美国宾夕法尼亚大学Wei Song Ong研究团队在研究中取得进展。他们提出猴子战略合作的神经元关联。该研究于2020年11月23日发表于国际一流学术期刊《自然-神经科学》。

他们记录了雄猴在玩类似“鸡”游戏过程中的神经活动，在该过程中中，他们决定合作还是不合作以获得不同大小的奖励。中上颞沟（mSTS）中的神经元（先前涉及社会知觉）传达了重要的战略信息，包括收益、另一位参与者的意图、奖励结果和对另一位参与者的预测。

此外，mSTS神经元的一个亚群选择性地发出信号，表明合作获得的奖励。前扣带回中的神经元先前涉及替代性强化和同理心，但携带的有关战略变量（尤其是合作性奖励）的信息较少。战略信号无法还原为有关其他参与者或运动意外事件的感知信息。

这些结果表明，计算其他参与者模型的能力根源于灵长类动物的战略性社会行为，并且前扣带回和mSTS支持这些计算。

附：英文原文

Title: Neuronal correlates of strategic cooperation in monkeys

Author: Wei Song Ong, Seth Madlon-Kay, Michael L. Platt

Issue&Volume: 2020-11-23

Abstract: We recorded neural activity in male monkeys playing a variant of the game ‘chicken’ in which they made decisions to cooperate or not cooperate to obtain rewards of different sizes. Neurons in the middle superior temporal sulcus (mSTS)—previously implicated in social perception—signaled strategic information, including payoffs, intentions of the other player, reward outcomes and predictions about the other player. Moreover, a subpopulation of mSTS neurons selectively signaled cooperatively obtained rewards. Neurons in the anterior cingulate gyrus, previously implicated in vicarious reinforcement and empathy, carried less information about strategic variables, especially cooperative reward. Strategic signals were not reducible to perceptual information about the other player or motor contingencies. These findings suggest that the capacity to compute models of other agents has deep roots in the strategic social behavior of primates and that the anterior cingulate gyrus and the mSTS support these computations.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-00746-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-00746-9