美国哈佛医学院Ziv Williams和Raymundo Báez-Mendoza研究组合作取得最新进展。他们发现相互作用的灵长类动物前额叶皮层中的社会代理身份细胞。这一研究成果于2021年10月22日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《科学》上。

通过跟踪三只相互作用的恒河猴群体的个体间动态，他们发现了背内侧前额叶皮层神经元对群体行为的详细表征，不仅反映了其他代理人的身份，还反映了他们的具体互动、社会背景、行动和结果。他们展示了这些细胞如何共同代表特定群体成员之间的互动以及他们的回报、报复和过去的行为。他们还展示了它们如何影响它们自己即将做出的决定以及它们形成有益的特定于代理的相互作用能力。总之，这些发现揭示了编码他人代理身份的前额叶神经元，以及一种可以支持社会群体互动行为的细胞机制。

据悉，在社会群体中有效互动的能力对于灵长类动物和人类行为至关重要。然而，理解群体交互行为背后的神经过程或神经元通过哪些神经过程解决编码多个智能体的基本问题仍然是一个挑战。

附：英文原文

Title: Social agent identity cells in the prefrontal cortex of interacting groups of primates

Author: Raymundo Báez-Mendoza, Emma P. Mastrobattista, Amy J. Wang, Ziv M. Williams

Issue&Volume: 2021-10-22

Abstract: The ability to interact effectively within social groups is essential to primate and human behavior. Yet understanding the neural processes that underlie the interactive behavior of groups or by which neurons solve the basic problem of coding for multiple agents has remained a challenge. By tracking the interindividual dynamics of groups of three interacting rhesus macaques, we discover detailed representations of the groups’ behavior by neurons in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, reflecting not only the other agents’ identities but also their specific interactions, social context, actions, and outcomes. We show how these cells collectively represent the interaction between specific group members and their reciprocation, retaliation, and past behaviors. We also show how they influence the animals’ own upcoming decisions and their ability to form beneficial agent-specific interactions. Together, these findings reveal prefrontal neurons that code for the agency identity of others and a cellular mechanism that could support the interactive behavior of social groups.

DOI: abb4149

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abb4149