Cognitive Science Center Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Soc Neurosci. 2012 Jul;7(4):385-97. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2011.628760. Epub 2011 Oct 24.
In adapting our behavior to a rapidly changing environment, we also tune our behavior to that of others. To investigate the neural bases of such adaptive mechanisms, we examined how individuals adjust their actions after decision-conflicts observed in others compared to self-experienced conflicts. Participants responded to the color of a stimulus, while its spatial position elicited either a conflicting or a congruent action. Participants were required either to respond to stimuli themselves or to observe the response of another participant. We studied the difference between interference effects following conflicting or congruent stimuli, an effect known as conflict adaptation. Consistent with earlier reports, we found that the implementation of reactive control, following congruent trials, was accompanied by activation of the right inferior frontal cortex. Individual differences in the efficacy of response inhibition covaried with the level of activation in that region. Sustaining proactive control, following incongruent trials, activated the left lateral prefrontal cortex. Most importantly, adaptive controls induced by decision-conflicts observed in others, as well as the associated prefrontal activations, were comparable to those induced by self-experienced conflicts. We show that in both behavioral and neural terms we adapt to conflicts happening to others just as if they happened to us.
在适应快速变化的环境的过程中，我们也会根据他人的行为来调整自己的行为。为了研究这种自适应机制的神经基础，我们研究了个体在观察到他人经历的决策冲突与自己经历的决策冲突时，如何调整自己的行为。参与者根据刺激的颜色做出反应，而刺激的空间位置则引发冲突或一致的动作。参与者要么自己对刺激做出反应，要么观察另一个参与者的反应。我们研究了在观察到冲突或一致的刺激后，干扰效应（即冲突适应）的差异。与早期的报告一致，我们发现，在一致的试验后，反应性控制的实施伴随着右侧下额叶皮层的激活。反应抑制效能的个体差异与该区域的激活水平相关。在不一致的试验后，持续的前摄性控制激活了左侧外侧前额叶皮层。最重要的是，由观察到的他人的决策冲突引起的适应性控制，以及相关的前额叶激活，与由自身经历的冲突引起的适应性控制相当。我们证明，从行为和神经的角度来看，我们会像自己经历冲突一样，对他人经历的冲突做出适应性反应。
