Neural systems involved in "theory of mind

Brain, 2004

There is a burgeoning interest in the neural basis of the ability to attribute mental states to others; a capacity referred to as`theory of mind' (ToM). We examined the effects of lesions of the amygdala which arise at different stages of development on this key aspect of social cognition. Tests of ToM, executive and general neuropsychological function were given to subjects with lesions of the amygdala arising congenitally or in early childhood (`early damage', n = 15), subjects who acquired damage to the amygdala in adulthood (`late damage' n = 11) and matched clinical (n = 14) and healthy comparison groups (n = 38). Subjects with early damage to the amygdala, particularly if the lesion was associated with childhood onset of seizures, were impaired relative to all other groups on more advanced tests of ToM reasoning, such as detecting tactless or ironic comments or interpreting non-literal utterances. These de®cits held for subjects with either left or right early amygdala damage and encompassed the understanding of both the beliefs and emotional states of others. In contrast, subjects who acquired damage to the amygdala in adulthood (usually as part of an anterior temporal lobectomy) were not impaired in ToM reasoning relative to both clinical and healthy controls, supporting the position that the amygdala is not part of the neural circuitry mediating the`on-line' performance of ToM reasoning. In line with theories which claim that ToM is an independent faculty of cognition, we found that the pattern of results held after co-varying for measures of executive function, memory and general intellectual functioning. We discuss the results in the light of recent theories which link early developmental insults to the amygdala with the ToM impairments which are thought to be a core neurocognitive de®cit found in disorders such as autism. We conclude that the amygdala may play an important role in the neural systems supporting the normal development of ToM reasoning.

Neuropsychologia, 2003

Studies in humans suggest that the amygdala plays a role in processing social information. A key component of social information processing is what developmental psychologists call "theory of mind": the ability to infer others' mental states. Recent studies have raised the possibility that the amygdala is involved in theory of mind, showing amygdala activation during a theory of mind task, or showing impairment on theory of mind tasks in a patient with amygdala damage acquired in childhood. Here, we present the first evidence of theory of mind deficits following amygdala damage acquired in adulthood. Two participants, D.R. and S.E., with acquired bilateral amygdala damage showed difficulties with two theory of mind tasks, "Recognition of Faux Pas" (for D.R., z = −5.17; for S.E., z = −1.83) and "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" (for S.E., z = −1.91; for D.R., z = −1.4). The items on which D.R. and S.E. made errors on these tasks were uncorrelated with the items that control participants found most difficult, indicating that these deficits cannot be attributed solely to the cognitive difficulty of the tasks. These results indicate that the amygdala's critical role in theory of mind may not be just in development, but also in "on-line" theory of mind processing in the adult brain.

Journal of Cognitive …, 2004

& A model of the functional and anatomical basis of belief reasoning is essential for understanding the relationship between belief reasoning and other cognitive processes in both normal development and pathology. Studies of brain-damaged patients can give valuable insights into the nature of belief processing but pose unique methodological problems. The current study addresses these problems by using a nonlinguistic belief-reasoning task with substantially reduced executive demands. A case series of 12 brain-damaged patients is presented. The belief-reasoning errors of four patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex appeared to arise from these patients' executive function problems. The belief-reasoning errors of three patients with damage to the temporo-parietal junction could not easily be accounted for in this way, raising the possibility that this brain region has a necessary role in representing beliefs, rather than handling the executive demands of belief-reasoning tasks. We discuss the importance of gaining empirical evidence about the scope of ''theory of mind'' impairments, and the important role for neuropsychological studies in this project. &

Brain, 2004

The ability of humans to predict and explain other people's behaviour by attributing to them independent mental states, such as desires and beliefs, is considered to be due to our ability to construct a 'Theory of Mind'. Recently, several neuroimaging studies have implicated the medial ...

2006

& A model of the functional and anatomical basis of belief reasoning is essential for understanding the relationship between belief reasoning and other cognitive processes in both normal development and pathology. Studies of brain-damaged patients can give valuable insights into the nature of belief processing but pose unique methodological problems. The current study addresses these problems by using a nonlinguistic belief-reasoning task with substantially reduced executive demands. A case series of 12 brain-damaged patients is presented. The belief-reasoning errors of four patients with damage to the prefrontal cortex appeared to arise from these patients' executive function problems. The belief-reasoning errors of three patients with damage to the temporo-parietal junction could not easily be accounted for in this way, raising the possibility that this brain region has a necessary role in representing beliefs, rather than handling the executive demands of belief-reasoning tasks. We discuss the importance of gaining empirical evidence about the scope of ''theory of mind'' impairments, and the important role for neuropsychological studies in this project. &

Brain, 2004

Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 2006

Neuropsychologia, 2007

Theory of mind (ToM) -our ability to predict behaviors of others in terms of their underlying intentions -has been examined through verbal and nonverbal false-belief (FB) tasks. Previous brain imaging studies of ToM in adults have implicated medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ) for adults' ToM ability. To examine age and modality related differences and similarities in neural correlates of ToM, we tested 16 adults (18-40 years-old) and 12 children (8-12 years-old) with verbal (story) and nonverbal (cartoon) FB tasks, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Both age groups showed significant activity in the TPJ bilaterally and right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in a modality-independent manner, indicating that these areas are important for ToM during both adulthood and childhood, regardless of modality. We also found significant agerelated differences in the ToM condition-specific activity for the story and cartoon tasks in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left TPJ. These results suggest that depending on the modality adults may utilize different brain regions from children in understanding ToM.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015

The amygdala plays an integral role in human social cognition and behavior, with clear links to emotion recognition, trust judgments, anthropomorphization, and psychiatric disorders ranging from social phobia to autism. A central feature of human social cognition is a theory-of-mind (ToM) that enables the representation other people's mental states as distinct from one's own. Numerous neuroimaging studies of the best studied use of ToM-false-belief reasoning-suggest that it relies on a specific cortical network; moreover, the amygdala is structurally and functionally connected with many components of this cortical network. It remains unknown whether the cortical implementation of any form of ToM depends on amygdala function. Here we investigated this question directly by conducting functional MRI on two patients with rare bilateral amygdala lesions while they performed a neuroimaging protocol standardized for measuring cortical activity associated with false-belief reasoning...