教与学的大脑：人际神经科学助推教育研究

如何从神经生理层面刻画教育活动的人际互动模式和动态性是教育神经科学面临的一个重要挑战。人际神经科学视角为其提供了可能的解决途径; 这一新兴的视角通过记录和分析进行同一认知活动时两人或多人大脑活动之间的关联, 来揭示大脑活动的群体模式。目前, 人际神经科学方法已被应用于教育研究, 例如监控教学过程、预测教学效果和识别教学影响因素, 相应的研究成果对教育活动具有重要启示。未来的研究者可以更多地关注不同学习水平的学生大脑的互动机制及人际神经科学方法应用于技能教学及线上教学评估的巨大潜力。     

The developmental cognitive neuroscience of functional connectivity

Developmental cognitive neuroscience is a rapidly growing field that examines the relationships between biological development and cognitive ability. In the past decade, there has been ongoing refinement of concepts and methodology related to the study of ‘functional connectivity’ among distributed brain regions believed to underlie cognition and behavioral control. Due to the recent availability of relatively easy-to-use tools for functional connectivity analysis, there has been a sharp upsurge of studies that seek to characterize normal and psychopathologically abnormal brain functional integration. However, relatively few studies have applied functional and effective connectivity analysis techniques to developmental cognitive neuroscience. Functional and effective connectivity analysis methods are ideally suited to advance our understanding of the neural substrates of cognitive development, particularly in understanding how and why changes in the functional ‘wiring’ of neural networks promotes optimal cognitive control throughout development. The purpose of this review is to summarize the central concepts, methods, and findings of functional integration neuroimaging research to discuss key questions in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience. These ideas will be presented within a context that merges relevant concepts and proposals from different developmental theorists. The review will outline a few general predictions about likely relationships between typical ‘executive’ cognitive maturation and changes in brain network functional integration during adolescence. Although not exhaustive, this conceptual review also will showcase some of recent findings that have emerged to support these predictions.     

The functional‐cognitive framework as a tool for accelerating progress in cognitive neuroscience: On the benefits of bridging rather than reducing levels of analyses

The subject matter of neuroscience research is complex, and synthesising the wealth of data from this research to better understand mental processes is challenging. A useful strategy, therefore, may be to distinguish explicitly between the causal effects of the environment on behaviour (i.e. functional analyses) and the mental processes that mediate these effects (i.e. cognitive analyses). In this article, we describe how the functional‐cognitive (F‐C) framework can accelerate cognitive neuroscience and also advance a functional treatment of brain activity. We first highlight that cognitive neuroscience can particularly benefit from the F‐C approach by providing an alternative to the problematic practice of reducing cognitive constructs to behavioural and/or neural proxies. Next, we outline how functional (behaviour–environment) relations can serve as a bridge between cognitive and neural processes by restoring mental constructs to their original role as heuristic tools. Finally, we give some examples of how both cognitive neuroscience and traditional functional approaches can mutually benefit from the F‐C framework.     

青少年风险决策的发展认知神经机制

随着认知神经科学技术的发展, 青少年风险决策的发展认知神经机制成为了新近的一个热点课题。从双系统理论模型(社会情感神经网络系统、认知控制神经网络系统)出发, 对与青少年风险决策相关的大脑结构、功能的变化进行了阐述, 重点分析了新近的大脑功能连接、脑网络的研究; 阐述了青少年风险决策认知神经机制的主要理论模型：双系统模型和三角模型。未来研究还应加强对认知神经机制理论模型的检验、整合和创新, 从社会认知神经科学的角度深入研究社会参照系统(同伴关系、亚文化等)在青少年风险决策中的作用及机制, 以及从认知神经层面如何预防和干预青少年高风险行为。     

Group psychotherapy and neuro-plasticity: an attachment theory perspective

This article selectively highlights relevant areas of neuroscience research which have direct application for attachment theory and group psychotherapy. Emerging evidence from the neurosciences is revealing that the developing brain of the infant, sculpted by the earliest attachment relationships, continues to be malleable in adulthood and can be profoundly influenced by ongoing relationships throughout one's lifespan. Advances in the neurosciences are also supporting the idea that strong attachment bonds and external interpersonal interactions that arise within the context of these attachments are registered as a person's neurophysiology and neurobiology. Attachment theory in particular provides a common language and conceptual framework from which the contributions from the neurosciences can be made applicable to group psychotherapy.     

社会互动视角下人际公平形成的脑机制

最后通牒博弈任务被广泛用以探究公平行为, 以往研究大多集中于对博弈中某一方决策行为和神经机制的探讨, 但是人际公平可能是互动双方重复博弈的结果。因此只考察单个大脑活动, 并不足以揭示由互动双方共同完成的社会认知活动的脑机制。因此, 本研究结合修改版的最后通牒博弈任务和基于fNIRS的超扫描技术, 从群体脑水平上考察人际公平形成的脑机制。行为结果显示, 相比无惩罚条件, 惩罚下提议者的分配金额更高, 且惩罚力度越强, 分配越趋近公平分配。fNIRS的结果显示, 惩罚下右侧背外侧前额叶皮层、顶下小叶和颞-顶联合区的脑间活动同步性显著强于无惩罚条件, 而且两条件的分配金额差异越大, 右侧顶下小叶的脑间活动同步性差异也越大。综上, 脑间活动同步性可以作为惩罚下人际公平形成的客观脑指标, 研究为探讨人际公平的内在机制提供了新的视角。     

“养育脑”网络及其影响因素

“养育脑” (parental brain)是成人响应婴儿刺激(面孔、声音等)时, 大脑中与养育行为密切相关的一系列神经回路的总称, 主要涉及动机-奖赏、共情、情绪调节和执行功能等网络, 眶额皮层、前扣带皮层、前脑岛、杏仁核和辅助运动区等核心脑区。而成人养育经验、催产素和精神障碍特征等因素都会影响“养育脑”网络, 具体表现为育儿经验的增长以及催产素水平的提高促进了成人对婴儿刺激的加工, 而精神障碍则损害了其对婴儿刺激的加工。未来研究可考察追踪“养育脑”在不同时期大脑结构的变化以及多脑间的协调同步。另外, 还需进一步探究父亲异常“养育脑”的神经基础, 重视异常父母的预防和干预以及加强本土化研究。     

近红外光学成像在社会认知神经科学中的应用

社会认知神经科学是运用认知神经科学的研究手段,探讨社会科学问题与理论的多学科交叉领域。近来,功能性近红外光学成像技术(functional near-infrared spectroscopy,fNIRS)凭借生态效度高、成像安全、对头动耐受性高、成本低等优势,成为了该领域新兴的热点技术。无论是在婴儿发育和社会经济决策的单脑研究中,还是在人际互动的多脑研究中,它都有广泛应用。未来近红外光学成像的应用可以向多脑神经反馈、脑机接口技术、设备无线化和多模态成像做进一步探索。     

Developing the group mind through functional subgrouping: linking systems-centered training (SCT) and interpersonal neurobiology

This article introduces the systems-centered concept of the "group mind" by linking systems-centered thinking and interpersonal neurobiology, building on Siegel's definition of mind as the process of regulating the flow of energy and information. Functional subgrouping, the systems-centered group method for resolving conflicts, discriminates and integrates the flow of energy and information within and between group members, subgroups, and the group-as-a-whole, thus potentiating survival, development, and transformation. This article uses the interpersonal neurobiological framework to discuss functional subgrouping as a tool for developing the group mind: considering how functional subgrouping facilitates emotional regulation, creates a secure relational context, and potentiates neural integration.     

Atypical crossmodal emotional integration in patients with gliomas

The relevance of emotional perception in interpersonal relationships and social cognition has been well documented. Although brain diseases might impair emotional processing, studies concerning emotional recognition in patients with brain tumours are relatively rare. The aim of this study was to explore emotional recognition in patients with gliomas in three conditions (visual, auditory and crossmodal) and to analyse how tumour-related variables (notably, tumour localisation) and patient-related variables influence emotion recognition. Twenty six patients with gliomas and 26 matched healthy controls were instructed to identify 5 basic emotions and a neutral expression, which were displayed through visual, auditory and crossmodal stimuli. Relative to the controls, recognition was weakly impaired in the patient group under both visual and auditory conditions, but the performances were comparable in the crossmodal condition. Additional analyses using the ‘race model’ suggest differences in multisensory emotional integration abilities across the groups, which were potentially correlated with the executive disorders observed in the patients. These observations support the view of compensatory mechanisms in the case of gliomas that might preserve the quality of life and help maintain the normal social and professional lives often observed in these patients.     

On neuropsychoanalytic metaphysics

Neuropsychoanalysis focuses on the neural counterparts of psychoanalytically interesting phenomena and has left the difference in the metaphysical presuppositions between neuroscience and psychoanalysis unexamined. The authors analyse the logical possibilities concerning the relation between the brain and the mental unconscious in terms of the serial, parallel, epiphenomenalist and Kantian conceptions, and conclude that none of them provides a satisfactory ground for neuropsychoanalysis. As far as psychoanalytic explanations refer to the mental unconscious, they cannot be verified with the help of neuroscience. Neither is it possible to form a picture of how a neuro-viewpoint might be of help for psychoanalytic theorizing. Neuropsychoanalysis has occasionally been seen as a reductionist affair, but the authors suggest that neuropsychoanalysts themselves lean on the hybrid conception, which combines neuroscientific and psychoanalytic viewpoints. The authors state arguments in favour of the interfield conception of neuropsychoanalysis that takes seriously the metaphysical tensions between neuroscience and psychoanalysis.     

Interpersonal self‐support and attentional bias on negative and positive interpersonal information

Interpersonal self‐support is an indigenous Chinese personality concept. It represents the idealized notion of the kind of personality traits that help individuals deal with interpersonal problems and develop and maintain the harmonic and appropriate social relationships required in China's collectivistic and interdependent culture. It also was assumed to be a protective personality factor with regard to mental health and was found to be negatively related to psychosomatic symptoms. In the current study, cognitive processing of interpersonal information is assumed to be an underlying mechanism that connects interpersonal self‐support with interpersonal relationships and mental health. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two experiments to investigate whether attentional bias on positive and negative interpersonal information was related to high and low interpersonal self‐support. A spatial cueing task and the emotional Stroop task were administered to two samples of high and low interpersonal self‐support Chinese undergraduate students to measure attentional bias. The results from both experiments suggested that high interpersonal self‐support students had an attentional bias toward positive interpersonal information, while low interpersonal self‐support students preferentially attended to negative interpersonal information. Study 1 indicated that attentional bias toward positive interpersonal information was easily engaged in the high interpersonal self‐support group, while attentional bias toward negative interpersonal information was both easy to engage and difficult to disengage in the low interpersonal self‐support students. These results support our hypotheses that high interpersonal self‐support people engage in positive processing of interpersonal information, whereas low interpersonal self‐support people engage in negative processing of interpersonal information. The differential balance between positive and negative processing on interpersonal information may explain why interpersonal self‐support predicts both mental health and interpersonal relationships. In addition, the relational schema may explain why interpersonal self‐support is associated with an attentional bias toward interpersonal information.     

Hope,Wholeness, and Helping the Flat to Grow Round

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to bridge the gap between neuroscience and psychotherapy so that there is greater understanding of how the objective biological processes of the brain affect interpersonal relationships and how relationship therapy can affect that biology. The research on emotional systems, implicit and explicit learning and memory are reviewed. Suggestions for therapeutic interventions include focusing on the changing the brain of each partner, reattaching through the therapeutic relationship, increasing physical activity, using nonverbal techniques, understanding the role of emotions in rational thinking, activating the left prefrontal cortex, using mindfulness techniques, and creating new experiences.     

Worry spreads: interpersonal transfer of problem-related anxiety

This paper distinguishes processes potentially contributing to interpersonal anxiety transfer, including object-directed social appraisal, empathic worry, and anxiety contagion, and reviews evidence for their operation. We argue that these anxiety-transfer processes may be exploited strategically when attempting to regulate relationship partners' emotion. More generally, anxiety may serve as either a warning signal to other people about threat (alerting function) or an appeal for emotional support or practical help (comfort-seeking function). Tensions between these two interpersonal functions may account for mutually incongruent interpersonal responses to expressed anxiety, including mistargeted interpersonal regulation attempts. Because worry waxes and wanes over time as a function of other people's ongoing reactions, interpersonal interventions may help to alleviate some of its maladaptive consequences.     

主观价值计算与整合的神经机制及其影响因素

决策在人类社会发展的历程中扮演着非常重要的作用,而对其神经机制的探讨才不过几十年的时间。基于价值的决策理论,强调人们首先计算和表征事物的价值,随后比较和决策。在人脑中负责主观价值计算的神经基础有腹内侧前额叶皮层、眶额皮层以及其他脑区,而负责价值整合的脑区有腹内侧前额叶皮层、眶额皮层、背外侧前额叶皮层等。其中时间和风险的价值计算有着相同的神经基础,并且人脑可以将不同属性以及成本进行整合形成主观价值,按照曲线交互作用范式进行。通过自我控制、注意和认知调节等方法,同样可以调制人们的主观价值大小。未来需要继续强调模式分析、个体差异、老龄化和基因对价值计算的影响。     

Worry spreads: Interpersonal transfer of problem-related anxiety

This paper distinguishes processes potentially contributing to interpersonal anxiety transfer, including object-directed social appraisal, empathic worry, and anxiety contagion, and reviews evidence for their operation. We argue that these anxiety-transfer processes may be exploited strategically when attempting to regulate relationship partners’ emotion. More generally, anxiety may serve as either a warning signal to other people about threat (alerting function) or an appeal for emotional support or practical help (comfort-seeking function). Tensions between these two interpersonal functions may account for mutually incongruent interpersonal responses to expressed anxiety, including mistargeted interpersonal regulation attempts. Because worry waxes and wanes over time as a function of other people's ongoing reactions, interpersonal interventions may help to alleviate some of its maladaptive consequences.     

Ruminative and reflective forms of self-focus: Their relationships with interpersonal skills and emotional reactivity under interpersonal stress

Self-focus can be divided into adaptive and maladaptive aspects, that is, self-reflection and self-rumination respectively. This study explores how these distinctive forms of self-focus are associated with interpersonal skills required for beginning and maintaining social relationships, and with negative emotional regulation when one experiences interpersonal problems. A survey of 150 undergraduates (Study 1) indicated contrasting cross-sectional associations between self-reflection and self-rumination and interpersonal skills; self-rumination is associated with perceived impaired interpersonal skills, whereas self-reflection is associated with the improved skills. In Study 2, using a four-wave longitudinal design, we investigated the buffering effects of self-rumination and self-reflection on negative emotional reactivity to interpersonal conflicts. Analysis of multilevel models indicated that self-rumination predicts a greater increase in negative affect after one experiences negative interpersonal events, whereas self-reflection had no such effects on the negative affect. These results suggest that self-rumination is associated with perceived impaired interpersonal skills, which could delay problem solving and exacerbate the effect of interpersonal problems, thereby leading to dysphoria. In contrast, self-reflection might contribute to the maintenance of relationships in usual or stable conditions but does not aid emotion regulation or problem solving in difficult or negative situations such as when one experiences interpersonal problems.     

Frequency of Interpersonal Trauma Types,Avoidant Attachment,Self-Compassion,and Interpersonal Competence: A Model of Persisting Posttraumatic Symptoms

Given limited knowledge about how psychosocial factors interact to modulate posttraumatic stress symptoms, this study evaluated an integrative model proposing that experiencing more interpersonal trauma types (e.g., abuse, assault, rape, etc.) leads to greater avoidant attachment and lower self-compassion, which limits the development and use of effective interpersonal skills. In turn, lower levels of self-compassion and interpersonal competence perpetuate posttraumatic symptoms. Anonymous trauma-experienced adults (n = 132) completed self-report measures in an online study hyperlinked on trauma support websites. Data were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, which provided support for the hypothesized model. Specifically, higher frequency of interpersonal trauma types experienced was linked to higher avoidant attachment and lower self-compassion, which in turn were associated with lower interpersonal competence, which correlated with greater posttraumatic stress symptoms. Although cross-sectional data cannot address directionality of associations, this study’s findings emphasize the potential utility of future longitudinal research designed to examine possible causal relationships among these specific psychosocial factors. For example, study findings suggest that those who experience more types of interpersonal trauma and who are characterized by avoidant attachment and lower self-compassion and interpersonal competence may be the most susceptible to experiencing severe posttraumatic symptoms. However, findings also suggest that efforts to increase self-compassion and interpersonal skills may help reduce symptoms.     

Locating volition

In this paper, it is examined how neuroscience can help to understand the nature of volition by addressing the question whether volitions can be localized in the brain. Volitions, as acts of the will, are special mental events or activities by which an agent consciously and actively exercises her agency to voluntarily direct her thoughts and actions. If we can pinpoint when and where volitional events or activities occur in the brain and find out their neural underpinnings, this can substantively aid to demystify the concept of volition. After first discussing some methodological issues regarding whether it is possible to locate volition in the brain, various approaches by which neuroscientists and psychologists explore the neural correlates and substrates of volition are examined. Although different psychological conceptualizations of volition shape different perspectives toward understanding the functions of volition, the explorations of the neural basis of volition converge on certain common brain areas and structures. A unifying conception of volition that helps to make better sense of recent empirical findings is then suggested.     

抑郁症的脑功能整合异常-来自有效连接的证据

摘 要：抑郁症是一种常见的精神障碍。从疾病负担看,目前抑郁症已经成为世界第四大疾病,患病人数呈逐年上升的态势,给家庭和社会带来了沉重的负担。以往大多数对抑郁症的研究关注的是单个脑区结构或功能的损伤,而抑郁症通常伴随多脑区、多系统的异常,而不是单一脑区的损伤。近年来研究者开始关注抑郁症多个脑区之间的功能整合。利用功能整合的方法,动态监测抑郁症多个脑区间的相互作用,能进一步揭示抑郁症的脑网络机制。功能整合的研究方法主要包括功能连接和有效连接。有效连接刻画的是两个（或多个）脑区之间相互作用的因果关系,主要包括结构方程模型、动态因果模型、Granger 因果分析、生理心理交互作用等方法。通过对新近研究的梳理,总体而言,抑郁症的认知控制系统(如背外侧前额叶)和边缘系统（如杏仁核）的之间的有效连接减弱,即背外侧前额叶对杏仁核的抑制作用减弱,使得杏仁核对负性刺激的反应增强,出现了情绪加工偏差和认知偏差。认知控制系统和边缘系统之间有效连接的减弱能够解释抑郁症执行认知控制任务和情绪任务中的异常表现。