Department of Biology, Neuroscience Institute, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019 Dec;107:215-228. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.009. Epub 2019 Sep 8.
The ability to observe, interpret, and learn behaviors and emotions from conspecifics is crucial for survival, as it bypasses direct experience to avoid potential dangers and maximize rewards and benefits. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its extended neural connections are emerging as important networks for the detection, encoding, and interpretation of social signals during observational learning. Evidence from rodents and primates (including humans) suggests that the social interactions that occur while individuals are exposed to important information in their environment lead to transfer of information across individuals that promotes adaptive behaviors in the form of either social affiliation, alertness, or avoidance. In this review, we first showcase anatomical and functional connections of the ACC in primates and rodents that contribute to the perception of social signals. We then discuss species-specific cognitive and social functions of the ACC and differentiate between neural activity related to 'self' and 'other', extending into the difference between social signals received and processed by the self, versus observing social interactions among others. We next describe behavioral and neural events that contribute to social learning via observation. Finally, we discuss some of the neural mechanisms underlying observational learning within the ACC and its extended network.
观察、解释和学习同种动物行为和情绪的能力对于生存至关重要，因为它可以绕过直接经验，避免潜在的危险，最大限度地提高奖励和收益。前扣带皮层（ACC）及其扩展的神经连接正在成为用于检测、编码和解释观察学习期间社会信号的重要网络。来自啮齿动物和灵长类动物（包括人类）的证据表明，个体在暴露于环境中重要信息时发生的社会互动导致个体之间信息的转移，以社交联系、警觉或回避的形式促进适应性行为。在这篇综述中，我们首先展示了灵长类动物和啮齿动物中 ACC 的解剖和功能连接，这些连接有助于对社会信号的感知。然后，我们讨论了 ACC 的特定于物种的认知和社会功能，并区分了与“自我”和“他人”相关的神经活动，扩展到自我接收和处理的社会信号与观察他人之间的社会互动之间的区别。接下来，我们描述了通过观察促进社会学习的行为和神经事件。最后，我们讨论了 ACC 及其扩展网络中观察学习的一些神经机制。
