Neural architecture of social reasoning in the prefrontal cortex

One of the great mysteries of brain function concerns how coordinated, purposeful behavior arises from neural states. How are people able to orchestrate their thoughts and actions in concert with their intentions to support goal-directed social behavior? An emerging body of evidence suggests that this capacity centrally depends on the prefrontal cortex, which is particularly important for grouping specific experiences of our interactions with the environment along common themes, that is, as behavior-guiding principles. To this end, our brains have evolved mechanisms for detecting and storing complex relationships between situations, actions, and consequences. By gleaning this knowledge from past experiences, we can develop behavior-guiding principles that allow us to infer which goals are available in similar situations in the future and what actions are likely to bring us closer to them.

We are currently investigating the neural architecture of goal-directed social behavior (employing fMRI and lesion studies) in an effort to develop a cognitive neuroscience framework for understanding the functional organization and forms of social knowledge mediated by the prefrontal cortex. We are also investigating these issues by applying novel neuroimaging techniques (in collaboration with Jerzy Bodurka) that enable presentation of brain activity to the participant in real-time. Real-time fMRI is based on the principle that when a specific brain area is engaged, the blood flow to this neural region increases and the local increase in oxygenated hemoglobin in the capillary beds of nearby activated neurons causes a localized increase in the MRI signal. This BOLD signal can be analyzed in real-time, so that the resulting information of activation in a specific brain region is immediately available and can be used as a neurofeedback signal to guide a person’s cognitive processes. By employing this new method, we are able to train the modulation of activity in social knowledge networks as a potential means for treating mental disorders involving deficits in social reasoning.

References

Barbey, A.K., Srivastava, A., Reynolds, R. & Grafman, J. (submitted). Neural architecture of normative social reasoning in the human prefrontal cortex.

Barbey, A.K. & Grafman, J. (in press). The prefrontal cortex and goal-directed social behavior. In J. Decety & J. Cacioppo (Eds.), The Handbook of Social Neuroscience. Oxford University Press.

Barbey, A.K., Krueger, F. & Grafman, J. (in press). Architecture of counterfactual thought in the prefrontal cortex. In M. Bar (Ed.), Predictions in the Brain: Using our Past to Prepare for the Future. Oxford University Press.

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Barbey, A.K., Krueger, F. & Grafman, J. (2009). An evolutionarily adaptive neural architecture for social reasoning. Trends in Neurosciences, 32, 603-610. [pdf]

Barbey, A.K., Krueger, F. & Grafman, J. (2009). Structured event complexes in the prefrontal cortex support counterfactual representations for future planning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 364, 1291-1300. [pdf]

Krueger F., Barbey A.K. & Grafman, J. (2009). The medial prefrontal cortex mediates social event knowledge. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 103-109. [pdf]

Krueger F., Barbey, A.K., McCabe, K., Strenziok, M., Zamboni, G., Solomon, J., Raymont V. & Grafman J. (2009). The neural bases of key competencies of emotional intelligence: Brain lesion evidence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 106, 22486-22491. [pdf]

Krueger, F., Spampinato, M., Barbey, A.K., Huey, T., Morland, T. & Grafman, J. (2009). The role of the frontopolar cortex and inferior parietal cortex in mediating action complexity and duration: A parametric fMRI study. Neuroreport, 20, 1093-1097. [pdf]

Barsalou, L.W., Niedenthal, P.M., Barbey, A.K. & Ruppert, J. (2003). Social embodiment. In B.Ross (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 43 (pp. 43-92). San Diego: Academic Press. [pdf]