据近期发表在《自然—神经科学》上的一项研究显示，猴子会将有关其获得的以及赠予其他动物的奖励的信息记录在其大脑。这表明该片大脑区域可能对利他行为起着支撑作用。
大脑前额区域记录着有关奖励事件的信息。Michael Platt等人发现猴脑中一个名为扣带回前部的特殊区域会对猴子获得奖励或者将奖励赠予其他动物的行为产生反应。研究人员设定这样一个场景：给一只猴子一些果汁，由它自己决定是自己喝掉还是送给周围其他猴子。猴子多数时候会选择自己享用果汁，但有些时候又会表现得无私，将果汁送给其他猴子。
研究人员发现，有一些脑细胞仅仅在猴子自己喝掉果汁时产生反应，而另外一些脑细胞只在猴子将果汁赠送出去时产生反应。还有一部分细胞则不论猴子作出哪种选择均会产生反应，这意味着这些神经细胞负责记录奖励的社会性价值。(生物谷Bioon.com)
doi:10.1038/nn.3287
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Neuronal reference frames for social decisions in primate frontal cortex
Steve W C Chang, Jean-François Gariépy & Michael L Platt
Social decisions are crucial for the success of individuals and the groups that they comprise. Group members respond vicariously to benefits obtained by others, and impairments in this capacity contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and sociopathy. We examined the manner in which neurons in three frontal cortical areas encoded the outcomes of social decisions as monkeys performed a reward-allocation task. Neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) predominantly encoded rewards that were delivered to oneself. Neurons in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACCg) encoded reward allocations to the other monkey, to oneself or to both. Neurons in the anterior cingulate sulcus (ACCs) signaled reward allocations to the other monkey or to no one. In this network of received (OFC) and foregone (ACCs) reward signaling, ACCg emerged as an important nexus for the computation of shared experience and social reward. Individual and species-specific variations in social decision-making might result from the relative activation and influence of these areas.
