Elucidating the Neural Basis of Reward- and Punishment-Based Social Behavior

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K07812
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 51020:Cognitive and brain science-related
• Research Institution: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
• Principal Investigator: Enomoto Kazuki 国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構, 未来ICT研究所脳情報通信融合研究センター, 研究員 (10585904)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 藤田 一郎 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 教授 (60181351)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 社会性 / 霊長類 / 報酬 / 懲罰 / 大脳基底核 / 意思決定

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Decision making in social situations requires long-term future predictions. By examining long-term reward information in midbrain dopamine cells and striatal projection cells, I suggested that dopamine cells have a topography of reward-value representation along the dorsolateral-ventromedial axis, while the dorsal striatal cells have a more complex functional topography. I also had subjects learn a social decision-making task involving two participants with estimated social ranks. Behavioral and learning models in social situations were compared, and brain activity manipulations were used to estimate the brain neural networks involved in sociality.

Free Research Field

神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

社会性に関わる脳神経ネットワーク解明において、基盤的な知見を提供し、特に大脳辺縁系および大脳基底核系が中心的な役割を担っている、情動や価値に基づく意思決定・行動発現のメカニズム解明に貢献する。ドーパミン細胞・線条体細胞の変性が原因とされているパーキンソン病や、報酬系の異常が関わる依存症、また、自閉症・うつ病や不安神経症などの神経疾患の原因解明や治療法の開発に寄与することが期待される。