Noonan M P, Mars R B, Sallet J, Dunbar R I M, Fellows L K
McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute, 3801 Rue University, Montreal, H3A 2B4, Quebec, Canada; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, United Kingdom.
Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, United Kingdom; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EZ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Behav Brain Res. 2018 Dec 14;355:12-23. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.02.019. Epub 2018 Feb 20.
Social skills rely on a specific set of cognitive processes, raising the possibility that individual differences in social networks are related to differences in specific brain structural and functional networks. Here, we tested this hypothesis with multimodality neuroimaging. With diffusion MRI (DMRI), we showed that differences in structural integrity of particular white matter (WM) tracts, including cingulum bundle, extreme capsule and arcuate fasciculus were associated with an individual's social network size (SNS). A voxel-based morphology analysis demonstrated correlations between gray matter (GM) volume and SNS in limbic and temporal lobe regions. These structural changes co-occured with functional network differences. As a function of SNS, dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex showed altered resting-state functional connectivity with the default mode network (DMN). Finally, we integrated these three complementary methods, interrogating the relationship between social GM clusters and specific WM and resting-state networks (RSNs). Probabilistic tractography seeded in these GM nodes utilized the SNS-related WM pathways. Further, the spatial and functional overlap between the social GM clusters and the DMN was significantly closer than other control RSNs. These integrative analyses provide convergent evidence of the role of specific circuits in SNS, likely supporting the adaptive behavior necessary for success in extensive social environments.
社交技能依赖于一组特定的认知过程，这就增加了社交网络中的个体差异与特定脑结构和功能网络差异相关的可能性。在此，我们通过多模态神经成像对这一假设进行了测试。利用扩散磁共振成像（DMRI），我们发现特定白质（WM）束（包括扣带束、极端囊和弓状束）的结构完整性差异与个体的社交网络规模（SNS）相关。基于体素的形态学分析表明，边缘叶和颞叶区域的灰质（GM）体积与SNS之间存在相关性。这些结构变化与功能网络差异同时出现。作为SNS的一个函数，背内侧和背外侧前额叶皮质与默认模式网络（DMN）的静息态功能连接发生了改变。最后，我们整合了这三种互补方法，探究社交GM簇与特定WM和静息态网络（RSN）之间的关系。在这些GM节点中进行的概率性纤维束成像利用了与SNS相关的WM通路。此外，社交GM簇与DMN之间的空间和功能重叠比其他对照RSN显著更紧密。这些综合分析为特定回路在SNS中的作用提供了一致的证据，可能支持在广泛社交环境中取得成功所必需的适应性行为。
