Neural Mechanisms of Social Decision Making in Aging

衰老过程中社会决策的神经机制

• 批准号: 7192156
• 负责人: Lisa Feldman Barrett
• 金额: $ 40.47万
• 依托单位: MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-30 至 2011-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7192156
• 关键词: age difference; amygdala; behavioral /social science research tag; brain morphology; clinical research; decision making; functional magnetic resonance imaging; human middle age (35-64); human old age (65+); human subject; interview; neuropsychology; prefrontal lobe /cortex; psychological aspect of aging; quality of life; social support network; young adult human (21-34)

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The United States currently has the largest number of older adults at any time in its history, and this number is expected to rapidly increase over the next 20 years. This rapid increase in the aged population highlights the need to better understand changes that accompany aging and which may contribute to mental health and well-being in later life. One important and relatively unexplored aspect of aging relates to the changes that occur with decision making in the social and emotional realms. Making the correct social and emotional decisions during the lifespan is an essential contributor to well-being. One model that describes social and emotional flourishing with aging is Socioemotional Selectivity theory. According to Socioemotional Selectivity theory, there is an increasing focus on positive emotion over the adult lifespan such that older individuals selectively choose social interactions where the likelihood of positive emotional experience is high. In this setting, social contacts are limited to good friends and family, and greater satisfaction and well-being is achieved while the number of social contacts decreases. The underlying neural mechanisms that support this enhanced Socioemotional decision-making have received relatively little attention, but are important as they may protect from social isolation and mental illness. The specific purpose of the current proposal is to examine how the brain correlates of two well defined aspects of Socioemotional decision making - primary appraisal and affective learning about social objects (i.e., people) - are altered with aging. We will focus on two specific brain areas involved in these decision-making processes, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. We plan to collect and analyze structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data and self-report measures of social network characteristics and well-being. The overarching hypothesis is that age-related differences in ventromedial prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuitry during Socioemotional decision- making are closely related to Socioemotional selectivity and well-being in aging. Aim 1 will investigate age-related changes in the structure-function relationships between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala during different aspects of Socioemotional decision making. Aim 2 will investigate how the ventromedial prefrontal cortex-amygdala circuitry relates to social network characteristics and well-being across the lifespan. The results of these studies will elucidate the neural bases of healthy Socioemotional decision-making and well-being in aging.

描述（由申请人提供）：美国目前在其历史上的任何时候都有最多的老年人数量，预计在未来20年中，该数量将迅速增加。老年人口的这种迅速增长凸显了需要更好地了解伴随衰老的变化，这可能会导致后来的心理健康和福祉。衰老的一个重要且相对尚未探索的方面与社会和情感领域的决策发生的变化有关。在生命周期内做出正确的社交和情感决定是福祉的重要贡献。一种描述社会和情感繁荣随着衰老的模型是社会情感选择性理论。根据社会情感选择性理论，对成人寿命的积极情绪的关注越来越多，因此老年人选择性地选择积极情感体验的可能性很高的社交互动。在这种情况下，社交接触仅限于好朋友和家人，并且在社交接触数量减少的同时，实现了更高的满足感和福祉。支持这种增强的社会情感决策的潜在神经机制受到了相对较少的关注，但很重要，因为它们可以保护社会隔离和精神疾病。当前建议的具体目的是检查社会情感决策的两个明确定义的方面的大脑如何随着老龄化而改变了有关社会对象（即人）的主要评估和情感学习。我们将重点关注这些决策过程中涉及的两个特定大脑区域，即腹侧前额叶皮层和杏仁核。我们计划收集和分析结构和功能性磁共振成像数据以及社交网络特征和福祉的自我报告测量。总体假设是，在社会情感决策过程中，腹侧前额叶皮层 - 杏仁核电路与年龄有关的差异与社会情感选择性和衰老中的幸福感密切相关。 AIM 1将研究与社会情感决策不同方面的腹侧前额叶皮层和杏仁核之间结构功能关系的变化。 AIM 2将研究腹侧前额叶皮层 - 杏仁核电路如何与整个寿命的社交网络特征和福祉有关。这些研究的结果将阐明健康社会情感决策和衰老中健康的神经基础。