Pichon Swann, de Gelder Beatrice, Grezes Julie
LPPA, CNRS-College de France, Paris, France.
Soc Neurosci. 2008;3(3-4):199-212. doi: 10.1080/17470910701394368.
The ability to detect emotional meaning in others' behavior constitutes a central component of social competence. Expressions of anger in particular present salient signals that play a major role in the regulation of social interactions. Investigations of human anger signals have to date used still pictures of facial expressions but so far the neurobiological basis of bodily communication of anger remains largely unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigated the neural bases involved in perceiving anger signals emanating from the whole body. Our study also investigates what the presence of dynamic information adds to the perception of body expressions of anger. Participants were scanned while viewing stimuli (stills or videos) of angry and neutral whole-body expressions. Whole-body expressions of anger elicit activity in regions including the amygdala and the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which play a role in the affective evaluation of the stimuli. Importantly, the perception of dynamic body expressions of anger additionally engages the hypothalamus, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the temporal pole and the premotor cortex, brain regions that are coupled with autonomic reactions and motor responses related to defensive behaviors.
察觉他人行为中情感意义的能力是社会能力的核心组成部分。尤其是愤怒的表情呈现出显著的信号，在社会互动调节中发挥着重要作用。迄今为止，对人类愤怒信号的研究使用的是面部表情的静态图片，但到目前为止，愤怒的身体交流的神经生物学基础在很大程度上仍然未知。本研究利用功能磁共振成像技术，调查了感知来自全身的愤怒信号所涉及的神经基础。我们的研究还探讨了动态信息的存在对愤怒身体表情感知的影响。参与者在观看愤怒和中性全身表情的刺激物（静态图片或视频）时接受扫描。愤怒的全身表情会引发包括杏仁核和外侧眶额皮质在内的区域的活动，这些区域在对刺激物的情感评估中发挥作用。重要的是，对动态愤怒身体表情的感知还会激活下丘脑、腹内侧前额叶皮质、颞极和运动前皮质，这些脑区与自主反应和与防御行为相关的运动反应有关。
