Marco Iacoboni - US grants

The first Conference on Social Cognitive Neuroscience will be held on the UCLA campus in April 2001. This conference will highlight the new but fast growing field of Social Cognitive Neuroscience. Symposia will focus on Social Relations and Theory of Mind, Emotion, Control and Automaticity, Attitudes and Attitude Change, and Stereotyping and Social Perception. Each symposium will consist of research reports using neuroimaging, neuropsychological, or computational modeling methodologies. Additional panel discussions will allow cognitive neuroscientists and social scientists to discuss ways in which important questions from the social sciences can be tested using the methods of cognitive neuroscience. There will also infrastructure talks focusing on developing coherent training programs in social cognitive neuroscience and securing funding for this sort of interdisciplinary research. There will also be a poster session to allow for rapid transmission of other research findings. Informal sessions will allow additional opportunities for researchers to become acquainted and to share their latest research results. The conference will help to inform the new emphasis at NSF on cognitive neuroscience (NSF 01-041).

This research will describe the neural and cognitive components of learning by observing, producing, and by imitating physical representations in the human brain. This will allow developing new learning tools and pedagogical approaches that may enhance education at all levels. It will use functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain to define the involvement of the observation/execution matching system in different aspects of learning by observation, production, and imitation. Specifically, the research will:

- Describe mental representations underlying knowledge acquisition through representation, observation and imitation in neural and cognitive terms

- Investigate the mechanisms of individual learning in relation to social and societal influences

- The definition of psychological and physiological mechanisms of speech perception

The findings of this research are also relevant to brain development and the relation between cognitive skill and developmental strategies.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to explore the use of recent approaches and concepts in human brain mapping as applied for the first time to the study of the neural basis of imitation. This initial research will allow a development of a body of data upon which significant future research on the neural mechanisms of imitation can be built. Imitation is the most ubiquitous form of learning during development, offering the acquisition of many skills without the time-consuming process of trial-and-error learning. Imitation is also central to developing fundamental social skills such as reading facial and other body gestures and to understand the goals, the intentions, and the desires of other people (theory of mind). The importance of imitation for social behavior is underscored by the fact that patients with autism are not able to imitate well. [unreadable] [unreadable] We will use a novel combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and trans-cranial magnetic-stimulation (TMS) to study the neural mechanisms of imitation. The results of this research will be used to build future significant research on the cognitive and social aspects of imitation. [unreadable] [unreadable] This future research will better define core deficits of autism, since autistic patients have imitation deficits. With fMRI we have identified a 'minimal' circuit comprising three regions that seem essential to imitation, namely the superior temporal cortex, the posterior parietal cortex and the inferior frontal cortex. [unreadable] [unreadable] With TMS and the use of frameless stereotaxy, we will interfere systematically with the activity in each one of the brain regions activated by the imitation process and will observe the resulting behavioral changes during imitation learning. [unreadable] [unreadable] We will also use fMRI and covariance structural equation modeling to study the changes in affectivity connectivity of these three human brain regions during imitative learning. Predictions on connectivity changes are based on basic computational principles of motor control. [unreadable] [unreadable] Finally, with the combined use of fMRI and TMS, we will study what is the role of this neural network in understanding the intentions of others while watching their actions. This human brain mapping approach of using different techniques, alone or in combination, to study the complex behavior of imitation is novel and requires initial research and the development of a body of preliminary data that we will be used in the future. [unreadable] [unreadable]

brain morphology; functional magnetic resonance imaging; politics; biomedical resource; thinking; clinical research;

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Empathy is essential for healthy socialization, being correlated with anonymous donation, spontaneous sharing, sympathetic reactions to distress, and other forms of prosocial behavior. Interventions increasing empathy may be particularly useful for individuals who have become desensitized by violent environments. These individuals' empathic deficits affect their social cognition and decision-making, impeding their social reintegration. A key issue in empathy research is to elucidate how to improve empathic tendencies to facilitate such reintegration. Restoring empathy and prosocial behavior in individuals with low empathy is of high significance for mental health in our society. To do that, we need functional and neurobiological models of empathy that can adopt viable markers, suggest doable interventions and make clear-cut predictions about outcomes. This project proposes the testing of such a model. This project proposes a dual level model of empathy with a core low level supported by neural processes that internally simulate what another person is doing and experiencing, and a cognitive higher level for deliberation of empathic decision-making. It aims first at establishing correlations between low level empathy and high level empathy using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). It also aims at examining the effect of an emotion imitation intervention on low and high level empathy. Finally, it aims at showing that by disrupting prefrontal activity with rTMS it is possible to release inhibition of imitation, thus favoring low level empathy, which in turn would increase high level empathy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Restoring empathy and prosocial behavior in individuals with deficits in these domains is a key issue for their social reintegration. The main goal of the proposed studies is to test a model of empathy and the effectiveness of two forms of intervention designed to restore empathic and prosocial behavior.