Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2018 Nov 8;13(11):1131-1139. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsy081.
Witnessing exemplary actions triggers admiration, a positive emotion that can pertain to concrete skills, or move the onlooker beyond physical characteristics to appreciate the abstract, moral implications. Participants reacted to narratives depicting skilled or virtuous protagonists first during a videotaped interview then during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We analyzed participants' gaze aversion (an indicator of disengaging from the immediate environment) and cognitive construals (mentions of concrete characteristics vs abstract beliefs and values) during the interview, and relations to individuals' subsequent neural activations. When participants averted their gaze, they were more likely to mention abstract construals, and both behaviors were more likely when reacting to virtue. Gaze aversion to virtue narratives predicted greater subsequent activation for those narratives in dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC), involved in visual attention control. The inferior-posterior posteromedial cortices (ipPMC), a default mode network hub involved in abstract thought, activated only to virtue, and activity level reflected individuals' tendency to abstract construals. Critically, dPCC and ipPMC activity sequentially mediated the relationship between individuals' gaze and abstract construal tendencies. No such relationships existed for reactions to skill, despite participants reporting equivalently strong positive emotion. In appreciating virtue, dPCC may support individuals in transcending the viewable context, facilitating ipPMC activity and moral construals.
榜样行为引发钦佩，这是一种积极的情绪，可以涉及具体技能，也可以让旁观者超越身体特征，欣赏抽象的道德含义。参与者首先在录像采访中，然后在功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 中对描述熟练或有道德的主角的叙述做出反应。我们分析了参与者在采访过程中的目光回避（表示与当前环境脱离）和认知构建（具体特征与抽象信仰和价值观的提及），以及与个体随后的神经激活的关系。当参与者回避目光时，他们更有可能提及抽象的构建，而这两种行为在对美德做出反应时更有可能发生。对美德故事的目光回避预测了参与者在背侧后扣带皮层 (dPCC) 中对这些故事的后续激活增加，dPCC 参与视觉注意力控制。默认模式网络枢纽的下后内侧额顶叶皮质 (ipPMC) 仅对美德产生激活，并且活动水平反映了个体的抽象构建倾向。至关重要的是，dPCC 和 ipPMC 的活动依次介导了个体目光和抽象构建倾向之间的关系。对于对技能的反应，没有这种关系存在，尽管参与者报告了同样强烈的积极情绪。在欣赏美德时，dPCC 可能支持个体超越可观察的背景，促进 ipPMC 活动和道德构建。
