Section for Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm 171 77, Sweden.
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1018 WT, The Netherlands.
Cereb Cortex. 2020 Sep 3;30(10):5410-5419. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa122.
Attributing intentions to others' actions is important for learning to avoid their potentially harmful consequences. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging multivariate pattern analysis to investigate how the brain integrates information about others' intentions with the aversive outcome of their actions. In an interactive aversive learning task, participants (n = 33) were scanned while watching two alleged coparticipants (confederates)-one making choices intentionally and the other unintentionally-leading to aversive (a mild shock) or safe (no shock) outcomes to the participant. We assessed the trial-by-trial changes in participants' neural activation patterns related to observing the coparticipants and experiencing the outcome of their choices. Participants reported a higher number of shocks, more discomfort, and more anger to shocks given by the intentional player. Intentionality enhanced responses to aversive actions in the insula, anterior cingulate cortex, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and the anterior superior temporal sulcus. Our findings indicate that neural pattern similarities index the integration of social and threat information across the cortex.
将意图归因于他人的行为对于学习避免其潜在的有害后果很重要。在这里，我们使用功能磁共振成像多变量模式分析来研究大脑如何将他人意图的信息与他们行为的不愉快后果整合在一起。在一个互动的厌恶学习任务中，参与者（n=33）在观看两名所谓的共同参与者（同伙）——一个故意做出选择，另一个无意做出选择——导致参与者遭受不愉快（轻度电击）或安全（无电击）结果的同时接受扫描。我们评估了与观察共同参与者和经历他们选择的结果相关的参与者神经激活模式的逐次变化。参与者报告说，有意玩家给予的电击次数更多，不适感更强，对电击的愤怒感更强。意图增强了对岛叶、前扣带皮层、下额前皮质、背内侧前额皮质和前上颞叶回中不愉快行为的反应。我们的发现表明，神经模式相似性指数表明社会和威胁信息在整个大脑中的整合。
