Hogeveen Jeremy, Obhi Sukhvinder S, Banissy Michael J, Santiesteban Idalmis, Press Clare, Catmur Caroline, Bird Geoffrey
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths and Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, and MRC Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychology Centre, King's College London and Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths and Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, and MRC Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychology Centre, King's College London and Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths and Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, and MRC Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychology Centre, King's College London and Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2015 Jul;10(7):1003-9. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu148. Epub 2014 Dec 5.
The control of neurological networks supporting social cognition is crucially important for social interaction. In particular, the control of imitation is directly linked to interaction quality, with impairments associated with disorders characterized by social difficulties. Previous work suggests inferior frontal cortex (IFC) and the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) are involved in controlling imitation, but the functional roles of these areas remain unclear. Here, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was used to enhance cortical excitability at IFC and the TPJ prior to the completion of three tasks: (i) a naturalistic social interaction during which increased imitation is known to improve rapport, (ii) a choice reaction time task in which imitation needs to be inhibited for successful performance and (iii) a non-imitative control task. Relative to sham stimulation, stimulating IFC improved the context-dependent control of imitation-participants imitated more during the social interaction and less during the imitation inhibition task. In contrast, stimulating the TPJ reduced imitation in the inhibition task without affecting imitation during social interaction. Neither stimulation site affected the non-imitative control task. These data support a model in which IFC modulates imitation directly according to task demands, whereas TPJ controls task-appropriate shifts in attention toward representation of the self or the other, indirectly impacting upon imitation.
支持社会认知的神经网络控制对于社会互动至关重要。特别是，模仿的控制与互动质量直接相关，其损伤与以社交困难为特征的疾病有关。先前的研究表明，额下回（IFC）和颞顶联合区（TPJ）参与控制模仿，但这些区域的功能作用仍不清楚。在此，在完成三项任务之前，使用经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）来增强IFC和TPJ的皮质兴奋性：（i）一项自然主义的社会互动任务，在此期间增加模仿已知可改善融洽关系；（ii）一项选择反应时间任务，在该任务中为了成功完成需要抑制模仿；以及（iii）一项非模仿性对照任务。相对于假刺激，刺激IFC改善了模仿的情境依赖性控制——参与者在社会互动期间模仿更多，而在模仿抑制任务期间模仿更少。相比之下，刺激TPJ在抑制任务中减少了模仿，而不影响社会互动期间的模仿。两个刺激部位均未影响非模仿性对照任务。这些数据支持了一个模型，其中IFC根据任务需求直接调节模仿，而TPJ控制任务适当的注意力转移，转向自我或他人的表征，从而间接影响模仿。
