Neurocomputational basis of social learning in typical development and adolescents with conduct disorder

反社会行为障碍是转诊到儿童和青少年心理健康服务的最常见原因之一，每年花费超过90亿英镑。理论研究表明，那些有反社会行为的人，也就是行为问题者，很难了解他们的行为是如何帮助或避免伤害他人的。然而，目前还没有一项研究经验性地研究这种“社会学习”如何在典型的发展过程中发生变化，它的生物学基础，或者它在有行为问题的青少年中是否发生了变化。最近认知神经科学的进步使行为测量、学习计算模型、神经成像和自我报告相结合，可以让我们更接近理解为什么人与人之间的社会学习存在差异，以及基本机制(Lockwood&Klein-Flugge，2020)。此外，这种模型可以从神经科学到心理学的解释层面上架起桥梁。拟议的项目将使用这些尖端的计算模型和大脑成像技术来研究从青春期到成年期以及有行为问题的青少年中社交学习的行为和神经基础。这一发现将对健康的寿命发展和减少反社会行为的潜在干预具有重要意义。

Antisocial behaviour disorders are one of the most common reasons for referral to child and adolescent mental health services with a cost of over £9 billion every year. Theoretical accounts suggest that those with antisocial behaviour, also known as conduct problems, find it difficult to learn how their actions help or avoid harming others. However, no existing work has empirically examined how such 'social learning' changes across typical development, its biological basis, or whether it is altered in adolescents with conduct problems.Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience have allowed the combination of measures of behaviour, computational models of learning, neuroimaging and self-report which can get us closer to understanding why there are differences in social learning between people, as well as the fundamental mechanisms (Lockwood & Klein-Flugge, 2020). Moreover, such models can bridge levels of explanation from neuroscience to psychology.The proposed project will use these cutting-edge computational modelling and brain imaging techniques to examine the behavioural and neural basis of social learning in the transition from adolescence to adulthood and in adolescents with conduct problems. The findings will have important implications for healthy lifespan development and potential interventions to reduce antisocial behaviour.