Carter Elizabeth J, Pelphrey Kevin A
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America.
Soc Neurosci. 2008;3(2):151-63. doi: 10.1080/17470910801903431.
During every social approach, humans must assess each other's intentions. Facial expressions provide cues to assist in these assessments via associations with emotion, the likelihood of affiliation, and personality. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants viewed animated male characters approaching them in a hallway and making either a happy or an angry facial expression. An expected increase in amygdala and superior temporal sulcus activation to the expression of anger was found. Notably, two other social brain regions also had an increased hemodynamic response to anger relative to happiness, including the lateral fusiform gyrus and a region centered in the middle temporal gyrus. Other brain regions showed little differentiation or an increased level of activity to the happy stimuli. These findings provide insight into the brain mechanisms involved in reading the intentions of other human beings in an overtly social context. In particular, they demonstrate brain regions sensitive to social signals of dominance and affiliation.
在每次社交互动中，人类都必须评估彼此的意图。面部表情通过与情感、亲和可能性及个性的关联，提供线索以辅助这些评估。在这项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究中，参与者观看动画男性角色在走廊里朝他们走来，并做出高兴或愤怒的面部表情。研究发现，杏仁核和颞上沟对愤怒表情的激活预期增加。值得注意的是，相对于高兴，另外两个社交脑区对愤怒的血液动力学反应也增强，包括外侧梭状回和以颞中回为中心的一个区域。其他脑区对高兴刺激几乎没有差异或活动水平增加。这些发现为在公开社交情境中解读他人意图所涉及的脑机制提供了见解。特别是，它们展示了对支配和亲和社交信号敏感的脑区。
