The causal role of the medial prefrontal cortex in human social cognition

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY Three decades of research on social neuroscience have identified a set of brain regions supporting human social cognition; however, critical gaps in our understanding of the causal mechanisms between these regions prevent the explanation and treatment for disorders affecting social cognition, such as autism. Our long-term goal is to describe the relations among brain regions and the networks that determine social behavior in health and disease The overall objective for this application is to sharpen our understanding of the causal role for the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) in the brain network for social cognition. The central hypothesis is that a unique combination of the lesion method, well-established behavioral assessments, and high-quality neuroimaging data will provide evidence that MPFC is a causal node in the brain network for social cognition. The rationale for this project is that identifying MPFC’s role in orchestrating brain regions and producing social behavior is likely to provide a strong basis for the development of neurobiological models of social cognition in conditions where the function is impaired (e.g., autism, schizophrenia). Guided by supportive preliminary data, the following three specific aims will be pursued: In Aim 1, the predictive value of MPFC lesion location on social cognitive profiles will be determined by using multivariate lesion symptom mapping in Iowa Neurological Patient Registry participants who will complete a new social task battery extending currently limited social cognitive characterization. In Aim 2, we will evaluate MPFC function during social behavior with a well-established social inference task during 7T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in individuals with lesions to regions i) in MPFC, ii) in the social brain network outside of MPFC, iii) outside of the social brain network and iv) healthy adults (matched for e.g., age, sex, IQ). In Aim 3, MPFC’s role in the social brain network will be validated by comparing how lesions to MPFC impact a graphical network model derived from densely sampled resting state 7T fMRI data from large neuroimaging datasets and well-matched new collected healthy samples. The research proposed in this application is innovative, because it combines big data (> 2000 subjects with and without focal brain lesions) with novel applications of lesion approaches towards understanding the neurobiology of human social cognition. The proposed research is significant, because it is expected to provide a strong scientific foundation for the development of neurobiological models of social cognition in conditions where the function is impaired.