Understanding the Evolutionary Origins of Theory of Mind: Computational Modeling of Conserved Cognitive Mechanisms Across Primates

该奖项是作为NSF社会、行为和经济学博士后研究奖学金(SPRF)计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学职业生涯培养有前途的、早期职业博士水平的科学家。SPRF奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。国家科学基金会致力于促进科学界所有阶层的科学家参与其研究方案和活动，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的科学家；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的一个重要水平。每个博士后研究员都必须解决推动各自学科领域向前发展的重要科学问题。在耶鲁大学Laurie Santos博士和Julian Jara-Ettinger博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金奖项支持一位研究人类和非人类灵长类动物如何理解他人思想的早期职业科学家。作为人类，理解他人的想法、感受、欲望和信仰是成功驾驭我们的社交世界的核心。然而，我们仍然对我们与其他动物分享我们代表他人精神状态的能力的程度知之甚少，这阻碍了我们对人类认知进化的理解，并减缓了涉及这些技能缺陷的精神疾病治疗的发展。心理理论缺陷(TOM)是包括自闭症谱系障碍、反社会人格障碍和精神分裂症在内的发育和神经精神障碍的核心组成部分，对社会关系、有效沟通和道德推理具有深远影响。动物模型最近促进了我们对影响社会决策的疾病(例如帕金森氏病)潜在的神经生理机制和治疗方法的理解。然而，关于灵长类动物汤姆判断背后的认知机制的悬而未决的问题阻碍了汤姆动物模型的发展。该项目利用为模拟人类Tom而开发的计算方法来克服这些挑战。通过首次对非人类灵长类动物Tom进行计算机建模，这个项目将阐明人类和NHP在对他人的精神状态做出判断时共享哪些认知机制。此外，该研究员将通过计算识别新的实验设计，这些设计可以强有力地区分关于NHP Tom的竞争性代表性假设，并将测试自由放养的恒河猴来对这些设计进行经验性评估。这项工作将(1)有助于我们对TOM的演变和指导社会行为的认知机制的基本理解，(2)提出人类TOM的NHP模型，这将有助于我们对TOM相关精神障碍的理解和治疗。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Laurie Santos and Dr. Julian Jara-Ettinger at Yale University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating how humans and non-human primates understand the minds of others. As humans, understanding what other people think, feel, desire, and believe is central to successfully navigating our social world. However, we still know little about the extent to which our ability to represent others’ mental states is shared with other animals, impeding our understanding of human cognitive evolution and slowing the development of treatments for mental disorders involving deficits in these skills.Deficits in theory of mind (ToM) are core components of developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders including autism spectrum disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and schizophrenia, and have profound effects on social relationships, effective communication, and moral reasoning. Animal models have recently advanced our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying diseases that affect social decision-making (e.g., Parkinson’s disease) and approaches for their treatment. However, outstanding questions about the cognitive mechanisms underlying primates’ ToM judgments have impeded the development of an animal model of ToM. This project draws on computational methods developed for modeling human ToM to overcome these challenges. By computationally modeling non-human primate (NHP) ToM for the first time, this project will elucidate which cognitive mechanisms humans and NHPs share when making judgments about others’ mental states. Additionally, the fellow will computationally identify new experimental designs that can powerfully distinguish between competing representational hypotheses about NHP ToM and will test free-ranging rhesus macaques to empirically evaluate these designs. This work will (1) contribute to our fundamental understanding of the evolution of ToM and the cognitive mechanisms that guide social behavior and (2) advance a NHP model of human ToM which will aid in our understanding and treatment of ToM-related mental disorders.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.