人类记忆的所有权效应及其认知神经机制

人们对属于自己的物品比属于他人的物品更容易回忆和再认,即便物品和主体的所有权关联仅仅是暂时的和想象的,这称之为记忆的所有权效应.该效应在非常年幼的幼儿和一些认知缺陷的个体身上也会出现.跨文化研究表明,东方文化的个体和西方文化的个体在该效应的表现上也存在差异.该效应可能是由于对自我相关的项目进行深度语义加工的结果,但其早期阶段可能是因为获得了更多的注意资源分配.自我选择和身体活动的具身化在该效应中起着调节作用.当注视属于自己的项目时,P300等成分波幅明显增强,这为注意在记忆的所有权效应中的作用提供了脑电方面的支持.当被试对分类任务中属于自己的物品进行再认时,会导致内侧前额叶皮质、扣带回皮质、缘上回和顶叶等皮质中线结构的激活.未来研究需要考虑奖赏加工等其他的认知加工在这一效应中的作用,并尝试利用灵长类动物的研究从进化角度对这一现象进行解释.考察认知障碍个体执行该任务时的脑机制,有助于进一步完善本领域的研究.     

额叶EEG偏侧化预测情绪灵活性

随着社会竞争的日益加剧,人们在生活、学习、工作中都可能遇到各种与情绪有关的事件,如何根据情境的要求和个人的需要对情绪进行灵活性的反应,对每个人而言都至关重要.情绪灵活性的研究已成为情绪心理学、临床心理学、健康心理学等多个领域热衷讨论的课题.研究发现,左侧和右侧前额叶皮层半球不同程度地涉及加工和调节对情绪刺激的情绪反应,因此,额叶脑电图(EEG)偏侧化与情绪灵活性存在密切关系.但是,额叶EEG偏侧化是否是情绪灵活性的一个客观指标,以及额叶EEG偏侧化怎样预测情绪灵活性,至今仍不清楚.本研究测量了通过情绪电影范式诱发被试产生高兴、悲伤、愤怒、恐惧、厌恶等情绪过程中的额叶EEG活动.结果显示,情绪灵活性的激活模式反映的是情绪的动机维度,而不是情绪的效价维度.在静息状态下,对于与接近动机相关的情绪,额叶EEG左侧化的个体的左侧化程度增加;对于与回避动机相关的情绪,其左侧化程度降低.与之相对,静息状态额叶EEG右侧化的个体,无论对于与趋近动机相关的情绪还是与回避动机相关的情绪,额叶EEG偏侧化的程度没有发生改变.研究表明,额叶EEG偏侧化模式能够预测情绪灵活性,额叶EEG左侧化的个体有更灵活的情绪反应,额叶EEG右侧化的个体则有相对不灵活的情绪反应.     

自闭症患者大脑语言功能的异常偏侧化研究进展

自闭症谱系障碍(autismspectrumdisorders,ASD)是一种广泛发展障碍,以社会交往障碍、言语和非言语交流缺陷、兴趣狭窄和行为刻板等为主要临床特征.本文简述了自闭症的核心症状——语言障碍,回顾了自1986年以来,对自闭症语言障碍神经机制的研究,从其大脑结构、功能不对称性及相关利手因素的影响三个方面,综述了自闭症语言功能的异常偏侧化领域的研究成果和进展,期望为自闭症语言障碍的鉴别与治疗提供帮助,并促进汉语背景下自闭症患者的语言功能偏侧化研究.     

突触素、神经肽Y(NPY)在糖尿病模型大鼠脑组织细胞中的表达研究

对突触素(synaptophysin)、神经肽Y(NPY)在链尿佐菌素诱导的糖尿病模型大鼠额叶皮质和海马组织细胞中的表达进行研究,并利用UTHSCSA Image Tools 3.0进行图象分析,同时对其与学习记忆的关系进行探讨.选取成年Sprague-Dawley雄性大鼠20只,体重200-300g,随机分为两组.实验组用链尿佐菌素诱导产生糖尿病模型,并以血糖测定和尿糖水平测定进行筛选,另一组为空白对照组.继续饲养4周后,各组大鼠先进行Y型迷宫测试其学习记忆能力,然后取出脑组织,制做连续冰冻切片,对大脑额叶皮质和海马组织进行突触素、神经肽Y酶标免疫组织化学染色,观察这些蛋白在糖尿病大鼠和正常大鼠脑中表达的差异.结果发现糖尿病大鼠在Y型迷宫测试中,错误次数明显增多,糖尿病大鼠额叶皮质和海马神经元数目较正常对照组明显减少,神经细胞内突触素和神经肽Y的表达均较正常对照组明显下降.我们的研究显示突触素和神经肽Y在糖尿病大鼠大脑额叶皮质和海马组织内表达的减少可能与糖尿病组神经细胞突触数目及突触的可塑性下降、学习和记忆能力障碍有关.这可能是造成糖尿病性痴呆的一个因素.     

《转化精神病学》：研究称基因与环境相互作用导致自闭症

从第一例自闭症患者～一美国男孩唐纳德于1943年被确诊开始,人们就开始了针对自闭症（别称”雨人”）的研究。不过。无论治疗方式怎样更新。自闭症的病因一直是科学界无法达成共识的未知数。近年来,自闭症诱因的研究结果很多,2008年,美国研究人员对年龄在2－16岁之间的7名自闭症患儿及6名正常儿童的前额叶皮层进行检查,结果发现自闭症患儿前额叶的神经元数量比正常儿童多67％,平均脑重量更重。2009年,英国剑桥大学的研究人员发现了27个与自闭症有关的基因。2010年,美国科研人员在《自闭症研究》网络版上报告说,孕妇年龄过大可增加孩子日后患自闭症的几率。每年都有新的关于自闭症候选基因被发现的报道出炉,同时表观遗传学、蛋白组学及多组学交叉研究也渐渐成为研究热点。而且,研究调查发现环境因素与自闭症患者发病之间也存在着某种未知的联系。但是,具体是哪个基因出了问题,哪种环境才会导致自闭症。到目前依然没有定论。     

科研快讯

<正>《转化精神病学》:研究称基因与环境相互作用导致自闭症从第一例自闭症患者--美国男孩唐纳德于1943年被确诊开始,人们就开始了针对自闭症(别称"雨人")的研究。不过,无论治疗方式怎样更新,自闭症的病因一直是科学界无法达成共识的未知数。近年来,自闭症诱因的研究结果很多,2008年,美国研究人员对年龄在2-16岁之间的7名自闭症患儿及6名正常儿童的前额叶皮层进行检查,结果发现自闭症患儿前额叶的神经元数量比正常儿童多67%,平均脑重量更重。2009年,英国剑桥大学的研究人员发现了27个与自闭症有关的基因。2010年,美国科研人员     

参与不同难度数字计算的脑区——脑功能磁共振成像研究

本研究用功能磁共振成像技术观察了人脑进行不同难度数字加减计算时的脑区激活情况,并探讨大脑皮层和皮层下结构在数字计算中的作用.用Siemens 1.5 Tesla磁共振机对16名右利手健康志愿者进行简单及复杂数字加减任务的fMRI扫描.实验采用组块设计.刺激任务分为简单加减计算任务、复杂加减计算任务和基线任务.用SPM99软件进行数据分析和脑功能区定位.分别比较同一任务各个脑区平均激活强度和同一脑区在两种任务中的激活强度.结果显示,简单及复杂加减计算激活的被试者的脑区基本相同,激活的皮层区主要见于额叶、顶叶、枕叶、扣带回、丘脑及小脑;简单及复杂加减计算激活的皮层下结构包括两侧尾状核、左纹状体边缘区等基底核结构和丘脑.在简单及复杂计算中,纹状体与皮质结构(额叶、顶叶)间激活强度均无显著性差异.简单计算与复杂计算比较,右顶叶,在复杂任务时出现激活,在简单任务时未出现激活.上述结果提示,完成数字计算任务的脑区除了额叶、顶叶、扣带回等皮层结构外,大脑皮层下的一些结构如纹状体、纹状体边缘区,也是参与数字计算的重要部位.皮层下结构纹状体和优势半球的纹状体边缘区参与了数字工作记忆,可能是进行数字计算神经环路的重要组成部位.右项叶(缘上回)只在复杂任务出现激活,该区可能是视空间记忆和加工的重要部位.     

社会信息加工对瞳孔大小的调节及其机制

瞳孔大小作为反映个体心理状态的窗口在社会互动中担任着重要的角色。除了非社会性信息（如刺激物理属性等因素）加工被发现影响瞳孔大小变化之外,越来越多的文献指出,瞳孔大小与个体社会信息加工之间也存在密切关系。基于此,本文系统综述了社会性刺激（如面孔和生物运动）本身以及社会性刺激含有的情绪信息对于瞳孔大小的影响,总结出瞳孔大小变化不仅可以反映个体对社会信息的感知,同样可以体现个体对更为复杂的社会互动情境的加工。这种社会性信息加工相关的瞳孔大小变化主要涉及个体的情绪唤醒和社会性注意过程。此外,对于自闭症谱系患者这一在社会互动中存在障碍的特殊群体,有关研究发现其对社会性刺激存在异常的瞳孔反应模式。这一特异性为进一步采用瞳孔指标对自闭症进行早期诊断提供了支持,具有重要的理论和实践意义。     

突触素、神经肽Y（NPY）在糖尿病模型大鼠脑组织细胞中的表达研究

对突触素(synaptophysin)、神经肽Y(NPY)在链尿佐菌素诱导的糖尿病模型大鼠额叶皮质和海马组织细胞中的表达进行研究,并利用UTHSCSA Image Tools3．0进行图象分析,同时对其与学习记忆的关系进行探讨。选取成年Sprague—Dawley雄性大鼠20只,体重200—300g,随机分为两组。实验组用链尿佐菌素诱导产生糖尿病模型,并以血糖测定和尿糖水平测定进行筛选,另一组为空白对照组。继续饲养4周后,各组大鼠先进行Y型迷宫测试其学习记忆能力,然后取出脑组织,制做连续冰冻切片,对大脑额叶皮质和海马组织进行突触素、神经肽Y酶标免疫组织化学染色,观察这些蛋白在糖尿病大鼠和正常大鼠脑中表达的差异。结果发现糖尿病大鼠在Y型迷宫测试中,错误次数明显增多,糖尿病大鼠额叶皮质和海马神经元数目较正常对照组明显减少,神经细胞内突触素和神经肽Y的表达均较正常对照组明显下降。我们的研究显示突触素和神经肽Y在糖尿病大鼠大脑额叶皮质和海马组织内表达的减少可能与糖尿病组神经细胞突触数目及突触的可塑性下降、学习和记忆能力障碍有关。这可能是造成糖尿病性痴呆的一个因素。     

灵长类大脑前额叶NE Alpha-2I亚型受体参与记忆过程的证据

临床厂家表明,大脑前额叶皮质与学习、记忆、思维、注意、情绪等高级脑功能有关;比较神经学研究表明,非人灵长类前额叶皮质的发育水平虽不及人类,但同其他哺乳动物相比,却也高度发育,根据解剖学研究资料,猫的前额叶皮质占整个大脑皮质表面积的3.5%,狗占7%,恒河猴占11.5%,猩猩占17%,人类则达29%（Markowitsch,1988）,我们实验室测得树qu前额叶颗粒皮质大约占4.2%,蜂猴约占8.2%。进化程度愈高等的动物,其前额叶皮质的结构和功能愈复杂,受损伤后表现出的智力缺损也愈严重。     

Autism,theory of mind,and the reactive attitudes

Whether to treat autism as exculpatory in any given circumstance appears to be influenced both by models of autism and by theories of moral responsibility. This article looks at one particular combination of theories: autism as theory of mind challenges and moral responsibility as requiring appropriate experience of the reactive attitudes. In pursuing this particular combination of ideas, we do not intend to endorse them. Our goal is, instead, to explore the implications of this combination of especially prominent ideas about autism and about moral responsibility. These implications can be quite serious and practical for autists and those who interact directly with autists, as well as for broader communities as they attend to the fair, compassionate, and respectful treatment of increasing numbers of autistic adults. We find that these theories point to a limited range of situations in which autists should not be blamed for transgressive actions for which neurotypical individuals should be blamed. We build on what others have written on these issues by bringing in a recent cognitive model of the role theory of mind plays in empathy, by discussing the social implications of the theoretical findings, and by raising questions about the compatibility of reactive attitude theories of moral responsibility with the neurodiversity approach to autism.     

Neural Correlates of Post-Conventional Moral Reasoning: A Voxel-Based Morphometry Study

Going back to Kohlberg, moral development research affirms that people progress through different stages of moral reasoning as cognitive abilities mature. Individuals at a lower level of moral reasoning judge moral issues mainly based on self-interest (personal interests schema) or based on adherence to laws and rules (maintaining norms schema), whereas individuals at the post-conventional level judge moral issues based on deeper principles and shared ideals. However, the extent to which moral development is reflected in structural brain architecture remains unknown. To investigate this question, we used voxel-based morphometry and examined the brain structure in a sample of 67 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. Subjects completed the Defining Issues Test (DIT-2) which measures moral development in terms of cognitive schema preference. Results demonstrate that subjects at the post-conventional level of moral reasoning were characterized by increased gray matter volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, compared with subjects at a lower level of moral reasoning. Our findings support an important role for both cognitive and emotional processes in moral reasoning and provide first evidence for individual differences in brain structure according to the stages of moral reasoning first proposed by Kohlberg decades ago.     

Self–other control processes in social cognition: from imitation to empathy

We review the evidence that an ability to achieve a precise balance between representing the self and representing other people is crucial in social interaction. This ability is required for imitation, perspective-taking, theory of mind and empathy; and disruption to this ability may contribute to the symptoms of clinical and sub-clinical conditions, including autism spectrum disorder and mirror-touch synaesthesia. Moving beyond correlational approaches, a recent intervention study demonstrated that training participants to control representations of the self and others improves their ability to control imitative behaviour, and to take another''s visual perspective. However, it is unclear whether these effects apply to other areas of social interaction, such as the ability to empathize with others. We report original data showing that participants trained to increase self–other control in the motor domain demonstrated increased empathic corticospinal responses (Experiment 1) and self-reported empathy (Experiment 2), as well as an increased ability to control imitation. These results suggest that the ability to control self and other representations contributes to empathy as well as to other types of social interaction.     

内侧前额叶与社会认知

早期的研究表明杏仁核、前额叶、颞上沟、前扣带回等与人类的社会认知活动有关;随着多种新技术的应用。越来越多的研究发现其它一些脑区结构(如岛叶、基底节、白质等)也与社会认知和行为有关。本文综述了内侧前额叶在社会认知中的作用,重点介绍了内侧前额叶在心灵理论、情绪认知、社会推理与决策、道德判断、自我认知等社会认知活动中的作用。未来研究希望能从整体和动态上认识内侧前额叶在社会认知活动中的作用。     

Dopamine and the Development of Executive Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Persons with autism regularly exhibit executive dysfunction (ED), including problems with deliberate goal-directed behavior, planning, and flexible responding in changing environments. Indeed, this array of deficits is sufficiently prominent to have prompted a theory that executive dysfunction is at the heart of these disorders. A more detailed examination of these behaviors reveals, however, that some aspects of executive function remain developmentaly appropriate. In particular, while people with autism often have difficulty with tasks requiring cognitive flexibility, their fundamental cognitive control capabilities, such as those involved in inhibiting an inappropriate but relatively automatic response, show no significant impairment on many tasks. In this article, an existing computational model of the prefrontal cortex and its role in executive control is shown to explain this dichotomous pattern of behavior by positing abnormalities in the dopamine-based modulation of frontal systems in individuals with autism. This model offers excellent qualitative and quantitative fits to performance on standard tests of cognitive control and cognitive flexibility in this clinical population. By simulating the development of the prefrontal cortex, the computational model also offers a potential explanation for an observed lack of executive dysfunction early in life.     

Expertise modulates the perception of pain in others

Perceiving the pain of others activates a large part of the pain matrix in the observer [1]. Because this shared neural representation can lead to empathy or personal distress [2, 3], regulatory mechanisms must operate in people who inflict painful procedures in their practice with patient populations in order to prevent their distress from impairing their ability to be of assistance. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging MRI study, physicians who practice acupuncture were compared to naive participants while observing animated visual stimuli depicting needles being inserted into different body parts, including the mouth region, hands, and feet. Results indicate that the anterior insula somatosensory cortex, periaqueducal gray, and anterior cingulate cortex were significantly activated in the control group, but not in the expert group, who instead showed activation of the medial and superior prefrontal cortices and the temporoparietal junction, involved in emotion regulation and theory of mind.     

Functional alterations in neural substrates of geometric reasoning in adults with high-functioning autism

Individuals with autism spectrum condition (ASC) are known to excel in some perceptual cognitive tasks, but such developed functions have been often regarded as "islets of abilities" that do not significantly contribute to broader intellectual capacities. However, recent behavioral studies have reported that individuals with ASC have advantages for performing Raven's (Standard) Progressive Matrices (RPM/RSPM), a standard neuropsychological test for general fluid intelligence, raising the possibility that ASC's cognitive strength can be utilized for more general purposes like novel problem solving. Here, the brain activity of 25 adults with high-functioning ASC and 26 matched normal controls (NC) was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural substrates of geometric reasoning during the engagement of a modified version of the RSPM test. Among the frontal and parietal brain regions involved in fluid intelligence, ASC showed larger activation in the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) during an analytic condition with moderate difficulty than NC. Activation in the left LOTC and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) increased with task difficulty in NC, whereas such modulation of activity was absent in ASC. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis revealed a significant reduction of activation coupling between the left inferior parietal cortex and the right anterior prefrontal cortex during both figural and analytic conditions in ASC. These results indicate altered pattern of functional specialization and integration in the neural system for geometric reasoning in ASC, which may explain its atypical cognitive pattern, including performance on the Raven's Matrices test.     

Measuring the distribution of spitefulness

Spiteful, antisocial behavior may undermine the moral and institutional fabric of society, producing disorder, fear, and mistrust. Previous research demonstrates the willingness of individuals to harm others, but little is understood about how far people are willing to go in being spiteful (relative to how far they could have gone) or their consistency in spitefulness across repeated trials. Our experiment is the first to provide individuals with repeated opportunities to spitefully harm anonymous others when the decision entails zero cost to the spiter and cannot be observed as such by the object of spite. This method reveals that the majority of individuals exhibit consistent (non-)spitefulness over time and that the distribution of spitefulness is bipolar: when choosing whether to be spiteful, most individuals either avoid spite altogether or impose the maximum possible harm on their unwitting victims.     

Impact of Psychopathy on Moral Judgments about Causing Fear and Physical Harm

Psychopathy is a personality variable associated with persistent immoral behaviors. Despite this, attempts to link moral reasoning deficits to psychopathic traits have yielded mixed results with many findings supporting intact moral reasoning in individuals with psychopathic traits. Abundant evidence shows that psychopathy impairs responses to others’ emotional distress. However, most studies of morality and psychopathy focus on judgments about causing others physical harm. Results of such studies may be inconsistent because physical harm is an imperfect proxy for emotional distress. No previous paradigm has explicitly separated judgments about physical harm and emotional distress and assessed how psychopathy affects each type of judgment. In three studies we found that psychopathy impairs judgments about causing others emotional distress (specifically fear) but minimally affects judgments about causing physical harm and that judgments about causing fear predict instrumental aggression in psychopathy. These findings are consistent with reports linking psychopathy to insensitivity to others’ fear, and suggest that sensitivity to others’ fear may play a fundamental role in the types of moral decision-making impaired by psychopathy.     

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Shifts Preference of Moral Judgments

Attitude to morality, reflecting cultural norms and values, is considered unique to human social behavior. Resulting moral behavior in a social environment is controlled by a widespread neural network including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which plays an important role in decision making. In the present study we investigate the influence of neurophysiological modulation of DLPFC reactivity by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on moral reasoning. For that purpose we administered anodal, cathodal, and sham stimulation of the left DLPFC while subjects judged the appropriateness of hard moral personal dilemmas. In contrast to sham and cathodal stimulation, anodal stimulation induced a shift in judgment of personal moral dilemmas towards more non-utilitarian actions. Our results demonstrate that alterations of left DLPFC activity can change moral judgments and, in consequence, provide a causal link between left DLPFC activity and moral reasoning. Most important, the observed shift towards non-utilitarian actions suggests that moral decision making is not a permanent individual trait but can be manipulated; consequently individuals with boundless, uncontrollable, and maladaptive moral behavior, such as found in psychopathy, might benefit from neuromodulation-based approaches.