Sun Delin, Shao Robin, Wang Zhaoxin, Lee Tatia M C
Laboratory of Neuropsychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Laboratory of Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2018 Feb 13;12:52. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00052. eCollection 2018.
Gaze direction is a common social cue implying potential interpersonal interaction. However, little is known about the neural processing of social decision making influenced by perceived gaze direction. Here, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method to investigate 27 females when they were engaging in an economic exchange game task during which photos of direct or averted eye gaze were shown. We found that, when averted but not direct gaze was presented, prosocial vs. selfish choices were associated with stronger activations in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) as well as larger functional couplings between right STG and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Moreover, stronger activations in right STG was associated with quicker actions for making prosocial choice accompanied with averted gaze. The findings suggest that, when the cue implying social contact is absent, the processing of understanding others' intention and the relationship between self and others is more involved for making prosocial than selfish decisions. These findings could advance our understanding of the roles of subtle cues in influencing prosocial decision making, as well as shedding lights on deficient social cue processing and functioning among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
注视方向是一种常见的社交线索，意味着潜在的人际互动。然而，对于受感知注视方向影响的社会决策的神经处理过程，我们却知之甚少。在此，我们采用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）方法，对27名女性在参与一项经济交换游戏任务时进行了研究，在此任务过程中会展示直视或回避目光的照片。我们发现，当呈现回避而非直视的目光时，亲社会选择与自私选择相比，右侧颞上回（STG）有更强的激活，并且右侧STG与后扣带回皮层（PCC）之间有更大的功能耦合。此外，右侧STG更强的激活与做出伴有回避目光的亲社会选择的更快行动相关。这些发现表明，当暗示社会接触的线索不存在时，做出亲社会决策比自私决策更需要参与理解他人意图以及自我与他人关系的过程。这些发现可以增进我们对微妙线索在影响亲社会决策中所起作用的理解，同时也有助于揭示自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）个体中社会线索处理和功能的缺陷。
