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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.
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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
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Coopmans CW, Cohn N. An electrophysiological investigation of co-referential processes in visual narrative comprehension. Neuropsychologia 2022; 172:108253. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Mossad SI, Vandewouw MM, Smith ML, Taylor MJ. The preterm social brain: altered functional networks for Theory of Mind in very preterm children. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcaa237. [PMID: 33615217 PMCID: PMC7882208 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaa237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 11/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/19/2020] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurodevelopmental difficulties emerge in very preterm born children (<32-week gestation) in infancy and continue to early adulthood but little is known about their social-cognitive development. This study utilized the complementary methodological advantages of both functional MRI and magnetoencephalography to examine the neural underpinnings of Theory of Mind in very preterm birth. Theory of Mind, one of the core social-cognitive skills, is the ability to attribute mental states to others, and is crucial for predicting others’ behaviours in social interactions. Eighty-three children (40 very preterm born, 24 boys, age = 8.7 ± 0.5 years, and 43 full-term born, 22 boys, age = 8.6 ± 0.5 years) completed the study. In functional MRI, both groups recruited classic Theory of Mind areas, without significant group differences. However, reduced Theory of Mind connectivity in the very preterm born group was found in magnetoencephalography in distinct theta, alpha and beta-band networks anchored in a set of brain regions that comprise the social brain. These networks included regions such as the angular gyrus, the medial pre-frontal cortex, the superior temporal gyrus and the temporal poles. Very preterm born children showed increased connectivity compared to controls in a network anchored in the occipital gyri rather than classical social-processing regions. Very preterm born children made significantly more attribution errors and mis-construed the social scenarios. Findings offer novel insight into the neural networks, supporting social cognition in very preterm born children and highlight the importance of multimodal neuroimaging to interrogate the social brain in clinical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah I Mossad
- Department of Psychology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada
| | - Marlee M Vandewouw
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.,Neurosciences & Mental Health, SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Mary Lou Smith
- Department of Psychology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Margot J Taylor
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.,Neurosciences & Mental Health, SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada
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Guan Y, Keil A, Farrar MJ. Electrophysiological dynamics of false belief understanding and complementation syntax in school-aged children: Oscillatory brain activity and event-related potentials. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 198:104905. [PMID: 32623146 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104905] [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: 08/18/2019] [Revised: 04/16/2020] [Accepted: 05/08/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
A large body of research in developmental psychology has been devoted to the ongoing debate over which aspects of language are fundamental to false belief understanding (FBU). A key proposal from de Villiers and colleagues proposes the essential role of complementation syntax in FBU development. The current study, using scalp electroencephalography (EEG), addressed one opposing hypothesis purporting that complementation is redundant to FBU by characterizing the electrophysiological correlates of FBU and complementation syntax in school-age children. Time-frequency decomposition showed robust parieto-occipital low beta (12-16 Hz) power reduction in the belief versus complementation conditions. This divergence was also supported by event-related potentials (ERPs), with parieto-occipital late slow waves around 600 to 900 ms distinguishing belief and complementation conditions. The false belief condition generated the lowest behavioral response accuracy, suggesting that it is the most challenging condition. Together, the current findings provide evidence showing that complementation is not redundant to FBU.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Guan
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
| | - Andreas Keil
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
| | - M Jeffrey Farrar
- Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
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Yuk V, Anagnostou E, Taylor MJ. Altered Connectivity During a False-Belief Task in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2020; 5:901-912. [PMID: 32600899 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Revised: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 04/15/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Deficits in social communication are one of the main features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Adults with ASD show atypical brain activity during false-belief understanding, an aspect of social communication involving the ability to infer that an individual can have an incorrect belief about a situation. Our study is the first to investigate whether adults with ASD exhibit differences in frequency-specific functional connectivity patterns during false-belief reasoning. METHODS We used magnetoencephalography to contrast functional connectivity underlying false-belief understanding between 40 adults with ASD and 39 control adults. We examined whole-brain phase synchrony measures during a false-belief task in 3 frequency bands: theta (4-7 Hz), alpha (8-14 Hz), and beta (15-30 Hz). RESULTS Adults with ASD demonstrated reduced theta-band connectivity compared with control adults between several right-lateralized and midline regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex, right temporoparietal junction, right inferior frontal gyrus, and right superior temporal gyrus. During false-belief trials, they also recruited a network in the beta band that included primary visual regions such as the bilateral inferior occipital gyri and the left anterior temporoparietal junction. CONCLUSIONS Reduced theta-band synchrony between areas associated with mentalizing, inhibition, and visual processing implies some difficulty in communication among these functions in ASD. This impairment in top-down control in the theta band may be counterbalanced by their engagement of a beta-band network because both the left anterior temporoparietal junction and beta-band oscillations are associated with attentional processes. Thus, adults with ASD demonstrate alternative neural mechanisms for successful false-belief reasoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica Yuk
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Evdokia Anagnostou
- Department of Neurology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Bloorview Research Institute, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Margot J Taylor
- Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Neurosciences and Mental Health Program, SickKids Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Prystauka Y, Lewis AG. THE POWER OF NEURAL OSCILLATIONS TO INFORM SENTENCE COMPREHENSION: A LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE. LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS COMPASS 2019; 13:e12347. [PMID: 33042211 PMCID: PMC7546279 DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The field of psycholinguistics is currently experiencing an explosion of interest in the analysis of neural oscillations - rhythmic brain activity synchronized at different temporal and spatial levels. Given that language comprehension relies on a myriad of processes, which are carried out in parallel in distributed brain networks, there is hope that this methodology might bring the field closer to understanding some of the more basic (spatially and temporally distributed, yet at the same time often overlapping) neural computations that support language function. In this review we discuss existing proposals linking oscillatory dynamics in different frequency bands to basic neural computations, and review relevant theories suggesting associations between band-specific oscillations and higher-level cognitive processes. More or less consistent patterns of oscillatory activity related to certain types of linguistic processing can already be derived from the evidence that has accumulated over the past few decades. The centerpiece of the current review is a synthesis of such patterns grouped by linguistic phenomenon. We restrict our review to evidence linking measures of oscillatory power to the comprehension of sentences, as well as linguistically (and/or pragmatically) more complex structures. For each grouping, we provide a brief summary and a table of associated oscillatory signatures that a psycholinguist might expect to find when employing a particular linguistic task. Summarizing across different paradigms, we conclude that a handful of basic neural oscillatory mechanisms are likely recruited in different ways and at different times for carrying out a variety of linguistic computations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanina Prystauka
- Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut
- Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences
| | - Ashley Glen Lewis
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
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