Modelling variability in the social brain across the lifespan

保持社交活跃对我们整个生命周期的健康和福祉至关重要，特别是在老年。在老年人中，社交活动较少的人患痴呆症、一般认知能力下降、记忆力丧失和运动功能问题的风险更高。新的证据还表明，随着年龄的增长，我们的社会行为可能会发生变化。这是因为大脑的变化吗？脑损伤后肯定会发生社会行为改变，严重扰乱日常生活，但我们仍然对大脑的哪些部分对社会行为很重要以及它们是否会随着年龄的增长而受到干扰知之甚少。在过去的一年里，大约有57，000名老年人经历了某种形式的经济虐待，这可能是因为随着年龄的增长，我们越来越不理解他人的意图。其他研究表明，我们帮助他人的意愿--通常被称为亲社会行为--可能会随着年龄的增长而增加。尽管如此，很少有严格的研究来研究这些问题：随着年龄的增长，我们是否会发现更难理解别人在想什么？我们是否也更愿意帮助别人？这项研究的目的是研究这两个问题背后的生物学。我们社交能力的变化很可能与大脑结构和功能的变化有关。我们可以使用神经科学和数学的工具来精确量化这些大脑变化，并将它们与人们与他人互动时的行为联系起来。我将使用这些工具来回答年轻（20-35岁）和老年（65-80岁）健康成年人以及脑损伤患者的三个问题：（1）老年人的社会能力与年轻人相比是否不同？我将使用两个可以精确测量社交能力的测试。第一个衡量人们理解他人意图的能力（社会理解），而第二个衡量人们愿意投入多少努力来帮助他人（亲社会动机）。(2)大脑如何反映这些社会能力的差异？我将使用三种不同的大脑成像技术来检查大脑中与社会理解和亲社会动机相关的回路。使用这种方法，我将能够看到这些大脑区域在两次测试中有多活跃，以及它们之间的联系有多紧密。(3)大脑的哪些部分是社会能力所必需的？我将使用脑刺激工具（经颅磁刺激，TMS）来影响年轻人和老年人的社交能力。TMS是一种完全安全和非侵入性的工具，能够在大脑不同部分的功能中引起微小但可测量的变化。我将使用这种技术来检验是否有可能改变社会理解和亲社会动机。我还将研究脑损伤患者的社会行为变化。这些研究将有助于显示大脑的哪些部分是社会行为所必需的，并将为脑损伤后社会行为如何改变提供更深入的了解。总之，这项工作将提供第一个生物学框架，以了解社会能力的关键组成部分如何在整个生命周期和脑损伤后发生变化。该项目的研究结果将为未来的应用方法奠定基础，这些方法支持健康的社会老龄化，为年轻人的社会行为机制提供更深入的了解，并帮助那些脑损伤后患有社会行为障碍的人。从长远来看，最终目标是利用该项目的成果制定改善终身健康和福祉的战略，并减少卫生和社会保健系统的支出。

Keeping socially active is critical for our health and well-being across the lifespan, particularly in old age. In the elderly, individuals who are less socially active are at higher risk of developing dementia, general cognitive decline, memory loss and motor function problems. New evidence also suggests that as we get older our social behavior may change. Is this due to changes in the brain? Altered social behavior can certainly occur after brain injury, significantly disrupting everyday life, but we still know very little about how which parts of the brain are important for social behavior, and whether they are disrupted with ageing.Around 57,000 elderly people experienced some form of financial abuse in the past year, and this could be because we get worse at understanding other people's intentions as we age. Other studies show that our willingness to help other people - often referred to as prosocial behaviour - might increase with age. Despite this, there has been very little rigorous research examining these issues: As we get older, do we find it harder to understand what other people are thinking? And are we also more willing to help other people? The aim of this research is examine the biology behind these two questions. Changes in our social abilities are likely to be linked to changes in the structure and function of the brain. We can use tools from neuroscience and mathematics to quantify these brain changes precisely and link them to how people behave when they interact with others. I will use these tools to answer three questions in samples of young (age 20-35) and older (age 65-80) healthy adults and also in patients with brain injury:(1) Are social abilities different in the old compared to the young?I will use two tests that can measure social abilities precisely. The first measures people's ability to understand what other people are intending to do (Social Understanding) while the second measures how much effort people are willing to invest to help others (Prosocial Motivation). (2) How does the brain reflect these differences in social abilities?I will use three different brain imaging techniques to examine the circuits in the brain that are linked to social understanding and prosocial motivation. Using this approach I will be able to look at how active these brain areas are during the two tests, and how strongly connected they are.(3) Which parts of the brain are necessary for social abilities? I will use brain stimulation tools (transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS) to try to influence social abilities in young and older adults. TMS is a completely safe and non-invasive tool that is able to induce small but measurable changes in how different parts of the brain function. I will use this technique to examine whether it is possible to change social understanding and prosocial motivation. I will also examine changes in social behaviour in patients who have brain injury. These studies will help to show which parts of the brain are necessary for social behaviour and will provide greater insight into how social behaviour can change after brain damage. Together, this work will provide the first biological framework to understand how key components of social abilities change across the lifespan and after brain injury. The findings from this project will lay the foundations for future applied approaches that scaffold healthy social ageing, provide greater insight into the mechanisms that underpin social behaviour in the young, and aid those with social behaviour disorders after brain injury. The ultimate aim, in the long term, would be to use the outcomes of this project to develop strategies for improving lifelong health and wellbeing, and reduce expenditure on health and social care systems.