1
|
Balgova E, Diveica V, Jackson RL, Binney RJ. Overlapping neural correlates underpin theory of mind and semantic cognition: Evidence from a meta-analysis of 344 functional neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychologia 2024; 200:108904. [PMID: 38759780 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108904] [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: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 05/06/2024] [Indexed: 05/19/2024]
Abstract
Key unanswered questions for cognitive neuroscience include whether social cognition is underpinned by specialised brain regions and to what extent it simultaneously depends on more domain-general systems. Until we glean a better understanding of the full set of contributions made by various systems, theories of social cognition will remain fundamentally limited. In the present study, we evaluate a recent proposal that semantic cognition plays a crucial role in supporting social cognition. While previous brain-based investigations have focused on dissociating these two systems, our primary aim was to assess the degree to which the neural correlates are overlapping, particularly within two key regions, the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and the temporoparietal junction (TPJ). We focus on activation associated with theory of mind (ToM) and adopt a meta-analytic activation likelihood approach to synthesise a large set of functional neuroimaging studies and compare their results with studies of semantic cognition. As a key consideration, we sought to account for methodological differences across the two sets of studies, including the fact that ToM studies tend to use nonverbal stimuli while the semantics literature is dominated by language-based tasks. Overall, we observed consistent overlap between the two sets of brain regions, especially in the ATL and TPJ. This supports the claim that tasks involving ToM draw upon more general semantic retrieval processes. We also identified activation specific to ToM in the right TPJ, bilateral anterior mPFC, and right precuneus. This is consistent with the view that, nested amongst more domain-general systems, there is specialised circuitry that is tuned to social processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eva Balgova
- Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Gwynedd, Wales, UK; Department of Psychology, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion, Wales, UK
| | - Veronica Diveica
- Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Gwynedd, Wales, UK; Montreal Neurological Institute, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Rebecca L Jackson
- Department of Psychology & York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| | - Richard J Binney
- Cognitive Neuroscience Institute, Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Gwynedd, Wales, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Bravo F, Glogowski J, Stamatakis EA, Herfert K. Dissonant music engages early visual processing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2320378121. [PMID: 39008675 PMCID: PMC11287129 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320378121] [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: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024] Open
Abstract
The neuroscientific examination of music processing in audio-visual contexts offers a valuable framework to assess how auditory information influences the emotional encoding of visual information. Using fMRI during naturalistic film viewing, we investigated the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of music on valence inferences during mental state attribution. Thirty-eight participants watched the same short-film accompanied by systematically controlled consonant or dissonant music. Subjects were instructed to think about the main character's intentions. The results revealed that increasing levels of dissonance led to more negatively valenced inferences, displaying the profound emotional impact of musical dissonance. Crucially, at the neuroscientific level and despite music being the sole manipulation, dissonance evoked the response of the primary visual cortex (V1). Functional/effective connectivity analysis showed a stronger coupling between the auditory ventral stream (AVS) and V1 in response to tonal dissonance and demonstrated the modulation of early visual processing via top-down feedback inputs from the AVS to V1. These V1 signal changes indicate the influence of high-level contextual representations associated with tonal dissonance on early visual cortices, serving to facilitate the emotional interpretation of visual information. Our results highlight the significance of employing systematically controlled music, which can isolate emotional valence from the arousal dimension, to elucidate the brain's sound-to-meaning interface and its distributive crossmodal effects on early visual encoding during naturalistic film viewing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Bravo
- Department of Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen72076, Germany
- Cognition and Consciousness Imaging Group, Division of Anaesthesia, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, CambridgeCB2 0SP, United Kingdom
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, CambridgeCB2 0SP, United Kingdom
- Institut für Kunst- und Musikwissenschaft, Division of Musicology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden01219, Germany
| | - Jana Glogowski
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin12489, Germany
| | - Emmanuel Andreas Stamatakis
- Cognition and Consciousness Imaging Group, Division of Anaesthesia, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, CambridgeCB2 0SP, United Kingdom
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, CambridgeCB2 0SP, United Kingdom
| | - Kristina Herfert
- Department of Preclinical Imaging and Radiopharmacy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen72076, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Jastrzab LE, Chaudhury B, Ashley SA, Koldewyn K, Cross ES. Beyond human-likeness: Socialness is more influential when attributing mental states to robots. iScience 2024; 27:110070. [PMID: 38947497 PMCID: PMC11214418 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024] Open
Abstract
We sought to replicate and expand previous work showing that the more human-like a robot appears, the more willing people are to attribute mind-like capabilities and socially engage with it. Forty-two participants played games against a human, a humanoid robot, a mechanoid robot, and a computer algorithm while undergoing functional neuroimaging. We confirmed that the more human-like the agent, the more participants attributed a mind to them. However, exploratory analyses revealed that the perceived socialness of an agent appeared to be as, if not more, important for mind attribution. Our findings suggest top-down knowledge cues may be equally or possibly more influential than bottom-up stimulus cues when exploring mind attribution in non-human agents. While further work is now required to test this hypothesis directly, these preliminary findings hold important implications for robotic design and to understand and test the flexibility of human social cognition when people engage with artificial agents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura E. Jastrzab
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Human and Behavioural Science, Bangor University, Wales, UK
- Institute for Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Bishakha Chaudhury
- Institute for Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Sarah A. Ashley
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Human and Behavioural Science, Bangor University, Wales, UK
- Division of Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, University College London, London, UK
| | - Kami Koldewyn
- Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Human and Behavioural Science, Bangor University, Wales, UK
| | - Emily S. Cross
- Institute for Neuroscience and Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
- Chair for Social Brain Sciences, Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences, ETHZ, Zürich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Kraljević N, Langner R, Küppers V, Raimondo F, Patil KR, Eickhoff SB, Müller VI. Network and state specificity in connectivity-based predictions of individual behavior. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26753. [PMID: 38864353 PMCID: PMC11167405 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Predicting individual behavior from brain functional connectivity (FC) patterns can contribute to our understanding of human brain functioning. This may apply in particular if predictions are based on features derived from circumscribed, a priori defined functional networks, which improves interpretability. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that task-based FC data may yield more successful predictions of behavior than resting-state FC data. Here, we comprehensively examined to what extent the correspondence of functional network priors and task states with behavioral target domains influences the predictability of individual performance in cognitive, social, and affective tasks. To this end, we used data from the Human Connectome Project for large-scale out-of-sample predictions of individual abilities in working memory (WM), theory-of-mind cognition (SOCIAL), and emotion processing (EMO) from FC of corresponding and non-corresponding states (WM/SOCIAL/EMO/resting-state) and networks (WM/SOCIAL/EMO/whole-brain connectome). Using root mean squared error and coefficient of determination to evaluate model fit revealed that predictive performance was rather poor overall. Predictions from whole-brain FC were slightly better than those from FC in task-specific networks, and a slight benefit of predictions based on FC from task versus resting state was observed for performance in the WM domain. Beyond that, we did not find any significant effects of a correspondence of network, task state, and performance domains. Together, these results suggest that multivariate FC patterns during both task and resting states contain rather little information on individual performance levels, calling for a reconsideration of how the brain mediates individual differences in mental abilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nevena Kraljević
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital DüsseldorfHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| | - Robert Langner
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital DüsseldorfHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| | - Vincent Küppers
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital CologneUniversity of CologneCologneGermany
| | - Federico Raimondo
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital DüsseldorfHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| | - Kaustubh R. Patil
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital DüsseldorfHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| | - Simon B. Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital DüsseldorfHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| | - Veronika I. Müller
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital DüsseldorfHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM‐7: Brain and Behaviour)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Schuster BA, Sowden S, Rybicki AJ, Fraser DS, Press C, Hickman L, Holland P, Cook JL. Disruption of dopamine D2/D3 system function impairs the human ability to understand the mental states of other people. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002652. [PMID: 38870319 PMCID: PMC11175582 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Difficulties in reasoning about others' mental states (i.e., mentalising/Theory of Mind) are highly prevalent among disorders featuring dopamine dysfunctions (e.g., Parkinson's disease) and significantly affect individuals' quality of life. However, due to multiple confounding factors inherent to existing patient studies, currently little is known about whether these sociocognitive symptoms originate from aberrant dopamine signalling or from psychosocial changes unrelated to dopamine. The present study, therefore, investigated the role of dopamine in modulating mentalising in a sample of healthy volunteers. We used a double-blind, placebo-controlled procedure to test the effect of the D2/D3 antagonist haloperidol on mental state attribution, using an adaptation of the Heider and Simmel (1944) animations task. On 2 separate days, once after receiving 2.5 mg haloperidol and once after receiving placebo, 33 healthy adult participants viewed and labelled short videos of 2 triangles depicting mental state (involving mentalistic interaction wherein 1 triangle intends to cause or act upon a particular mental state in the other, e.g., surprising) and non-mental state (involving reciprocal interaction without the intention to cause/act upon the other triangle's mental state, e.g., following) interactions. Using Bayesian mixed effects models, we observed that haloperidol decreased accuracy in labelling both mental and non-mental state animations. Our secondary analyses suggest that dopamine modulates inference from mental and non-mental state animations via independent mechanisms, pointing towards 2 putative pathways underlying the dopaminergic modulation of mental state attribution: action representation and a shared mechanism supporting mentalising and emotion recognition. We conclude that dopaminergic pathways impact Theory of Mind, at least indirectly. Our results have implications for the neurochemical basis of sociocognitive difficulties in patients with dopamine dysfunctions and generate new hypotheses about the specific dopamine-mediated mechanisms underlying social cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bianca A Schuster
- Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Sophie Sowden
- Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Alicia J Rybicki
- Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Dagmar S Fraser
- Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Clare Press
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lydia Hickman
- Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Peter Holland
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jennifer L Cook
- Centre for Human Brain Health and School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Tetereva A, Knodt AR, Melzer TR, van der Vliet W, Gibson B, Hariri AR, Whitman ET, Li J, Deng J, Ireland D, Ramrakha S, Pat N. Improving Predictability, Test-Retest Reliability and Generalisability of Brain-Wide Associations for Cognitive Abilities via Multimodal Stacking. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.03.589404. [PMID: 38746222 PMCID: PMC11092590 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.03.589404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Brain-wide association studies (BWASs) have attempted to relate cognitive abilities with brain phenotypes, but have been challenged by issues such as predictability, test-retest reliability, and cross-cohort generalisability. To tackle these challenges, we proposed "stacking" that combines brain magnetic resonance imaging of different modalities, from task-fMRI contrasts and functional connectivity during tasks and rest to structural measures, into one prediction model. We benchmarked the benefits of stacking, using the Human Connectome Projects: Young Adults and Aging and the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. For predictability, stacked models led to out-of-sample r ∼.5-.6 when predicting cognitive abilities at the time of scanning and 36 years earlier. For test-retest reliability, stacked models reached an excellent level of reliability (ICC>.75), even when we stacked only task-fMRI contrasts together. For generalisability, a stacked model with non-task MRI built from one dataset significantly predicted cognitive abilities in other datasets. Altogether, stacking is a viable approach to undertake the three challenges of BWAS for cognitive abilities.
Collapse
|
7
|
Devine RT, Grumley Traynor I, Ronchi L, Lecce S. Children in ethnically diverse classrooms and those with cross-ethnic friendships excel at understanding others' minds. Child Dev 2024. [PMID: 38429980 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
This study examined the link between classroom ethnic diversity, cross-ethnic friendships, and children's theory of mind. In total, 730 children in the United Kingdom (54.7% girls, 51.5% White) aged 8 to 13 years completed measures of theory of mind in 2019/2020. Controlling for verbal ability, executive function, peer social preference, and teacher-reported demographic characteristics, greater classroom ethnic diversity provided opportunities for cross-ethnic friendships, and children with cross-ethnic friendships performed better than peers without cross-ethnic friendships on theory of mind. These results extend accounts of intergroup contact by using direct assessments of children's theory of mind and advance social accounts of theory of mind by demonstrating how experiences outside the family are linked with theory of mind.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rory T Devine
- Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Imogen Grumley Traynor
- Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Luca Ronchi
- Department of Brain and Behavioural Science, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Serena Lecce
- Department of Brain and Behavioural Science, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Camargo A, Del Mauro G, Wang Z. Task-induced changes in brain entropy. J Neurosci Res 2024; 102:e25310. [PMID: 38400553 PMCID: PMC10947426 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.25310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Entropy indicates irregularity of a dynamic system, with higher entropy indicating higher irregularity and more transit states. In the human brain, regional brain entropy (BEN) has been increasingly assessed using resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI), while changes of regional BEN during task-based fMRI have been scarcely studied. The purpose of this study is to characterize task-induced regional BEN alterations using the large Human Connectome Project (HCP) data. To control the potential modulation by the block design, BEN of task-fMRI was calculated from the fMRI images acquired during the task conditions only (task BEN) and then compared to BEN of rs-fMRI (resting BEN). Moreover, BEN was separately calculated from the control blocks of the task-fMRI runs (control BEN) and compared to task BEN. Finally, control BEN was compared to resting BEN to test for residual task effects in the control condition. With respect to resting state, task performance unanimously induced BEN reduction in the peripheral cortical area and BEN increase in the centric part of the sensorimotor and perception networks. Control compared to resting BEN showed similar entropy alterations, suggesting large residual task effects. Task compared to control BEN was characterized by reduced entropy in occipital, orbitofrontal, and parietal regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aldo Camargo
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Gianpaolo Del Mauro
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| | - Ze Wang
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Ibrahim K, Iturmendi-Sabater I, Vasishth M, Barron DS, Guardavaccaro M, Funaro MC, Holmes A, McCarthy G, Eickhoff SB, Sukhodolsky DG. Neural circuit disruptions of eye gaze processing in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Schizophr Res 2024; 264:298-313. [PMID: 38215566 PMCID: PMC10922721 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/14/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Impairment in social cognition, particularly eye gaze processing, is a shared feature common to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. However, it is unclear if a convergent neural mechanism also underlies gaze dysfunction in these conditions. The present study examined whether this shared eye gaze phenotype is reflected in a profile of convergent neurobiological dysfunction in ASD and schizophrenia. METHODS Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were conducted on peak voxel coordinates across the whole brain to identify spatial convergence. Functional coactivation with regions emerging as significant was assessed using meta-analytic connectivity modeling. Functional decoding was also conducted. RESULTS Fifty-six experiments (n = 30 with schizophrenia and n = 26 with ASD) from 36 articles met inclusion criteria, which comprised 354 participants with ASD, 275 with schizophrenia and 613 healthy controls (1242 participants in total). In ASD, aberrant activation was found in the left amygdala relative to unaffected controls during gaze processing. In schizophrenia, aberrant activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and supplementary motor area. Across ASD and schizophrenia, aberrant activation was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus and right fusiform gyrus during gaze processing. Functional decoding mapped the left amygdala to domains related to emotion processing and cognition, the right inferior frontal gyrus to cognition and perception, and the right fusiform gyrus to visual perception, spatial cognition, and emotion perception. These regions also showed meta-analytic connectivity to frontoparietal and frontotemporal circuitry. CONCLUSION Alterations in frontoparietal and frontotemporal circuitry emerged as neural markers of gaze impairments in ASD and schizophrenia. These findings have implications for advancing transdiagnostic biomarkers to inform targeted treatments for ASD and schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Karim Ibrahim
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America.
| | | | - Maya Vasishth
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America
| | - Daniel S Barron
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, United States of America; Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America
| | | | - Melissa C Funaro
- Yale University, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, United States of America
| | - Avram Holmes
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Yale University, Department of Psychiatry, United States of America; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, United States of America
| | - Gregory McCarthy
- Yale University, Department of Psychology, United States of America; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, United States of America
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Denis G Sukhodolsky
- Yale University School of Medicine, Child Study Center, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Gandolfo M, Abassi E, Balgova E, Downing PE, Papeo L, Koldewyn K. Converging evidence that left extrastriate body area supports visual sensitivity to social interactions. Curr Biol 2024; 34:343-351.e5. [PMID: 38181794 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 11/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
Navigating our complex social world requires processing the interactions we observe. Recent psychophysical and neuroimaging studies provide parallel evidence that the human visual system may be attuned to efficiently perceive dyadic interactions. This work implies, but has not yet demonstrated, that activity in body-selective cortical regions causally supports efficient visual perception of interactions. We adopt a multi-method approach to close this important gap. First, using a large fMRI dataset (n = 92), we found that the left hemisphere extrastriate body area (EBA) responds more to face-to-face than non-facing dyads. Second, we replicated a behavioral marker of visual sensitivity to interactions: categorization of facing dyads is more impaired by inversion than non-facing dyads. Third, in a pre-registered experiment, we used fMRI-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation to show that online stimulation of the left EBA, but not a nearby control region, abolishes this selective inversion effect. Activity in left EBA, thus, causally supports the efficient perception of social interactions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marco Gandolfo
- Donders Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen 6525GD, the Netherlands; Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL572AS, Gwynedd, UK.
| | - Etienne Abassi
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Marc Jeannerod, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Eva Balgova
- Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL572AS, Gwynedd, UK; Department of Psychology, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3UX, Ceredigion, UK
| | - Paul E Downing
- Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL572AS, Gwynedd, UK
| | - Liuba Papeo
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives, Marc Jeannerod, Lyon 69500, France
| | - Kami Koldewyn
- Department of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL572AS, Gwynedd, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Šalčiūnaitė-Nikonovė L, Leonas L, Sapranavičiūtė-Zabazlajeva L. The Effect of Alexithymia, Attention, and Pain Characteristics on Mentalizing Abilities Among Adults With Chronic Pain. Psychol Rep 2024:332941241226895. [PMID: 38214236 DOI: 10.1177/00332941241226895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2024]
Abstract
Introduction: Impaired mentalizing abilities are found among persons with chronic pain, yet it is still unknown why. The current study focuses on mentalizing abilities and how these could be affected by different pain factors, alexithymia traits, and other aspects of psychological functioning (depression, anxiety, attention) in persons experiencing chronic pain.Methods: 71 participants (80.3% female; mean age 56.1 (SD = 13.1)) with subjectively reported chronic pain conditions participated in the study. Mentalizing abilities were assessed using an objective assessment of the Frith-Happé animations test. Alexithymia was measured using Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Subjectively reported data on various pain characteristics and other related psychological factors (depression, anxiety, attention) were collected. Bivariate linear regression analyses were used to identify variables that had statistically significant relationships with Frith-Happé test scores as dependent variables, which were then used to build multivariate models.Results: Mentalization task scores had no significant associations with alexithymia. However, in bivariate models, greater Frith-Happé animations categorisation score was associated with higher attention task scores (βs = .332, p = .005), higher education (βs = .317, p = .007), and lower level of depressiveness (βs = -.234, p = .049). Greater animations feelings scores were associated with less severe pain intensity (βs = -.322, p = .006), younger age (βs = -.399, p = .001), and better attention (βs = .383, p = .001). In multivariate analysis models predicting both animations categorisation and feelings scores, attention was found to be the only statistically significant factor (respectively, βs = .257, p = .029 and βs = .264, p = .035).Conclusions: No significant correlations were found between mentalizing abilities and alexithymic features in persons with chronic pain. Disruptions of attention was the most significant factor leading to lower mentalizing abilities in persons with chronic pain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Šalčiūnaitė-Nikonovė
- Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
- Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | - Linas Leonas
- Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | - Laura Sapranavičiūtė-Zabazlajeva
- Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Public Health, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Song X, Dong M, Feng K, Li J, Hu X, Liu T. Influence of interpersonal distance on collaborative performance in the joint Simon task-An fNIRS-based hyperscanning study. Neuroimage 2024; 285:120473. [PMID: 38040400 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120473] [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: 07/04/2023] [Revised: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Collaboration is a critical skill in everyday life. It has been suggested that collaborative performance may be influenced by social factors such as interpersonal distance, which is defined as the perceived psychological distance between individuals. Previous literature has reported that close interpersonal distance may promote the level of self-other integration between interacting members, and in turn, enhance collaborative performance. These studies mainly focused on interdependent collaboration, which requires high levels of shared representations and self-other integration. However, little is known about the effect of interpersonal distance on independent collaboration (e.g., the joint Simon task), in which individuals perform the task independently while the final outcome is determined by the parties. To address this issue, we simultaneously measured the frontal activations of ninety-four pairs of participants using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning technique while they performed a joint Simon task. Behavioral results showed that the Joint Simon Effect (JSE), defined as the RT difference between incongruent and congruent conditions indicating the level of self-other integration between collaborators, was larger in the friend group than in the stranger group. Consistently, the inter-brain neural synchronization (INS) across the dorsolateral and medial parts of the prefrontal cortex was also stronger in the friend group. In addition, INS in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex negatively predicted JSE only in the friend group. These results suggest that close interpersonal distance may enhance the shared mental representation among collaborators, which in turn influences their collaborative performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaolei Song
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China; Key Laboratory for Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, China.
| | - Meimei Dong
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China; Key Laboratory for Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, China
| | - Kun Feng
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China; Key Laboratory for Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, China
| | - Jiaqi Li
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China; Key Laboratory for Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, China
| | - Xiaofei Hu
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China; Key Laboratory for Behavior and Cognitive Neuroscience of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, China
| | - Tao Liu
- School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China; Department of Psychology, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China; School of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
McMahon E, Isik L. Seeing social interactions. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:1165-1179. [PMID: 37805385 PMCID: PMC10841760 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/09/2023]
Abstract
Seeing the interactions between other people is a critical part of our everyday visual experience, but recognizing the social interactions of others is often considered outside the scope of vision and grouped with higher-level social cognition like theory of mind. Recent work, however, has revealed that recognition of social interactions is efficient and automatic, is well modeled by bottom-up computational algorithms, and occurs in visually-selective regions of the brain. We review recent evidence from these three methodologies (behavioral, computational, and neural) that converge to suggest the core of social interaction perception is visual. We propose a computational framework for how this process is carried out in the brain and offer directions for future interdisciplinary investigations of social perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emalie McMahon
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Leyla Isik
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Kraljević N, Langner R, Küppers V, Raimondo F, Patil KR, Eickhoff SB, Müller VI. Network and State Specificity in Connectivity-Based Predictions of Individual Behavior. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.11.540387. [PMID: 37215048 PMCID: PMC10197703 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.11.540387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Predicting individual behavior from brain functional connectivity (FC) patterns can contribute to our understanding of human brain functioning. This may apply in particular if predictions are based on features derived from circumscribed, a priori defined functional networks, which improves interpretability. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that task-based FC data may yield more successful predictions of behavior than resting-state FC data. Here, we comprehensively examined to what extent the correspondence of functional network priors and task states with behavioral target domains influences the predictability of individual performance in cognitive, social, and affective tasks. To this end, we used data from the Human Connectome Project for large-scale out-of-sample predictions of individual abilities in working memory (WM), theory-of-mind cognition (SOCIAL), and emotion processing (EMO) from FC of corresponding and non-corresponding states (WM/SOCIAL/EMO/resting-state) and networks (WM/SOCIAL/EMO/whole-brain connectome). Using root mean squared error and coefficient of determination to evaluate model fit revealed that predictive performance was rather poor overall. Predictions from whole-brain FC were slightly better than those from FC in task-specific networks, and a slight benefit of predictions based on FC from task versus resting state was observed for performance in the WM domain. Beyond that, we did not find any significant effects of a correspondence of network, task state, and performance domains. Together, these results suggest that multivariate FC patterns during both task and resting states contain rather little information on individual performance levels, calling for a reconsideration of how the brain mediates individual differences in mental abilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nevena Kraljević
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Robert Langner
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Vincent Küppers
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Federico Raimondo
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Kaustubh R Patil
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| | - Veronika I Müller
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Torabian S, Grossman ED. When shapes are more than shapes: perceptual, developmental, and neurophysiological basis for attributions of animacy and theory of mind. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1168739. [PMID: 37744598 PMCID: PMC10513434 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1168739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Among a variety of entities in their environment, what do humans consider alive or animate and how does this attribution of animacy promote development of more abstract levels of mentalizing? By decontextualizing the environment of bodily features, we review how physical movements give rise to perceived animacy in Heider-Simmel style animations. We discuss the developmental course of how perceived animacy shapes our interpretation of the social world, and specifically discuss when and how children transition from perceiving actions as goal-directed to attributing behaviors to unobservable mental states. This transition from a teleological stance, asserting a goal-oriented interpretation to an agent's actions, to a mentalistic stance allows older children to reason about more complex actions guided by hidden beliefs. The acquisition of these more complex cognitive behaviors happens developmentally at the same time neural systems for social cognition are coming online in young children. We review perceptual, developmental, and neural evidence to identify the joint cognitive and neural changes associated with when children begin to mentalize and how this ability is instantiated in the brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sajjad Torabian
- Visual Perception and Neuroimaging Lab, Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | | |
Collapse
|
16
|
Gatti D, Stagnitto SM, Basile C, Mazzoni G, Vecchi T, Rinaldi L, Lecce S. Individual differences in theory of mind correlate with the occurrence of false memory: A study with the DRM task. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2023; 76:2107-2121. [PMID: 36245220 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221135178] [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] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Although long-term memory and Theory of Mind (ToM) are closely related across the whole lifespan, little is known about the relationship between ToM and semantic memory. Clinical studies have documented the co-occurrence of ToM impairments and semantic memory abnormalities in individuals with autism or semantic dementia. However, to date, no study has directly investigated the existence of a relationship between ToM and semantic memory in the typical population. We addressed this gap on a sample of 103 healthy adults (M age = 22.96 years; age range = 19-35 years). Participants completed a classical false memory task tapping on semantic processes, the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task, and two ToM tasks, the Triangles and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes task. They also completed the vocabulary scale from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Results showed that participants' semantic performance in the DRM task was significantly related to that in the Triangles task. Specifically, the higher participants' ToM in the Triangles task, the higher participants' reliance on semantic memory while making false memories in the DRM task. Our findings are consistent with the Fuzzy Trace Theory and the Weak Central Coherence account and suggest that a (partially) common cognitive process responsible for global versus detailed-focus information processing could underlie these two abilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Gatti
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | | | - Chiara Basile
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Giuliana Mazzoni
- Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
- School of Life Sciences, University of Hull, Hull, UK
| | - Tomaso Vecchi
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Luca Rinaldi
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Serena Lecce
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Isernia S, Rossetto F, Castelli F, Rovaris M, Blasi V, Baglio F. Beyond the simplicity of theory of mind deficit in multiple sclerosis: from kinetic perception to socio-emotional abstraction and mentalizing. Mult Scler Relat Disord 2023; 77:104894. [PMID: 37490809 DOI: 10.1016/j.msard.2023.104894] [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: 05/19/2023] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Theory of Mind (ToM) processing in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is still poorly understood due to the difficulty of most tasks in qualifying the mentalizing deficit net of cognitive load. METHODS In this study, we administered the New False Belief Animation Task (NFBAT) to 50 MS and 33 healthy controls (HC) to investigate spontaneous mentalizing in ToM and goal-directed interactions. The global cognitive level was assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). NFBAT appropriateness and intentionality scores were computed to investigate the ToM accuracy and intentionality attribution difficulties. NFBAT answers were qualitatively analyzed and categorized into kinetically and socially coherent/not coherent responses to test a low-level perceptual deficit. RESULTS The main result showed dysfunctional mentalizing reasoning in MS compared to HC in the NFBAT Intentionality score in ToM conditions (p = 0.028, d = 0.501), while the two groups were equally proficient in mentalization accuracy. The Intentionality underperformance in MS was related to social low-level perceptual processing (β =0.06, p < 0.001) and visuospatial functions (β =0.05, p =0.002). A predictive role of memory and executive functions on NFBAT Intentionality scores was not observed. CONCLUSION These results strengthen the hypothesis that ToM in MS is likely related to low-level social processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Fulvia Castelli
- Brain and Behavioral Science Department, University of Pavia, Sezione di Psicologia Piazza Botta, Pavia, Italy
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
18
|
Parola A, Lin JM, Simonsen A, Bliksted V, Zhou Y, Wang H, Inoue L, Koelkebeck K, Fusaroli R. Speech disturbances in schizophrenia: Assessing cross-linguistic generalizability of NLP automated measures of coherence. Schizophr Res 2023; 259:59-70. [PMID: 35927097 DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2022.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Language disorders - disorganized and incoherent speech in particular - are distinctive features of schizophrenia. Natural language processing (NLP) offers automated measures of incoherent speech as promising markers for schizophrenia. However, the scientific and clinical impact of NLP markers depends on their generalizability across contexts, samples, and languages, which we systematically assessed in the present study relying on a large, novel, cross-linguistic corpus. METHODS We collected a Danish (DK), German (GE), and Chinese (CH) cross-linguistic dataset involving transcripts from 187 participants with schizophrenia (111DK, 25GE, 51CH) and 200 matched controls (129DK, 29GE, 42CH) performing the Animated Triangles Task. Fourteen previously published NLP coherence measures were calculated, and between-groups differences and association with symptoms were tested for cross-linguistic generalizability. RESULTS One coherence measure, i.e. second-order coherence, robustly generalized across samples and languages. We found several language-specific effects, some of which partially replicated previous findings (lower coherence in German and Chinese patients), while others did not (higher coherence in Danish patients). We found several associations between symptoms and measures of coherence, but the effects were generally inconsistent across languages and rating scales. CONCLUSIONS Using a cumulative approach, we have shown that NLP findings of reduced semantic coherence in schizophrenia have limited generalizability across different languages, samples, and measures. We argue that several factors such as sociodemographic and clinical heterogeneity, cross-linguistic variation, and the different NLP measures reflecting different clinical aspects may be responsible for this variability. Future studies should take this variability into account in order to develop effective clinical applications targeting different patient populations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Parola
- Department of Linguistics, Semiotics and Cognitive Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
| | - Jessica Mary Lin
- Department of Linguistics, Semiotics and Cognitive Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Arndis Simonsen
- The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Psychosis Research Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Vibeke Bliksted
- The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Psychosis Research Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Yuan Zhou
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Huiling Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Lana Inoue
- LVR-Hospital Essen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hospital and Institute of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Center for Translational Neuro- & Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Duisburg Essen, Germany
| | - Katja Koelkebeck
- LVR-Hospital Essen, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hospital and Institute of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Center for Translational Neuro- & Behavioral Sciences (C-TNBS), University Duisburg Essen, Germany
| | - Riccardo Fusaroli
- Department of Linguistics, Semiotics and Cognitive Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Jackson RL, Humphreys GF, Rice GE, Binney RJ, Lambon Ralph MA. A network-level test of the role of the co-activated default mode network in episodic recall and social cognition. Cortex 2023; 165:141-159. [PMID: 37285763 PMCID: PMC10284259 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 10/10/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Resting-state network research is extremely influential, yet the functions of many networks remain unknown. In part, this is due to typical (e.g., univariate) analyses independently testing the function of individual regions and not examining the full set of regions that form a network whilst co-activated. Connectivity is dynamic and the function of a region may change based on its current connections. Therefore, determining the function of a network requires assessment at this network-level. Yet popular theories implicating the default mode network (DMN) in episodic memory and social cognition, rest principally upon analyses performed at the level of individual brain regions. Here we use independent component analysis to formally test the role of the DMN in episodic and social processing at the network level. As well as an episodic retrieval task, two independent datasets were employed to assess DMN function across the breadth of social cognition; a person knowledge judgement and a theory of mind task. Each task dataset was separated into networks of co-activated regions. In each, the co-activated DMN, was identified through comparison to an a priori template and its relation to the task model assessed. This co-activated DMN did not show greater activity in episodic or social tasks than high-level baseline conditions. Thus, no evidence was found to support hypotheses that the co-activated DMN is involved in explicit episodic or social tasks at a network-level. The networks associated with these processes are described. Implications for prior univariate findings and the functional significance of the co-activated DMN are considered.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca L Jackson
- Department of Psychology & York Biomedical Research Institute, University of York, York, UK; MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Gina F Humphreys
- MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Grace E Rice
- MRC Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
20
|
Dureux A, Zanini A, Selvanayagam J, Menon RS, Everling S. Gaze patterns and brain activations in humans and marmosets in the Frith-Happé theory-of-mind animation task. eLife 2023; 12:e86327. [PMID: 37449983 PMCID: PMC10435231 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the cognitive ability to attribute mental states to other individuals. This ability extends even to the attribution of mental states to animations featuring simple geometric shapes, such as the Frith-Happé animations in which two triangles move either purposelessly (Random condition), exhibit purely physical movement (Goal-directed condition), or move as if one triangle is reacting to the other triangle's mental states (ToM condition). While this capacity in humans has been thoroughly established, research on nonhuman primates has yielded inconsistent results. This study explored how marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), a highly social primate species, process Frith-Happé animations by examining gaze patterns and brain activations of marmosets and humans as they observed these animations. We revealed that both marmosets and humans exhibited longer fixations on one of the triangles in ToM animations, compared to other conditions. However, we did not observe the same pattern of longer overall fixation duration on the ToM animations in marmosets as identified in humans. Furthermore, our findings reveal that both species activated extensive and comparable brain networks when viewing ToM versus Random animations, suggesting that marmosets differentiate between these scenarios similarly to humans. While marmosets did not mimic human overall fixation patterns, their gaze behavior and neural activations indicate a distinction between ToM and non-ToM scenarios. This study expands our understanding of nonhuman primate cognitive abilities, shedding light on potential similarities and differences in ToM processing between marmosets and humans.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Audrey Dureux
- Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western OntarioLondonCanada
| | - Alessandro Zanini
- Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western OntarioLondonCanada
| | - Janahan Selvanayagam
- Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western OntarioLondonCanada
| | - Ravi S Menon
- Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western OntarioLondonCanada
| | - Stefan Everling
- Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western OntarioLondonCanada
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western OntarioLondonCanada
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
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
|
22
|
Parovel G. Perceiving animacy from kinematics: visual specification of life-likeness in simple geometric patterns. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1167809. [PMID: 37333577 PMCID: PMC10273680 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1167809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Since the seminal work of Heider and Simmel, and Michotte's research, many studies have shown that, under appropriate conditions, displays of simple geometric shapes elicit rich and vivid impressions of animacy and intentionality. The main purpose of this review is to emphasize the close relationship between kinematics and perceived animacy by showing which specific motion cues and spatiotemporal patterns automatically trigger visual perceptions of animacy and intentionality. The animacy phenomenon has been demonstrated to be rather fast, automatic, irresistible, and highly stimulus-driven. Moreover, there is growing evidence that animacy attributions, although usually associated with higher-level cognition and long-term memory, may reflect highly specialized visual processes that have evolved to support adaptive behaviors critical for survival. The hypothesis of a life-detector hardwired in the perceptual system is also supported by recent studies in early development and animal cognition, as well as by the issue of the "irresistibility" criterion, i.e., the persistence of animacy perception in adulthood even in the face of conflicting background knowledge. Finally, further support for the hypothesis that animacy is processed in the earliest stages of vision comes from recent experimental evidence on the interaction of animacy with other visual processes, such as visuomotor performance, visual memory, and speed estimation. Summarizing, the ability to detect animacy in all its nuances may be related to the visual system's sensitivity to those changes in kinematics - considered as a multifactorial relational system - that are associated with the presence of living beings, as opposed to the natural, inert behavior of physically constrained, form-invariant objects, or even mutually independent moving agents. This broad predisposition would allow the observer not only to identify the presence of animates and to distinguish them from inanimate, but also to quickly grasp their psychological, emotional, and social characteristics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Parovel
- Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Zhang H, Parola A, Zhou Y, Wang H, Bliksted V, Fusaroli R, Hinzen W. Linguistic markers of psychosis in Mandarin Chinese: Relations to theory of mind. Psychiatry Res 2023; 325:115253. [PMID: 37245483 DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Disorganized and impoverished language is a key feature of schizophrenia (Sz), but whether and which linguistic changes previously observed in Indo-European languages generalize to other languages remains unclear. Targeting Mandarin Chinese, we aimed to profile aspects of grammatical complexity that we hypothesized would be reduced in schizophrenia in a task of verbalizing social events. 51 individuals with Sz and 39 controls participated in the animated triangles task, a standardized measure of theory of mind (ToM), in which participants describe triangles moving in either a random or an 'intentional' condition. Results revealed that clauses embedded as arguments in other clauses were reduced in Sz, and that both groups produced such clauses and grammatical aspect more frequently in the intentional condition. ToM scores specifically correlated with production of embedded argument clauses. These results document grammatical impoverishment in Sz in Chinese across several structural domains, which in some of its specific aspects relate to mentalizing performance.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Han Zhang
- Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Carrer de Roc Boronat, 138, Barcelona 08018, Spain.
| | - Alberto Parola
- Department of Linguistics, Semiotics and Cognitive Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Yuan Zhou
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Huiling Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
| | - Vibeke Bliksted
- The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Psychosis Research Unit, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Riccardo Fusaroli
- Department of Linguistics, Semiotics and Cognitive Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Interacting Minds Centre, Institute of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Linguistic Data Consortium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Wolfram Hinzen
- Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Carrer de Roc Boronat, 138, Barcelona 08018, Spain; Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies and Research (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Shain C, Paunov A, Chen X, Lipkin B, Fedorenko E. No evidence of theory of mind reasoning in the human language network. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:6299-6319. [PMID: 36585774 PMCID: PMC10183748 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Revised: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Language comprehension and the ability to infer others' thoughts (theory of mind [ToM]) are interrelated during development and language use. However, neural evidence that bears on the relationship between language and ToM mechanisms is mixed. Although robust dissociations have been reported in brain disorders, brain activations for contrasts that target language and ToM bear similarities, and some have reported overlap. We take another look at the language-ToM relationship by evaluating the response of the language network, as measured with fMRI, to verbal and nonverbal ToM across 151 participants. Individual-participant analyses reveal that all core language regions respond more strongly when participants read vignettes about false beliefs compared to the control vignettes. However, we show that these differences are largely due to linguistic confounds, and no such effects appear in a nonverbal ToM task. These results argue against cognitive and neural overlap between language processing and ToM. In exploratory analyses, we find responses to social processing in the "periphery" of the language network-right-hemisphere homotopes of core language areas and areas in bilateral angular gyri-but these responses are not selectively ToM-related and may reflect general visual semantic processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cory Shain
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT Bldg 46-316077 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Alexander Paunov
- INSERM-CEA Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit (UNICOG), NeuroSpin Center, Gif sur Yvette 91191, France
| | - Xuanyi Chen
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, United States
| | - Benjamin Lipkin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT Bldg 46-316077 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT Bldg 46-316077 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Program in Speech Hearing in Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School, 260 Longwood Avenue, TMEC 333, Boston, MA 02115, United States
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Qin X, Huang H, Liu Y, Zheng F, Zhou Y, Wang H. Increased Functional Connectivity Involving the Parahippocampal Gyrus in Patients with Schizophrenia during Theory of Mind Processing: A Psychophysiological Interaction Study. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13040692. [PMID: 37190657 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13040692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Theory of Mind (ToM) is an ability to infer the mental state of others, which plays an important role during social events. Previous studies have shown that ToM deficits exist frequently in schizophrenia, which may result from abnormal activity in brain regions related to sociality. However, the interactions between brain regions during ToM processing in schizophrenia are still unclear. Therefore, in this study, we investigated functional connectivity during ToM processing in patients with schizophrenia, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). METHODS A total of 36 patients with schizophrenia and 33 healthy controls were recruited to complete a ToM task from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) during fMRI scanning. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis was applied to explore functional connectivity. RESULTS Patients with schizophrenia were less accurate than healthy controls in judging social stimuli from non-social stimuli (Z = 2.31, p = 0.021), and displayed increased activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and increased functional connectivity between the bilateral middle temporal gyrus and the ipsilateral parahippocampal gyrus during ToM processing (AlphaSim corrected p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Here, we showed that the brain regions related to sociality interact more with the parahippocampal gyrus in patients with schizophrenia during ToM processing, which may reflect a possible compensatory pathway of ToM deficits in schizophrenia. Our study provides a new idea for ToM deficits in schizophrenia, which could be helpful to better understand social cognition of schizophrenia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xucong Qin
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Huan Huang
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Ying Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Fanfan Zheng
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
| | - Yuan Zhou
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Huiling Wang
- Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China
- Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Wuhan 430060, China
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Dennison JB, Tepfer LJ, Smith DV. Tensorial independent component analysis reveals social and reward networks associated with major depressive disorder. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:2905-2920. [PMID: 36880638 PMCID: PMC10089091 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with changes in functional brain connectivity. Yet, typical analyses of functional connectivity, such as spatial independent components analysis (ICA) for resting-state data, often ignore sources of between-subject variability, which may be crucial for identifying functional connectivity patterns associated with MDD. Typically, methods like spatial ICA will identify a single component to represent a network like the default mode network (DMN), even if groups within the data show differential DMN coactivation. To address this gap, this project applies a tensorial extension of ICA (tensorial ICA)-which explicitly incorporates between-subject variability-to identify functionally connected networks using functional MRI data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP). Data from the HCP included individuals with a diagnosis of MDD, a family history of MDD, and healthy controls performing a gambling and social cognition task. Based on evidence associating MDD with blunted neural activation to rewards and social stimuli, we predicted that tensorial ICA would identify networks associated with reduced spatiotemporal coherence and blunted social and reward-based network activity in MDD. Across both tasks, tensorial ICA identified three networks showing decreased coherence in MDD. All three networks included ventromedial prefrontal cortex, striatum, and cerebellum and showed different activation across the conditions of their respective tasks. However, MDD was only associated with differences in task-based activation in one network from the social task. Additionally, these results suggest that tensorial ICA could be a valuable tool for understanding clinical differences in relation to network activation and connectivity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeff B Dennison
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Lindsey J Tepfer
- Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Dartmouth University, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - David V Smith
- Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Li M, Pu M, Baetens K, Baeken C, Deroost N, Heleven E, Van Overwalle F. Mind your step: social cerebellum in interactive navigation. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:6648373. [PMID: 35866545 PMCID: PMC9949501 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsac047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The posterior cerebellum contributes to dynamic social cognition by building representations and predictions about sequences in which social interactions typically take place. However, the extent to which violations of prior social expectations during human interaction activate the cerebellum remains largely unknown. The present study examined inconsistent actions, which violate the expectations of desired goal outcomes, by using a social navigation paradigm in which a protagonist presented a gift to another agent that was liked or not. As an analogous non-social control condition, a pen was transported via an assembly line and filled with ink that matched the pen's cap or not. Participants (n = 25) were required to memorize and subsequently reproduce the sequence of the protagonist's or pen's trajectory. As hypothesized, expectation violations in social (vs non-social) sequencing were associated with activation in the posterior cerebellum (Crus 1/2) and other cortical mentalizing regions. In contrast, non-social (vs social) sequencing recruited cerebellar lobules IV-V, the action observation network and the navigation-related parahippocampal gyrus. There was little effect in comparison with a social non-sequencing control condition, where participants only had to observe the trajectory. The findings provide further evidence of cerebellar involvement in signaling inconsistencies in social outcomes of goal-directed navigation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Meijia Li
- Faculty of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050 , Belgium
| | - Min Pu
- Faculty of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050 , Belgium
| | - Kris Baetens
- Faculty of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050 , Belgium.,Brussels University Consultation Center, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050, Belgium
| | - Chris Baeken
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Head and Skin, Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent Experimental, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium.,Department of Psychiatry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1090, Belgium.,Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven 5600, The Netherlands
| | - Natacha Deroost
- Faculty of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050 , Belgium
| | - Elien Heleven
- Faculty of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050 , Belgium
| | - Frank Van Overwalle
- Faculty of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels 1050 , Belgium
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Sobel BM, Sims VK. Using the Frith-Happé animations to compare attributions of mental qualities in nonhuman agents. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2023.2166053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Briana M. Sobel
- Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
| | - Valerie K. Sims
- Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Saito T, Motoki K, Nouchi R, Sugiura M. Facilitating animacy perception by manipulating stimuli exposure time. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1017685. [PMID: 36710764 PMCID: PMC9879210 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1017685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/15/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Animacy perception-discriminating between animate and inanimate visual stimuli-is the basis for engaging in social cognition and for our survival (e.g., avoiding potential danger). Previous studies indicate that factors in a target, such as the features or motion of a target, enhance animacy perception. However, factors in a perceiver, such as the visual attention of a perceiver to a target, have received little attention from researchers. Research on judgment, decision-making, and neuroeconomics indicates the active role of visual attention in constructing decisions. This study examined the role of visual attention in the perception of animacy by manipulating the exposure time of targets. Among Studies 1a to 1c conducted in this study, participants saw two face illustrations alternately; one of the faces was shown to be longer than the other. The participants chose the face that they considered more animated and rounder. Consequently, longer exposure time toward targets facilitated animacy perception and preference rather than the perception of roundness. Furthermore, preregistered Study 2 examined the underlying mechanisms. The results suggest that mere exposure, rather than orienting behavior, might play a vital role in the perception of animacy. Thus, in the reverse relationship between visual attention and animacy perception, animate objects capture attention-attention results in the perception of animacy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Toshiki Saito
- School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan,Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan,*Correspondence: Toshiki Saito,
| | - Kosuke Motoki
- Department of Management, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Rui Nouchi
- Institute for Development and Ageing and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Motoaki Sugiura
- Institute for Development and Ageing and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Varrier RS, Finn ES. Seeing Social: A Neural Signature for Conscious Perception of Social Interactions. J Neurosci 2022; 42:9211-9226. [PMID: 36280263 PMCID: PMC9761685 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0859-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Social information is some of the most ambiguous content we encounter in our daily lives, yet in experimental contexts, percepts of social interactions-that is, whether an interaction is present and if so, the nature of that interaction-are often dichotomized as correct or incorrect based on experimenter-assigned labels. Here, we investigated the behavioral and neural correlates of subjective (or conscious) social perception using data from the Human Connectome Project in which participants (n = 1049; 486 men, 562 women) viewed animations of geometric shapes during fMRI and indicated whether they perceived a social interaction or random motion. Critically, rather than experimenter-assigned labels, we used observers' own reports of "Social" or "Non-social" to classify percepts and characterize brain activity, including leveraging a particularly ambiguous animation perceived as "Social" by some but "Non-social" by others to control for visual input. Behaviorally, observers were biased toward perceiving information as social (vs non-social); and neurally, observer reports (compared with experimenter labels) explained more variance in activity across much of the brain. Using "Unsure" reports, we identified several regions that responded parametrically to perceived socialness. Neural responses to social versus non-social content diverged early in time and in the cortical hierarchy. Finally, individuals with higher internalizing trait scores showed both a higher response bias toward "Social" and an inverse relationship with activity in default mode and visual association areas while scanning for social information. Findings underscore the subjective nature of social perception and the importance of using observer reports to study percepts of social interactions.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Simple animations involving two or more geometric shapes have been used as a gold standard to understand social cognition and impairments therein. Yet, experimenter-assigned labels of what is social versus non-social are frequently used as a ground truth, despite the fact that percepts of such ambiguous social stimuli are highly subjective. Here, we used behavioral and fMRI data from a large sample of neurotypical individuals to show that participants' responses reveal subtle behavioral biases, help us study neural responses to social content more precisely, and covary with internalizing trait scores. Our findings underscore the subjective nature of social perception and the importance of considering observer reports in studying behavioral and neural dynamics of social perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rekha S Varrier
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
| | - Emily S Finn
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Bachmann J, Krüger B, Keck J, Munzert J, Zabicki A. When the timing is right: The link between temporal coupling in dyadic interactions and emotion recognition. Cognition 2022; 229:105267. [PMID: 36058018 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105267] [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: 10/07/2021] [Revised: 08/05/2022] [Accepted: 08/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Affective states can be understood as dynamic interpersonal processes developing over time and space. When we observe emotional interactions performed by other individuals, our visual system anticipates how the action will unfold. Thus, it has been proposed that the process of emotion perception is not only a simulative but also a predictive process - a phenomenon described as interpersonal predictive coding. The present study investigated whether the recognition of emotions from dyadic interactions depends on a fixed spatiotemporal coupling of the agents. We used an emotion recognition task to manipulate the actions of two interacting point-light figures by implementing different temporal offsets that delayed the onset of one of the agent's actions (+0 ms, +500 ms, +1000 ms or + 2000 ms). Participants had to determine both the subjective valence and the emotion category (happiness, anger, sadness, affection) of the interaction. Results showed that temporal decoupling had a critical effect on both emotion recognition and the subjective impression of valence intensity: Both measures decreased with increasing temporal offset. However, these effects were dependent on which emotion was displayed. Whereas affection and anger sequences were impacted by the temporal manipulation, happiness and sadness were not. To further investigate these effects, we conducted post-hoc exploratory analyses of interpersonal movement parameters. Our findings complement and extend previous evidence by showing that the complex, noncoincidental coordination of actions within dyadic interactions results in a meaningful movement pattern and might serve as a fundamental factor in both detecting and understanding complex actions during human interaction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia Bachmann
- Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
| | - Britta Krüger
- Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Johannes Keck
- Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Jörn Munzert
- Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
| | - Adam Zabicki
- Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Complementary hemispheric lateralization of language and social processing in the human brain. Cell Rep 2022; 41:111617. [DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
|
33
|
Neural substrates of theory of mind in adults with autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study of the social animation task. J Formos Med Assoc 2022:S0929-6646(22)00393-X. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2022.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2022] [Revised: 10/06/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
|
34
|
Golec-Staśkiewicz K, Pluta A, Wojciechowski J, Okruszek Ł, Haman M, Wysocka J, Wolak T. Does the TPJ fit it all? Representational similarity analysis of different forms of mentalizing. Soc Neurosci 2022; 17:428-440. [DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2022.2138536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Agnieszka Pluta
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- Bioimaging Research Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, World Hearing Center, Kajetany, Poland
| | - Jakub Wojciechowski
- Bioimaging Research Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, World Hearing Center, Kajetany, Poland
- Laboratory of Emotions Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Łukasz Okruszek
- Social Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Maciej Haman
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Joanna Wysocka
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Tomasz Wolak
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
ISHIHARA TORU, MIYAZAKI ATSUSHI, TANAKA HIROKI, MATSUDA TETSUYA. Association of Cardiovascular Risk Markers and Fitness with Task-Related Neural Activity during Animacy Perception. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2022; 54:1738-1750. [PMID: 35666157 PMCID: PMC9473717 DOI: 10.1249/mss.0000000000002963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Numerous studies have demonstrated the association between cardiovascular risk markers and fitness, and broad aspects of cognition; however, the possible association of cardiovascular risk markers and fitness with social cognition, which plays a significant role in the development and maintenance of social relationships, has largely been ignored. Herein, we investigated the relationship of cardiovascular risk markers and fitness with task-related neural activity during animacy perception. METHODS We analyzed data from the Human Connectome Project derived from 1027 adults age 22-37 yr. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was conducted to evaluate the association between participants' body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, submaximal endurance, gait speed, hand dexterity, and muscular strength with task-related neural activity during animacy perception. RESULTS We observed a single significant CCA mode. Body mass index and blood pressure demonstrated negative cross-loadings with task-related neural activity in the temporoparietal, superior and anterior temporal, posterior cingulate, and inferior frontal regions, whereas submaximal endurance, hand dexterity, and muscular strength demonstrated positive cross-loadings. The observed CCA variates did not seem highly heritable, as the absolute differences in CCA variates in monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, and nontwin siblings were not statistically different. Furthermore, the cardiovascular risk markers and fitness CCA variates were positively associated with animacy perception and emotion recognition accuracy, which was mediated by the task-related neural activity. CONCLUSIONS The present findings can provide new insights into the role of markers for cardiovascular health and fitness, specifically their association with social cognition and the underlying neural basis. The intervention for cardiovascular risk and fitness could be a potentially cost-effective method of targeting social cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- TORU ISHIHARA
- Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Kobe, JAPAN
| | | | - HIROKI TANAKA
- Tamagawa University Brain Science Institute, Tokyo, JAPAN
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, JAPAN
| | | |
Collapse
|
36
|
Mossad SI, Vandewouw MM, de Villa K, Pang EW, Taylor MJ. Characterising the spatial and oscillatory unfolding of Theory of Mind in adults using fMRI and MEG. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:921347. [PMID: 36204717 PMCID: PMC9530400 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.921347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Theory of Mind (ToM) is a core social cognitive skill that refers to the ability to attribute mental states to others. ToM involves understanding that others have beliefs, thoughts and desires that may be different from one's own and from reality. ToM is crucial to predict behaviour and navigate social interactions. This study employed the complementary methodological advantages of both functional MRI (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the neural underpinnings of ToM in adults. Twenty healthy adults were first recruited to rate and describe 28 videos (15s long), each containing three moving shapes designed to depict either social interactions or random motion (control condition). The first sample of adults produced consistent narratives for 6 of those social videos and of those, 4 social videos and 4 control videos were chosen to include in the neuroimaging study. Another sample of twenty-five adults were then recruited to complete the neuroimaging in MEG and fMRI. In fMRI, we found increased activation in frontal-parietal regions in the social compared to the control condition corroborating previous fMRI findings. In MEG, we found recruitment of ToM networks in the social condition in theta, beta and gamma bands. The right supramarginal and angular gyri (right temporal parietal junction), right inferior parietal lobe and right temporal pole were recruited in the first 5s of the videos. Frontal regions such as the superior frontal gyrus were recruited in the second time window (5–10s). Brain regions such as the bilateral amygdalae were also recruited (5–10s), indicating that various social processes were integrated in understanding the social videos. Our study is one of the first to combine multi-modal neuroimaging to examine the neural networks underlying social cognitive processes, combining the strengths of the spatial resolution of fMRI and temporal resolution of MEG. Understanding this information from both modalities helped delineate the mechanism by which ToM processing unfolds over time in healthy adults. This allows us to determine a benchmark against which clinical populations can be compared.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah I. Mossad
- Department of Psychology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- *Correspondence: Sarah I. Mossad
| | - Marlee M. Vandewouw
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Autism Research Center, Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Kathrina de Villa
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Elizabeth W. Pang
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Division of Neurology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Margot J. Taylor
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Departments of Psychology and of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Wu Y, Liu X, Zhang S, Zhong R. Training College Students with Hearing Loss in Theory of Mind. JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION 2022; 27:423-433. [PMID: 35797703 DOI: 10.1093/deafed/enac015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2021] [Revised: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This paper explored training methods to improve the Theory of Mind levels of Chinese college students with hearing loss and investigated the transfer effect of training. Ninety Chinese college students with hearing loss were randomly divided into two groups: the ToM training group and the physical-conversation training group. The ToM training group received ToM training, and the physical-conversation training group as the control group received physical-conversation training. All the participants attended four separate 60-min lectures. The ToM Story Task and the False Belief Task were used to assess the training's effect, and the ToM animation task was adopted to investigate the transfer effect. Before training, the level of ToM of the two participant groups was similar. After training, the ToM level of Chinese college students with hearing loss who participated in ToM training was significantly higher than the students who underwent physical-conversation training. Moreover, the findings revealed that ToM training has long-term transfer effects. This study thus showed that ToM training can effectively improve the ToM level of Chinese college students with hearing loss.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yang Wu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Xiping Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Shengnan Zhang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| | - Rubo Zhong
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
Qiyi L, Ruiyi Z, Yiwen Z, Nan Z. Did Chinese children with imaginary companions attribute more agencies to non-human items: Evidences from behavioral cues and appearance characteristics. Front Psychol 2022; 13:899047. [PMID: 36160518 PMCID: PMC9491396 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.899047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have focused on the relationship between imaginary companions (ICs) and children’s social developments. As far as we know, few studies have focused on the relationship between ICs and children’s agency attributions. This study aimed to explore the potential differences in agency attributions between children with and without ICs, children with egalitarian IC relationships and hierarchical IC relationships. Children’s agency attributions were measured by two experiments. One was based on behavioral cues (Random animations/ToM animations) and the other was based on appearance characteristics (ball/doll). The results revealed that children with ICs attributed more cognitive properties to Random and ToM animations than children without ICs. Compared with children without ICs, children with ICs attributed marginally more biological properties to a ball and more psychological properties to a ball and a doll. However, children with egalitarian and hierarchical IC relationships did not differ in their agency attributions. The results suggest that children with ICs are more likely to attribute agencies to non-human items with behavioral cues or appearance characteristics than children without ICs. Compared with child-IC relationship qualities, IC status may be more related to children’s agency attributions. However, only a correlation between IC status and children’s agency attributions was found in this study and it is interesting for future researchers to investigate the potential causal directions between children’s IC status and their agency attributions. If one of the causal directions or both the causal directions exist, future researchers can further explore the underlying mechanism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lin Qiyi
- School of Education Science, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China
- *Correspondence: Lin Qiyi,
| | - Zhang Ruiyi
- School of Education Science, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China
| | - Zhang Yiwen
- School of Education Science, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China
| | - Zhou Nan
- School of Nursing and Delivering, Jiangsu College of Nursing, Huaian, China
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Landsiedel J, Daughters K, Downing PE, Koldewyn K. The role of motion in the neural representation of social interactions in the posterior temporal cortex. Neuroimage 2022; 262:119533. [PMID: 35931309 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2022] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans are an inherently social species, with multiple focal brain regions sensitive to various visual social cues such as faces, bodies, and biological motion. More recently, research has begun to investigate how the brain responds to more complex, naturalistic social scenes, identifying a region in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (SI-pSTS; i.e., social interaction pSTS), among others, as an important region for processing social interaction. This research, however, has presented images or videos, and thus the contribution of motion to social interaction perception in these brain regions is not yet understood. In the current study, 22 participants viewed videos, image sequences, scrambled image sequences and static images of either social interactions or non-social independent actions. Combining univariate and multivariate analyses, we confirm that bilateral SI-pSTS plays a central role in dynamic social interaction perception but is much less involved when 'interactiveness' is conveyed solely with static cues. Regions in the social brain, including SI-pSTS and extrastriate body area (EBA), showed sensitivity to both motion and interactive content. While SI-pSTS is somewhat more tuned to video interactions than is EBA, both bilateral SI-pSTS and EBA showed a greater response to social interactions compared to non-interactions and both regions responded more strongly to videos than static images. Indeed, both regions showed higher responses to interactions than independent actions in videos and intact sequences, but not in other conditions. Exploratory multivariate regression analyses suggest that selectivity for simple visual motion does not in itself drive interactive sensitivity in either SI-pSTS or EBA. Rather, selectivity for interactions expressed in point-light animations, and selectivity for static images of bodies, make positive and independent contributions to this effect across the LOTC region. Our results strongly suggest that EBA and SI-pSTS work together during dynamic interaction perception, at least when interactive information is conveyed primarily via body information. As such, our results are also in line with proposals of a third visual stream supporting dynamic social scene perception.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paul E Downing
- School of Human and Behavioural Sciences, Bangor University
| | - Kami Koldewyn
- School of Human and Behavioural Sciences, Bangor University.
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Perceiving social injustice during arrests of Black and White civilians by White police officers: An fMRI investigation. Neuroimage 2022; 255:119153. [PMID: 35354091 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
From social media to courts of law, recordings of interracial police officer-civilian interactions are now widespread and publicly available. People may be motivated to preferentially understand the dynamics of these interactions when they perceive injustice towards those whose communities experience disproportionate policing relative to others (e.g., non-White racial/ethnic groups). To explore these questions, two studies were conducted (study 1 neuroimaging n = 69 and study 2 behavioral n = 58). The fMRI study examined White participants' neural activity when viewing real-world videos with varying degrees of aggression or conflict of White officers arresting a Black or White civilian. Activity in brain regions supporting social cognition was greater when viewing Black (vs. White) civilians involved in more aggressive police encounters. Additionally, although an independent sample of perceivers rated videos featuring Black and White civilians as similar in overall levels of aggression when civilian race was obscured, participants in the fMRI study (where race was not obscured) rated officers as more aggressive and their use of force as less legitimate when the civilian was Black. In study 2, participants who had not viewed the videos also reported that they believe police are generally more unjustly aggressive towards Black compared with White civilians. These findings inform our understanding of how perceptions of conflict with the potential for injustice shape social cognitive engagement when viewing arrests of Black and White individuals by White police officers.
Collapse
|
41
|
Paunov AM, Blank IA, Jouravlev O, Mineroff Z, Gallée J, Fedorenko E. Differential Tracking of Linguistic vs. Mental State Content in Naturalistic Stimuli by Language and Theory of Mind (ToM) Brain Networks. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2022; 3:413-440. [PMID: 37216061 PMCID: PMC10158571 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Language and social cognition, especially the ability to reason about mental states, known as theory of mind (ToM), are deeply related in development and everyday use. However, whether these cognitive faculties rely on distinct, overlapping, or the same mechanisms remains debated. Some evidence suggests that, by adulthood, language and ToM draw on largely distinct-though plausibly interacting-cortical networks. However, the broad topography of these networks is similar, and some have emphasized the importance of social content / communicative intent in the linguistic signal for eliciting responses in the language areas. Here, we combine the power of individual-subject functional localization with the naturalistic-cognition inter-subject correlation approach to illuminate the language-ToM relationship. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we recorded neural activity as participants (n = 43) listened to stories and dialogues with mental state content (+linguistic, +ToM), viewed silent animations and live action films with mental state content but no language (-linguistic, +ToM), or listened to an expository text (+linguistic, -ToM). The ToM network robustly tracked stimuli rich in mental state information regardless of whether mental states were conveyed linguistically or non-linguistically, while tracking a +linguistic / -ToM stimulus only weakly. In contrast, the language network tracked linguistic stimuli more strongly than (a) non-linguistic stimuli, and than (b) the ToM network, and showed reliable tracking even for the linguistic condition devoid of mental state content. These findings suggest that in spite of their indisputably close links, language and ToM dissociate robustly in their neural substrates-and thus plausibly cognitive mechanisms-including during the processing of rich naturalistic materials.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander M. Paunov
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, INSERM, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191Gif/Yvette, France
| | - Idan A. Blank
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- Department of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Olessia Jouravlev
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Institute for Cognitive Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Zachary Mineroff
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Jeanne Gallée
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Basile C, Lecce S, van Vugt FT. Synchrony During Online Encounters Affects Social Affiliation and Theory of Mind but Not Empathy. Front Psychol 2022; 13:886639. [PMID: 36092070 PMCID: PMC9450704 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886639] [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: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Moving together in time affects human social affiliation and cognition. However, it is unclear whether these effects hold for on-line video meetings and whether they extend to empathy (understanding or sharing others' emotions) and theory of mind (ToM; attribution of mental states to others). 126 young adult participants met through online video in unacquainted pairs. Participants either performed 3 min of synchronous arm movements paced by sounds (n = 40), asynchronous movements (n = 46) or a small talk condition (n = 40). In a subsequent empathy task, participants engaged in a conversation. A video recording of this conversation was played back, and each participant rated, at predetermined time points, how they felt and how they thought their partner felt. From this we calculated empathic accuracy (accuracy of the estimation of the other's emotions) and emotional congruence (emotion sharing). ToM was measured by showing videos of geometrical shapes interacting and asking the participants to describe what happened, measuring the amount of intentionality. We found that participants in the synchrony condition rated feeling greater closeness and similarity to their partners relative to the asynchronous condition. Further, participants in the synchrony group tended to ascribe more intentionality to the abstract shapes than participants in asynchrony condition, suggesting greater ToM. Synchrony and asynchrony groups did not reliably differ in empathic accuracy nor emotional congruence. These results suggest that moving in synchrony has effects on social affiliation measures even in online encounters. These effects extend to ToM tendencies but not empathic accuracy or emotion sharing. These results highlight the potential of synchronous movement in online encounters to affect a subset of social cognition and affiliation measures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Basile
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Serena Lecce
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Floris Tijmen van Vugt
- Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound Research BRAMS, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music – CRBLM, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Haskins Laboratories, Yale University, New Haven, CI, United States
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind across Adulthood. Brain Sci 2022; 12:brainsci12070899. [PMID: 35884706 PMCID: PMC9313336 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci12070899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 06/25/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Theory of mind (ToM) is a fundamental aspect of social cognition. Previous studies on age-related changes in mentalizing processes have provided conflicting results. This study aims to investigate the age-related changes in the cognitive and affective components of ToM throughout adulthood. METHODS Two hundred and thirty-eight healthy participants divided into five age groups (18-40 years old; 41-50 years old; 51-60 years old; 61-70 years; 71-80 years old) underwent tasks assessing the cognitive (ToM Picture Sequencing Task, TMPS, and the Advanced Test of ToM, ATT) and affective (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task, RMET, and the Emotion Attribution Task, EAT) components of ToM, in both verbal and nonverbal modality. RESULTS Regarding affective ToM, both the youngest- and middle-old adult groups (61 to 80 years) performed worse than the young and youngest-middle adult groups (18 to 50 years) in the RMET, but no significant differences were found in the EAT. Regarding cognitive ToM, the middle-old adult group (71 to 80 years) performed worse than the young adult group (18 to 40 years) only in the TMPS, but no significant differences were found in the ATT. CONCLUSION Rather than a general decline in ToM, our results provide evidence regarding selective changes in ToM in older adults, further confirming the dissociation of cognitive and affective ToM.
Collapse
|
44
|
Abubshait A, Siri G, Wykowska A. Does attributing mental states to a robot influence accessibility of information represented during reading? Acta Psychol (Amst) 2022; 228:103660. [PMID: 35779453 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
When we read fiction, we encounter characters that interact in the story. As such, we encode that information and comprehend the stories. Prior studies suggest that this comprehension process is facilitated by taking the perspective of characters during reading. Thus, two questions of interest are whether people take the perspective of characters that are not perceived as capable of experiencing perspectives (e.g., robots), and whether current models of language comprehension can explain these differences between human and nonhuman protagonists (or lack thereof) during reading. The study aims to (1) compare the situation model (i.e., a model that factors in a protagonist's perspective) and the RI-VAL model (which relies more on comparisons of newly acquired information with information stored in long term memory) and (2) investigate whether differences in accessibility of information differ based on adopting the intentional stance towards a robot. To address the aims of our study, we designed a preregistered experiment in which participants read stories about one of three protagonists (an intentional robot, a mechanistic robot and a human) and answered questions about objects that were either occluded or not occluded from the protagonist's view. Based on the situation model, we expected faster responses to items that were not occluded compared to those that were occluded (i.e., the occlusion effect). However, based on the RI-VAL model, we expected overall differences between the protagonists would arise due to inconsistency with general world knowledge. The results of the pre-registered analysis showed no differences between the protagonists, nor differences in occlusion. However, a post-hoc analysis showed that the occlusion effect was shown only for the intentional robot but not for the human, nor mechanistic robot. Results also showed that depending on the age of the readers, the RI-VAL or the situation model is able to explain the results such that older participants "simulated" the situation about which they read (situation model), while younger adults compared new information with information stored in long-term memory (RI-VAL model). This suggests that comparing to information in long term memory is cognitively more costly. Therefore, with older adults used less cognitively demanding strategy of simulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abdulaziz Abubshait
- S4HRI: Social Cognition in Human Robot Interaction Unit, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy.
| | - Giulia Siri
- S4HRI: Social Cognition in Human Robot Interaction Unit, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Agnieszka Wykowska
- S4HRI: Social Cognition in Human Robot Interaction Unit, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Christiani CJ, Hemager N, Ellersgaard D, Thorup AAE, Spang KS, Burton BK, Gregersen M, Søndergaard A, Greve A, Gantriis DL, Mors O, Plessen KJ, Nordentoft M, Jepsen JRM. Heterogeneity of social cognitive and language functions in children at familial high-risk of severe mental illness; The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2022; 31:991-1002. [PMID: 33559734 DOI: 10.1007/s00787-021-01722-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Cognitive heterogeneity characterizes individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; however, little is known of cognitive heterogeneity within young children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. This study aimed to investigate heterogeneity across social cognitive and language functions in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, i.e. severe mental illness (FHR-SMI). This may help designate subgroups in need of intervention initiatives. A data-driven, hierarchical cluster analysis was applied across a sample of 322 children at FHR-SMI (FHR-SZ, n = 200; FHR-BP, n = 120) on measures of Theory of Mind, facial emotion recognition, social cognitive processing speed, receptive and pragmatic language. We examined differences between subgroups as well as differences between subgroups and a control group. Exploratively, the subgroups were compared in terms of social responsiveness and global functioning. A Typical-High Functioning Subgroup with intact social cognitive and language functioning (34.5%), a Mildly Impaired Subgroup with selective impairments in explicit Theory of Mind and language functioning (58.7%), and a Significantly Impaired Subgroup with social cognitive and language functioning impairments (6.8%) were identified. The subgroups differed significantly from each other and overall compares to the controls. The Significantly and Mildly Impaired Subgroups presented with poorer social responsiveness and global functioning than the Typical-High Functioning Subgroup. In young children with FHR-SMI, three subgroups with relatively homogeneous social cognitive and language functioning profiles were observed. Only a small proportion of children at FHR-SMI displayed large social cognitive and language functioning impairments in middle childhood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Jerlang Christiani
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark. .,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Nicoline Hemager
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ditte Ellersgaard
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anne A E Thorup
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Katrine Søborg Spang
- Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Birgitte Klee Burton
- Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Maja Gregersen
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anne Søndergaard
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Aja Greve
- The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.,Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Ditte Lou Gantriis
- The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.,Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Ole Mors
- The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.,Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Kerstin J Plessen
- Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.,Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Merete Nordentoft
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.,Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Risskov, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jens Richardt Møllegaard Jepsen
- The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA7, Copenhagen Research Centre for Mental Health-CORE, Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte Hospitalsvej 15, 4, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.,Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.,The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH), Copenhagen, Denmark.,Mental Health Services-Capital Region of Denmark, Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research and Centre for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, Glostrup, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|
46
|
Development of social responsiveness and theory of mind in children of parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Schizophr Res Cogn 2022; 28:100242. [PMID: 35242611 PMCID: PMC8881607 DOI: 10.1016/j.scog.2022.100242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Revised: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Social impairments are suggested as vulnerability markers for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Therefore, we investigated the development of social responsiveness and theory of mind (ToM) in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) or bipolar disorder (FHR-BP). This study is part of The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study, a longitudinal cohort study of children at FHR-SZ or FHR-BP and population-based controls (PBC). Social responsiveness was measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), completed by teachers and primary caregivers. ToM was measured using The Animated Triangles Task (ATT). Both SRS-2 and ATT were applied at age 7 and 11. A total of 520 children participated (FHR-SZ, n = 201; FHR-BP, n = 119; PBC, n = 200). Results showed no significant time by group interactions. At follow-up, children at FHR-SZ exhibited impaired social responsiveness compared with PBC regardless of the informant. At both timepoints, a higher proportion of children at FHR-SZ were rated at a clinically significant level, implying inference in everyday social interactions. Compared with PBC, primary caregivers reported impairments in social responsiveness in children at FHR-BP at follow-up. The three groups did not differ in ToM at follow-up. Social responsiveness and ToM do not develop differently in children at FHR-SZ, FHR-BP and PBC from age 7 to 11, but impairments in social responsiveness remain stable and may constitute a vulnerability marker particularly in children at FHR-SZ, but also FHR-BP. ToM abilities seem to improve and remain intact, but ToM development and ToM task properties should be taken into consideration. No developmental differences in social abilities in children at familial high-risk Children at familial high-risk exhibit impaired social responsiveness. Social responsiveness impairments are detectable already at an early age. Impairments in social responsiveness may constitute a vulnerability marker. 11-Year-olds at familial high-risk have intact theory of mind.
Collapse
|
47
|
Looking for the lighthouse: A systematic review of advanced theory-of-mind tests beyond preschool. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2022.101021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
|
48
|
Lombardi E, Valle A, Bianco F, Castelli I, Massaro D, Marchetti A. Supporting mentalizing in primary school children: the effects of thoughts in mind project for children (TiM-C) on metacognition, emotion regulation and theory of mind. Cogn Emot 2022; 36:975-986. [PMID: 35452349 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2022.2067521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Mentalization is a useful ability for social functioning and a crucial aspect of mentalizing is emotion regulation. Literature suggests programmes for children and adults to increase mentalizing abilities useful both for emotional and social competences. For this reason, the issue of how to prompt children's mentalization has started to attract researchers' attention, supporting the importance of the interpersonal dimension for the individual differences in the developmental of mentalization. The TiM (Thoughts in Mind) Project, a training programme based on the explanation of mentalization mechanisms and designed for adults, deals with emotion regulation. Starting from the TiM Project, this study tests the effects of the TiM Child (TiM-C) training programme, over a control training programme, a conversational training designed for the school context, in children attending Year 2 of primary school. We designed a training based on narratives, followed by multiple-choice questions and conversations about mental states. Our results revealed significant improvements over the training period only in the TiM-C Project group for Metacognition, Emotion Regulation Strategies and a Theory of Mind task. As far as the educational implications, our findings suggest that it is possible to enhance mentalization through activities at school by promoting not only the understanding of the relations between mind and emotion, but also metacognitive skills.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Lombardi
- Department of Psychology, Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Annalisa Valle
- Department of Psychology, Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Federica Bianco
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Ilaria Castelli
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Davide Massaro
- Department of Psychology, Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| | - Antonella Marchetti
- Department of Psychology, Research Unit on Theory of Mind, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Skyberg AM, Beeler-Duden S, Goldstein AM, Gancayco CA, Lillard AS, Connelly JJ, Morris JP. Neuroepigenetic impact on mentalizing in childhood. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 54:101080. [PMID: 35158164 PMCID: PMC8844842 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Mentalizing, or the ability to understand the mental states and intentions of others, is an essential social cognitive function that children learn and continue to cultivate into adolescence. While most typically developing children acquire sufficient mentalizing skills, individual differences in mentalizing persist throughout childhood and are likely influenced by a combination of cognitive functioning, the social environment, and biological factors. DNA methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTRm) impacts gene expression and is associated with increased brain activity in mentalizing regions during displays of animacy in healthy young adults. The establishment, fine-tuning, and implications of such associations in the context of broader social functioning remain unclear. Using a developmental neuroimaging epigenetic approach, we investigated the contributions of OXTRm to individual variability in brain function during animate motion perception in middle childhood. We find that higher levels of OXTRm are associated with increased neural responses in the left temporo-parietal junction and inferior frontal gyrus. We also find a positive association between neural activity in LTPJ and social skills. These findings provide evidence of epigenetic influence on the developing child brain and demonstrate that variability in neural social perception in childhood is multifaceted with contributions from individual social experience and the endogenous oxytocin system. Variation in oxytocin receptor (OXTR) DNA methylation is associated with neural function during the perception of animacy. OXTR DNA methylation and social skills are positively associated with BOLD response in the left temporo-parietal junction. The variance explained by OXTR DNA methylation and social skills are unique. OXTR DNA methylation is positively associated with BOLD response in the left inferior frontal gyrus.
Collapse
|
50
|
Udochi AL, Blain SD, Sassenberg TA, Burton PC, Medrano L, DeYoung CG. Activation of the default network during a theory of mind task predicts individual differences in agreeableness and social cognitive ability. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:383-402. [PMID: 34668171 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00955-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Social cognitive processes, such as emotion perception and empathy, allow humans to navigate complex social landscapes and are associated with specific neural systems. In particular, theory of mind (ToM), which refers to our ability to decipher the mental states of others, is related to the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction, which include portions of the default network. Both social cognition and the default network have been linked to the personality trait Agreeableness. We hypothesized that default network activity during a ToM task would positively predict social cognitive abilities and Agreeableness. In a 3T fMRI scanner, participants (N = 1050) completed a ToM task in which they observed triangles displaying random or social (i.e., human-like) movement. Participants also completed self-report measures of Agreeableness and tests of intelligence and social cognitive ability. In each participant, average blood oxygen level dependent responses were calculated for default network regions associated with social cognition, and structural equation modeling was used to test associations of personality and task performance with activation in those brain regions. Default network activation in the dorsal medial subsystem was greater for social versus random animations. Default network activation in response to social animations predicted better performance on social cognition tasks and, to a lesser degree, higher Agreeableness. Neural response to social stimuli in the default network may be associated with effective social processing and could have downstream effects on social interactions. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications of this work for social and personality neuroscience.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Aisha L Udochi
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 E River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States.
| | - Scott D Blain
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 E River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States.
| | - Tyler A Sassenberg
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 E River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
| | - Philip C Burton
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 E River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
| | - Leroy Medrano
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 E River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
| | - Colin G DeYoung
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Elliott Hall, 75 E River Rd, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
| |
Collapse
|