Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Neuron. 2020 May 20;106(4):687-699.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.02.028. Epub 2020 Mar 17.
When individuals learn from observing the behavior of others, they deploy at least two distinct strategies. Choice imitation involves repeating other agents' previous actions, whereas emulation proceeds from inferring their goals and intentions. Despite the prevalence of observational learning in humans and other social animals, a fundamental question remains unaddressed: how does the brain decide which strategy to use in a given situation? In two fMRI studies (the second a pre-registered replication of the first), we identify a neuro-computational mechanism underlying arbitration between choice imitation and goal emulation. Computational modeling, combined with a behavioral task that dissociated the two strategies, revealed that control over behavior was adaptively and dynamically weighted toward the most reliable strategy. Emulation reliability, the model's arbitration signal, was represented in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and rostral cingulate cortex. Our replicated findings illuminate the computations by which the brain decides to imitate or emulate others.
当个体通过观察他人的行为进行学习时，他们至少会运用两种不同的策略。选择模仿涉及重复其他主体之前的行为，而效仿则是从推断他们的目标和意图开始。尽管观察学习在人类和其他社会性动物中非常普遍，但一个基本问题仍未得到解决：大脑如何在特定情况下决定使用哪种策略？在两项 fMRI 研究中（第二项是第一项的预先注册复制），我们确定了在选择模仿和目标效仿之间进行仲裁的神经计算机制。计算模型与能够区分两种策略的行为任务相结合，揭示了行为控制被适应性地和动态地加权到最可靠的策略。效仿可靠性，即模型的仲裁信号，在腹外侧前额叶皮层、颞顶联合区和额前扣带皮层中得到了体现。我们复制的发现阐明了大脑决定模仿或效仿他人的计算过程。
