1
|
Serra L, Petrucci A, Bruschini M, Botta A, Campisi C, Caltagirone C, Bozzali M. Different neuropsychological and brain volumetric profiles in a pair of identical twins with myotonic dystrophy type 1 indicate a non-genetic modulation of clinical phenotype. Neuromuscul Disord 2024; 40:24-30. [PMID: 38810327 DOI: 10.1016/j.nmd.2024.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
We report on genetic and environmental modulation of social cognition abilities and brain volume correlates in two monozygotic twins (Twin1 and Twin2) with genetically confirmed myotonic dystrophy-type1 who grew up in different environmental settings. They both underwent neuropsychological assessment (i.e., Intelligent Quotient [IQ], theory of mind, emotion recognition tests), and MRI scanning to evaluate regional brain volumetrics compared to 10 gender and sex-matched healthy controls. Against a normal IQ level in both patients, Twin1 was more impaired in emotional processing and Twin2 in cognitive aspects of social cognition. Both patients showed grey matter (GM) atrophy in Brodmann Areas 23/31 (BA23/31) and BA7 bilaterally, while Twin2 showed additional GM loss in right BA46. Both patients showed a similar pattern of white matter atrophy involving the thalamus, basal ganglia, and uncinate fasciculus. White matter atrophy appeared to be mostly driven by genetics, while grey matter volumes appeared associated with different impairments in social cognition and possibly modulated by environment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Serra
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Via Ardeatina, 306, 00179, Rome, Italy.
| | - Antonio Petrucci
- UOC Neurologia e Neurofisiopatologia, AO San Camillo Forlanini, Via Portuense, 332, 00149 Rome, Italy
| | - Michela Bruschini
- Neuroimaging Laboratory, Santa Lucia Foundation, IRCCS, Via Ardeatina, 306, 00179, Rome, Italy
| | - Annalisa Botta
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, Genetics Unit, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
| | - Corrado Campisi
- Neuroscience Department "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Turin, Turin Italy
| | - Carlo Caltagirone
- Clinical and Behavioural Neurology Laboratory Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Bozzali
- Neuroscience Department "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Turin, Turin Italy
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Li J, Zhao R, Wang C, Song J, Guo X, Ge Y, Chu X. Structural and functional abnormalities in the medial prefrontal cortex were associated with pain and depressive symptoms in patients with adhesive capsulitis. Pain Rep 2024; 9:e1139. [PMID: 38444775 PMCID: PMC10914225 DOI: 10.1097/pr9.0000000000001139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Chronic pain and depression have been shown to coexist in patients with adhesive capsulitis (AC). Recent studies identified the shared brain plasticity between pain and depression; however, how such neuroplasticity contributes to AC remains unclear. Here, we employed a combination of psychophysics, structural MRI, and functional MRI techniques to examine the brain's structural and functional changes in AC. Methods Fifty-two patients with AC and 52 healthy controls (HCs) were included in our study. Voxelwise comparisons were performed to reveal the differences in grey matter volume (GMV) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) between AC and HCs. Furthermore, region of interest to whole brain functional connectivity (FC) was calculated and compared between the groups. Finally, Pearson correlation coefficients were computed to reveal the association between clinical data and brain alterations. Mediation analyses were performed to investigate the path association among brain alterations and clinical measures. Results Three main findings were observed: (1) patients with AC exhibited a higher depression subscale of hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS-D) score correlating with the GMV within the right medial prefrontal cortices (mPFC) compared with HCs; (2) relative to HCs, patients with AC exhibited lower ReHo within the right mPFC, which largely overlapped with the structural abnormalities; (3) the impact of pain duration on HADS-D score was mediated by ventral part of medial prefrontal cortices (vmPFC) GMV in patients with AC. Conclusion In summary, our current findings suggest that vmPFC alterations correlate with both the pain duration and the emotional comorbidities experienced by patients with AC. Our research provides an enhanced comprehension of the underlying mechanisms of AC, thereby facilitating the development of more effective treatment approaches for AC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jie Li
- Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Tianjin Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Rui Zhao
- Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Chenguang Wang
- Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Jiajun Song
- Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Xing Guo
- Department of Orthopedic, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, Hebei, China
| | - Yeqi Ge
- Department of Orthopedics Surgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Xu Chu
- Department of Orthopaedic, Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Cabañas C, Senju A, Smith TJ. The audience who knew too much: investigating the role of spontaneous theory of mind on the processing of dramatic irony scenes in film. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1183660. [PMID: 37469900 PMCID: PMC10353302 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1183660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
As in real life, cinema viewers rely on spontaneous theory of mind (SToM) to interpret characters' mental states. Thus, analyzing cinematic structures offers a unique opportunity to examine ecologically valid sociocognitive processes. We conducted a proof-of-concept study (N = 42) to explore how SToM inferences impact film event comprehension in dramatic irony scenes, where knowledge divergence exists between the audience and characters. We hypothesized that spectators would focus more on characters' mental states in such false-belief inducing scenarios compared to scenarios without such disparity. We used six Harold Lloyd silent comedy clips in a narrative comprehension and spontaneous mental state attribution study with a between-subject (Knowledge Manipulation: Installation vs. Control) and within-subject (Phase: Context vs. Exploitation) comparisons. We provided critical information unknown to the characters only to the Installation group and withheld it from the Control group. By comparing differences in participants' descriptions of the clips during the Context phase (varying across groups) and Exploitation phase (same across groups), we evaluated viewers' processing of the same scenes based on their false- or true-belief representations. Our findings indicate that the Installation group used more cognitive mental state words during the Exploitation phase relative to the Context phase, suggesting that exposure to undisclosed critical information enhances the frequency of spontaneous epistemic state inferences and integration into event models of the exploitation. This research advances neurocinematics by highlighting spontaneous sociocognitive processes in event perception and comprehension and provides a novel dramatic irony film corpus and measures for future moment-to-moment SToM processing studies across cognitive-behavioral, physiological, and neural levels.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia Cabañas
- Cognition in Naturalistic Environments (CINE) Lab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Atsushi Senju
- Cognition in Naturalistic Environments (CINE) Lab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
- Research Centre for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
| | - Tim J. Smith
- Cognition in Naturalistic Environments (CINE) Lab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Shany O, Greental A, Gilam G, Perry D, Bleich-Cohen M, Ovadia M, Cohen A, Raz G. Somatic engagement alters subsequent neurobehavioral correlates of affective mentalizing. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:5846-5861. [PMID: 34651382 PMCID: PMC8596949 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25640] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Socio‐emotional encounters involve a resonance of others' affective states, known as affect sharing (AS); and attribution of mental states to others, known as theory‐of‐mind (ToM). Empathy necessitates the integration of both processes, yet their interaction during emotional episodes and subsequent generation of inferences on others' affective states has rarely been tested. To address this, we developed a novel experimental design, wherein we manipulated AS by presenting nonverbal emotionally negative movies twice—each time accompanied by one of two soundtracks that accentuated either somatic cues or externally generated sounds. Movies were followed by questions addressing affective‐ToM (emotional inferences), cognitive‐ToM (inferences on beliefs and knowledge), and non‐ToM aspects. Results revealed a neural differentiation between AS, affective‐ToM, and cognitive‐ToM. AS movies activated regions that have been implicated in emotional (e.g., amygdala) and somatosensory processing, and synchronized brain activity between participants in the latter. Affective‐ToM activated the middle insula, limbic regions, and both ventral and dorsal portions of the medial prefrontal cortex (ventral medial prefrontal cortex [VMPFC] and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex [DMPFC], respectively), whereas cognitive‐ToM activated posteromedial and lateral–prefrontal and temporal cortices. Critically, AS movies specifically altered neural activation in AS and ToM‐related regions during subsequent affective‐ToM inferences, most notably in the DMPFC. Moreover, DMPFC–VMPFC connectivity correlated with affective‐ToM accuracy, when such questions followed AS movies. Our results associate empathic processes with designated neural activations and shed light on how neuro‐behavioral indices of affective ToM are shaped by preceding somatic engagement.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ofir Shany
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.,Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Ayam Greental
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.,Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.,Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Gadi Gilam
- Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
| | - Daniella Perry
- Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Maya Bleich-Cohen
- Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Moran Ovadia
- Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.,Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Avihay Cohen
- Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Gal Raz
- Sagol Brain Institute, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel.,Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.,Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| |
Collapse
|