社会反馈诱发情绪的神经机制及催产素的作用

Humans as a unique social species experience complicated emotion mainly during social interactions. Negative social feedback can induce aversive, abnormal emotional responses whereas positive social feedback and interaction can be an important way to ameliorate emotional dysfunctions. Although social feedback has a profound impact on human emotions and mental health, we know little about the underlying neural and molecular mechanisms. This project integrate a psychological paradigm, of which emotional responses are induced via different types of social feedback, with functional brain imaging, pharmacological manipulation, and emotional deficit models to investigate 1) how the interaction between the emotional reactivity (consisting of the amygdala, anterior cingulate, anterior insular) and regulation (e.g., ventral medial prefrontal cortex, dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex) networks characterizes social feedback induced emotion; 2) the functional role of oxytocin, a neuropipetide showing antidepressant, anxiolytic and prosocial effects, in social feedback-induced emotion; 3) the behavioral and neural abnormalities in social feedback induced emotion in depression; and 4) the neural mechanism underlying the ameliorative effect of intranasal oxytocin administration and cognitive training on depression patients. We will adopt multiple data analysis methods, including the regular brain activation analysis, as well as multi-voxel pattern analysis and functional connectivity, to reveal multiple neural characteristics underlying social feedback induced emotions and related deficits. The outcome of this project will contribution to our understanding of the neural and molecular mechanisms of specific emotional responses upon social feedback, have clinical implications for depression treatment, and thus contribute to the major goal of the whole project.

作为社会性动物，人类的情绪反应主要在社会互动中产生，消极的社会反馈会诱发负性情绪，积极的社会反馈则是缓解情绪障碍的重要途径之一。尽管社会反馈对情绪体验和心理健康有巨大影响，对其认知神经机制和分子基础却知之甚少。本研究旨在采用由社会反馈诱发不同情绪反应的心理学范式，结合药理调控(鼻喷催产素)、脑功能成像、情感障碍模型(抑郁症) 等多学科方法，揭示1) 情绪响应和调节网络在社会反馈诱发情绪中的交互作用机制；2)催产素影响社会反馈诱发情绪的作用机理; 3)抑郁症患者社会反馈诱发情绪的异常表现; 4)催产素、认知训练对其的改善作用。我们拟采用脑激活、多体素模式识别、脑连接组学等多种分析手段揭示社会反馈诱发情绪的多维度神经特征及其在抑郁症的异常模式。本项目预期结果对理解社会反馈诱发情感神经环路及分子基础有理论意义，对情感障碍的治疗有临床意义，并可能为实现该重大研究计划的科学目标做出重要贡献。

作为社会性动物，对于社会反馈的学习与反应在社会互动中不可避免，也有重要的意义。消极的社会反馈会诱发负性情绪，积极的社会反馈则是缓解情绪障碍的重要途径之一。尽管社会反馈对心理健康有巨大影响，对其认知神经机制和分子基础却知之甚少。本研究采用了与（积极/消极）社会反馈相关的心理学范式，结合药理调控(鼻喷催产素)、脑功能成像等多学科方法。研究主要结果包括：揭示了不同效价社会反馈，尤其是背叛性/批评性的消极社会反馈和利他性/支持性的积极社会反馈的认知神经机制；揭示了催产素在加工不同效价社会反馈信息中的作用；揭示了催产素与认知调控手段对积极、消极社会反馈引起情绪反应的调控。这些研究结果对理解社会反馈及其诱发的情感的有理论和实践意义。相关研究成果发表于Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, eLife等国际学术期刊。