更好和更坏的心理健康结果的道路。然而，大部分的研究几乎都集中在成年人的成熟心智上。越来越清楚的是，为了了解成年人心理健康和疾病的基础，了解儿童社会认知的发展是很重要的，因为这样一个重点可以提供至关重要的早期观点，在形成过程中复杂的心理过程。大脑发育成像技术的进步为研究社会认知能力发展的机制提供了令人兴奋的机会。尚待启动的是研究方案，以产生第一批实证研究。这项资助的首要目标是使用fMRI来识别和表征社会认知方面发展的神经基础。我们将招募神经系统正常的儿童和青少年（5-14岁）。在这项为期两年的纵向研究中，每个孩子每年都会被研究一次。该设计将提供关于以下方面的急需的纵向数据的开始： 儿童时期社会性大脑的正常发育。我们的研究将集中在大脑机制的发展：（1）对他人行为和意图的感知，（2）自我表征的形成以及自我与他人之间的关系。

Psychologists have produced theories and a wealth of empirical evidence concerning the basic building blocks of social cognition. This understanding has recently benefited from the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRl) to identify a network of brain regions that support various facets of social cognition in humans. Studies of how we think about ourselves and other minds, how we mimic and respond, and how we regulate our emotions have allowed us to learn about the paths toward better and worse mental health outcomes. However, much of this work has focused on the mature minds of adult humans almost exclusively. lt is becoming clear that in order to understand the basis of mental health and illness in adults, it is important to understand the development of social cognition in children because such a focus can provide the crucially needed early view of intricate mental processes during formation. Advances in techniques for imaging the developing brain have provided exciting opportunities for studying the mechanisms involved in the development of social cognition abilities. What remains to be initiated are programs of research to produce the first empirical studies. The overarching aim of this grant is to use fMRl to identify and characterize the neural basis of development in aspects of social cognition. We will recruit neurologically normal children and adolescents (5-14 years of age). ln this two-year longitudinal study, each child will be studied once per year. This design will provide the start of much needed longitudinal data regarding the normal development of the social brain in childhood. Our studies will focus on the development of brain mechanisms for: (1) the perception of other people's actions and intentions and (2) the formation of representations of the self and the relationship between self and others.