PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
Humanness perception, which attributes fundamental and unique human characteristics to other objects or people, has significant consequences for people\'s interactions. Notably, the failure to perceive humanness in older adults can lead to prejudice. This study investigates the effect of a target\'s age on humanness perception in terms of two dimensions: agency (the ability to act and do) and experience (the ability to feel and sense). We also examined brain activity using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in order to understand the underlying neural mechanisms. Healthy university students viewed the facial images of older and younger individuals and judged the humanness of each individual in terms of agency and experience while inside the MRI scanner. The results indicated that older adults were rated higher on experience, and no difference was found in ratings for agency between younger and older face images. Analysis of brain imaging data indicated that positive functional connectivity between the ventral and dorsal regions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was greater when judging the humanness of younger faces than older faces. We also found that the negative functional connectivity between the left inferior frontal gyrus and postcentral gyrus was greater when judging the humanness of older faces as compared to that of younger faces. Although the current study did not show distinct brain activities related to humanness perception, it suggests the possibility that different brain connectivities are related to humanness perception regarding targets belonging to different age groups.
摘要：
人性感知，将基本和独特的人类特征归因于其他物体或人，对人们的互动有重大影响。值得注意的是,未能感知老年人的人性会导致偏见。这项研究从两个维度调查了目标年龄对人类感知的影响：代理（行为和行为的能力）和经验（感觉和感觉的能力）。我们还使用磁共振成像（MRI）扫描仪检查了大脑活动，以了解潜在的神经机制。健康的大学生查看老年人和年轻人的面部图像，并在MRI扫描仪内部根据机构和经验判断每个人的人性。结果表明，老年人的经验评分更高，并且在年轻和老年面部图像之间的代理商评级中没有发现差异。对大脑成像数据的分析表明，在判断年轻面孔的人性时，内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）的腹侧和背侧区域之间的正功能连接要比年长面孔更大。我们还发现，与年轻面孔相比，在判断老面孔的人性时，左额下回和中央后回之间的负功能连接更大。尽管目前的研究没有显示出与人类感知相关的独特的大脑活动，这表明不同的大脑连通性可能与对属于不同年龄段的目标的人类感知有关。
