An integrated single-neuronal, population-, local network- and stimulation-based prefrontal investigation of human social cognition

一个集成的单神经元，群体，局部网络和刺激为基础的 人类社会认知的前额叶研究 该提案旨在进行全面的单细胞、群体、局部电路和刺激， 背侧前额叶皮层在人类社会认知中的作用。虽然各方不断 我们通过动物模型来理解社会行为的基本要素， 是已知的单神经元和因果机制，人类社会认知的基础。核心 包括背内侧前额叶、背外侧前额叶和前扣带皮层的区域网络 额叶被认为在人类社会行为中起着至关重要的作用; 包括情绪判断、社会推理和心理理论。与更基本的感觉运动过程不同， 这些社会过程不仅要求个人代表观察到的他人的行为或行动， 也可以推断出他们隐藏的内在状态和信念，这些内在状态和信念是不可观察和未知的。这些 高阶社会过程在人类个体发育中起着核心作用，并在心理社会学中受到广泛影响。 精神分裂症、抑郁症和自闭症谱系障碍等病症。然而，尽管它们很重要， 关于人类大脑中神经元的活动如何引起这些不同的神经元， 社会认知功能或特定的前额叶区域发挥的确切作用。建立在我们独特的团队基础上 从这些背侧前额叶区，社会的急性单神经元记录的综合经验， 神经科学和理论，人口分析，计算建模和实时刺激技术 通过使用一种新颖的结构化多组社会任务，该提案旨在首次解决 关于社会信息是如何在细胞水平上在人类中处理的问题， 这些过程是否与更广泛的大脑皮层区域无关， 认知机制，这些关键计算如何相互关联，以及至关重要的是，因果关系的贡献是什么， 这些前额叶区域的神经活动在行为水平上对人类社会认知起作用。在一起，这 有系统跨模式、跨学科、多机构的合作努力， 在细胞水平上对人类社会认知的前所未有的新见解，并提供了一个创新的新 研究背侧前额叶皮层对心理社会学的前瞻性贡献的框架 例如自闭症谱系障碍。

An integrated single-neuronal, population-, local network- and stimulation-based prefrontal investigation of human social cognition This proposal aims to undertake a comprehensive single-cellular, population-, local circuit- and stimulation- based evaluation of the role that the dorsal prefrontal cortex plays in human social cognition. Despite ongoing progress in our understanding of basic elements of social behavior through animal models, astonishingly little is known about the single-neuronal and causal mechanisms that underlie human social cognition. A core network of areas comprising the dorsomedial prefrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex of the frontal lobe has been suggested to play a critical role in human social behavior; sub-serving processes that include emotional judgment, social reasoning and theory of mind. Unlike more basic sensorimotor processes, these social processes require individuals not only to represent the observed behavior or actions of others but to also infer their hidden internal states and beliefs which are inherently unobservable and unknown. These higher-order social processes play a central role in human ontogeny and are broadly affected in psychosocial conditions such as schizophrenia, depression and autism spectrum disorder. Yet, despite their importance, extraordinarily little is known about how the activities of neurons in the human brain give rise to these diverse social cognitive functions or what precise role specific prefrontal areas play. Building on our groups unique combined experience in acute single-neuronal recordings from the these dorsal prefrontal areas, social neuroscience and theory, population analyses, computational modeling and real-time stimulation techniques and by using a novel structured multi-set social task, this proposal aims to address, for the first time, vital questions about how social information is processed in humans at the cellular level, what specific cognitive processes are engaged across cortical areas, whether these processes are dissociable from more generalized cognitive mechanisms, how these key computations interrelate and, crucially, what causal contribution do neural activities in these prefrontal areas play in human social cognition at the behavioral level. Together, this systematic cross-modal, inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaborative effort promises to provide unprecedented new insights into human social cognition at the cellular level and offer an innovative new framework by which to investigate the prospective contribution of the dorsal prefrontal cortex to psychosocial conditions such as autism spectrum disorder.