Investigating the fundamental biological mechanisms underlying motor function and social cognition

对人类行为以及在发育和神经退行性疾病中经历的困难的实验研究证明了社会认知和运动功能之间的关系。目前的研究结果暗示了一个重要的概念：某些社会认知过程的机制与运动系统所持有的信息相结合。然而，这种关系的程度尚未完全揭示。例如，目前还不知道这种关系是否存在于社会认知和运动过程中的各种能力中，或者是否涉及特定的机制。伯明翰大学的这一跨学科项目将整合来自多个研究小组的认知心理学、运动控制和遗传学方面的专业知识，阐明社会认知和运动功能共变的基本生物学机制。该项目将包括3种方法：（1）一系列行为、认知和自我报告的测量，结合复杂的统计模型，以揭示运动和社会认知能力共同变异的机制，（2）采用新的测量策略，利用生理测量和分层回归模型来量化社会-认知和运动能力是由述情障碍介导的，以及（3）一项遗传学研究，比较自闭症谱系障碍和帕金森病，这两种疾病中运动和社会差异是普遍存在的，试图揭示重叠的遗传和生物途径，以进一步了解所观察到的关系背后的生物过程。

Experimental studies of human behaviour and the difficulties experienced in developmental and neurodegenerative conditions have evidenced a relationship between social cognition and motor function. Current research findings imply an important concept: the mechanisms underlying certain socio-cognitive processes are integrated with information held by motor systems. However, the extent of the relationship is yet to be fully uncovered. For example, it is not known whether the relationship is present for the wide variety of abilities encapsulated within socio-cognitive and motor processes or whether specific mechanisms are involved. Further research is needed for the development of mechanistic explanations for co-occurring socio-cognitive and motor differences within the general population.This interdisciplinary project at the University of Birmingham will integrate expertise in cognitive psychology, motor control and genetics from a number of research groups to elucidate the fundamental biological mechanisms that underpin covariation in social cognition and motor function. The project will be comprised of 3 approaches: (1) a battery of behavioural, cognitive and self-report measures combined with sophisticated statistical models to uncover the mechanisms underpinning shared variation in motor and socio-cognitive abilities, (2) the employment of novel measurement strategies utilising physiological measurements with hierarchical regression models to quantify the extent to which the relationship between socio-cognitive and motor ability is mediated by alexithymia, and (3) a genetic investigation comparing Autism Spectrum Disorder and Parkinson's Disease, two conditions in which motor and social differences are prevalent, in an attempt to uncover overlapping genetic and biological pathways to provide further insight into biological processes underlying the relationships observed.