Collaborative Research: Orbitofrontal Cortex and Emotion-Cognition Interactions

虽然我们经常认为情绪是理性的敌人，但科学家最近发现情绪有时有助于决策。例如，如果你前面的车突然刹车，你可能会感到一阵恐惧。恐惧的感觉意味着必须迅速采取行动以避免伤害。另一方面，不必要的恐惧可能会促使人们决定避免一个本来有益的情况。例如，一个害羞的学生可能不会从课堂讨论中受益，因为他们太害怕了。大脑如何计算哪些情绪有助于决策，以及何时应该抑制或整合情绪的影响？这个项目的目标是了解大脑如何代表（a）有益的和有害的情绪和（B）对决策的情绪影响的合并和抑制。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，德克萨斯大学的詹妮弗·比尔和加州大学伯克利分校的罗伯特·奈特将通过对健康个体进行平行的神经成像（功能性磁共振成像）研究和对脑损伤患者进行行为研究来解决这些问题，这些患者的脑损伤区域被假设与情绪和抑制有关（即，额叶的特定子区域）。这些研究将向人类志愿者提供情绪刺激，这些刺激被指定为对随后的决定有帮助或有害。这些研究系统地评估了情绪对一些支持决策的计算的影响：对风险的感知，注意力以及决策的考虑程度。神经成像研究将测试大脑区域，这些区域代表（a）有益和有害的情绪，以及（B）对决策的情绪影响的整合和抑制。对脑损伤患者的研究将测试受损区域是否是这些过程所必需的。这项工作将导致更全面地了解人类大脑如何表达情感信息及其在决策中的作用。这项研究可能会导致新的决策模型，这将对经济学和心理学等认知神经科学以外的学科产生重大影响。这项研究的资金将用于支持社会心理学，认知神经科学和脑成像的本科生和研究生学员的研究培训机会。项目成果将通过出版物和演示文稿向科学界和非专业人士传播。

Although we often think of emotion as the foe of reason, scientists have recently discovered that emotions are sometimes helpful for decision-making. For example, if the car in front of you suddenly brakes, you may feel a jolt of fear. The feeling of fear signals that something must be done quickly to avoid harm. On the other hand, unwarranted fear may motivate the decision to avoid an otherwise rewarding situation. For example, a shy student may not benefit from a class discussion because they are too afraid to speak up. How does the brain compute which emotions are helpful for decision-making and when the influence of emotion should be suppressed or integrated? The goals of this project are to understand how the brain represents (a) helpful and hurtful emotions and (b) the incorporation and inhibition of emotional influences on decision-making. With support from the National Science Foundation, Jennifer Beer at the University of Texas and Robert Knight at the University of California, Berkeley will address these questions by conducting parallel neuroimaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging) studies of healthy individuals and behavioral studies of patients with brain damage in regions that are hypothesized to be involved in emotion and inhibition (i.e., specific subregions of the frontal lobes). The studies will present human volunteers with emotional stimuli that are designated as helpful or hurtful for a subsequent decision. The studies systematically assess the influence of emotions on a number of computations that support decision-making: perceptions of risk, attention, and how deeply the decision is considered. The neuroimaging studies will test for brain regions that represent (a) helpful and hurtful emotion and (b) the incorporation and inhibition of emotional influences on decision-making. The studies of patients with brain damage will test whether the damaged region is necessary for these processes.This work will result in a more comprehensive understanding of how the human brain represents emotional information and its role in decision-making. This research may lead to new models of decision-making which would have significant implications for disciplines beyond cognitive neuroscience such as economics and psychology. The funding from this research will be used to support research training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate trainees in social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and brain imaging. The project results will be disseminated through publications and presentations to scientific and lay audiences.