Individuals with Schizophrenia Under-Recruit Social Brain Regions During a Theory of Mind Task

Self-consciousness is a personality trait associated with an individual’s concern regarding observable (public) and unobservable (private) aspects of self. Prompted by previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, we examined possible gray-matter expansions in emotion-related and default mode networks in individuals with higher public or private self-consciousness. One hundred healthy young adults answered the Japanese version of the Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS) questionnaire and underwent structural MRI. A voxel-based morphometry analysis revealed that individuals scoring higher on the public SCS showed expansions of gray matter in the emotion-related regions of the cingulate and insular cortices and in the default mode network of the precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex. In addition, these gray-matter expansions were particularly related to the trait of “concern about being evaluated by others”, which was one of the subfactors constituting public self-consciousness. Conversely, no relationship was observed between gray-matter volume in any brain regions and the private SCS scores. This is the first study showing that the personal trait of concern regarding public aspects of the self may cause long-term substantial structural changes in social brain networks.

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Dissecting the midlife crisis: disentangling social, personality and demographic determinants in social brain anatomy

Communications Biology ◽

10.1038/s42003-021-02206-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hannah Kiesow ◽

Lucina Q. Uddin ◽

Boris C. Bernhardt ◽

Joseph Kable ◽

Danilo Bzdok

Keyword(s):

Brain Regions ◽

Interindividual Variation ◽

Brain Morphology ◽

Brain Anatomy ◽

Leadership Roles ◽

Social Brain ◽

Aging Parents ◽

Health Satisfaction ◽

Midlife Transitions ◽

Fully Bayesian

AbstractIn any stage of life, humans crave connection with other people. In midlife, transitions in social networks can relate to new leadership roles at work or becoming a caregiver for aging parents. Previous neuroimaging studies have pinpointed the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to undergo structural remodelling during midlife. Social behavior, personality predisposition, and demographic profile all have intimate links to the mPFC according in largely disconnected literatures. Here, we explicitly estimated their unique associations with brain structure using a fully Bayesian framework. We weighed against each other a rich collection of 40 UK Biobank traits with their interindividual variation in social brain morphology in ~10,000 middle-aged participants. Household size and daily routines showed several of the largest effects in explaining variation in social brain regions. We also revealed male-biased effects in the dorsal mPFC and amygdala for job income, and a female-biased effect in the ventral mPFC for health satisfaction.

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Theory of mind and preschoolers' understanding of implicit causality in verbs: A comparison between Serbian and Hungarian children

Psihologija ◽

10.2298/psi1002187m ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 187-198 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Agota Major ◽

Fabia Franco ◽

Marija Zotovic

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Mind ◽

Native Speakers ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Implicit Causality ◽

Mind Task

This study aims to investigate the effect of theory of mind, age and mother tongue on the implicit causality effect in preschoolers from two different language backgrounds. Serbian and Hungarian native speakers aged 3-7 years participated in the study. After taking part in a Theory of Mind task, children were presented verbs in simple 'Subject verb Object' sentences describing interactions between two participants, with the interactions being based on emotional, mental or visual experiences. Children were asked 'Why does S verb O?' and their responses were categorized as containing an inference about the sentence-S or the sentence-O. The results show that Theory of Mind is a significant factor in the emergence of implicit causality, with age of participants and mother tongue being also contributing to explaining patterns of implicit causality.

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Theory of Mind network activity is associated with metaethical judgment: An item analysis

10.31234/osf.io/gb5am ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jordan E. Theriault ◽

Adam Waytz ◽

Larisa Heiphetz ◽

Liane Young

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Mind ◽

Item Analysis ◽

Positive Association ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Social Contexts ◽

Network Activity ◽

Predictive Processing ◽

Temporoparietal Junction ◽

Social Tasks ◽

Stimulus Features

The theory of mind network (ToMN) is a set of brain regions activated by a variety of social tasks. Recent work has proposed that these associations with ToMN activity may relate to a common underlying computation: processing prediction error in social contexts. The present work presents evidence consistent with this hypothesis, using a fine-grained item analysis to examine the relationship between ToMN activity and variance in stimulus features. We used an existing dataset (consisting of statements about morals, facts, and preferences) to explore variability in ToMN activity elicited by moral statements, using metaethical judgments (i.e. judgments of how fact-like/preference-like morals are) as a proxy for their predictability/support by social consensus. Study 1 validated expected patterns of behavioral judgments in our stimuli set, and Study 2 associated by-stimulus estimates of metaethical judgment with ToMN activity, showing that ToMN activity was negatively associated with objective morals and positively associated with subjective morals. Whole brain analyses indicated that these associations were strongest in bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ). We also observed additional by-stimulus associations with ToMN, including positive associations with the presence of a person (across morals, facts, and preferences), a negative association with agreement (among morals only), and a positive association with mental inference (in preferences only, across 3 independent measures and behavioral samples). We discuss these findings in the context of recent predictive processing models, and highlight how predictive models may facilitate new perspectives on metaethics, the centrality of morality to personal identity, and distinctions between social domains (e.g. morals vs. preferences).

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Sickness and the social brain: How the immune system regulates behavior across species

Brain Behavior and Evolution ◽

10.1159/000521476 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Benjamin A. Devlin ◽

Caroline J. Smith ◽

Staci D. Bilbo

Keyword(s):

Immune System ◽

Social Behavior ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Behavior Changes ◽

Social Brain ◽

Evolutionary Origins ◽

Immune Mediators ◽

The Social ◽

Sickness Behaviors ◽

The Brain

Many instances of sickness critically involve the immune system. The immune system talks to the brain in a bi-directional loop. This discourse affords the immune system immense control, such that it can influence behavior and optimize recovery from illness. These behavioral responses to infection are called sickness behaviors and can manifest in many ways, including changes in mood, motivation, or energy. Fascinatingly, most of these changes are conserved across species, and most organisms demonstrate some form of sickness behaviors. One of the most interesting sickness behaviors, and not immediately obvious, is altered sociability. Here, we discuss how the immune system impacts social behavior, by examining the brain regions and immune mediators involved in this process. We first outline how social behavior changes in response to infection in various species. Next, we explore which brain regions control social behavior and their evolutionary origins. Finally, we describe which immune mediators establish the link between illness and social behavior, in the context of both normal development and infection. Overall, we hope to make clear the striking similarities between the mechanisms that facilitate changes in sociability in derived and ancestral vertebrate, as well as invertebrate, species.

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Theory of Mind Task--Verbal Stories

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t11752-000 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

V. P. Bozikas ◽

M. Giannakou ◽

M. H. Kosmidis ◽

P. Kargopoulos ◽

G. Kioseoglou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Mind ◽

Mind Task

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Preschool Theory of Mind Task

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t28328-000 ◽

1989 ◽

Author(s):

Bradford H. Pillow

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Mind ◽

Mind Task

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The social brain in female autism: a structural imaging study of twins

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsaa064 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 423-436

Author(s):

Élodie Cauvet ◽

Annelies van’t Westeinde ◽

Roberto Toro ◽

Ralf Kuja-Halkola ◽

Janina Neufeld ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Social Cognition ◽

Brain Structure ◽

Imaging Study ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Social Brain ◽

Twin Design ◽

The Social

Abstract A female advantage in social cognition (SoC) might contribute to women’s underrepresentation in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The latter could be underpinned by sex differences in social brain structure. This study investigated the relationship between structural social brain networks and SoC in females and males in relation to ASD and autistic traits in twins. We used a co-twin design in 77 twin pairs (39 female) aged 12.5 to 31.0 years. Twin pairs were discordant or concordant for ASD or autistic traits, discordant or concordant for other neurodevelopmental disorders or concordant for neurotypical development. They underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging and were assessed for SoC using the naturalistic Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition. Autistic traits predicted reduced SoC capacities predominantly in male twins, despite a comparable extent of autistic traits in each sex, although the association between SoC and autistic traits did not differ significantly between the sexes. Consistently, within-pair associations between SoC and social brain structure revealed that lower SoC ability was associated with increased cortical thickness of several brain regions, particularly in males. Our findings confirm the notion that sex differences in SoC in association with ASD are underpinned by sex differences in brain structure.

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Beyond the average brain: individual differences in social brain development are associated with friendship quality

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsaa166 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Andrik I Becht ◽

Lara M Wierenga ◽

Kathryn L Mills ◽

Rosa Meuwese ◽

Anna van Duijvenvoorde ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Brain Development ◽

Surface Area ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Friendship Quality ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Structural Development ◽

Quality Development ◽

Social Brain ◽

Temporoparietal Junction

Abstract We tested whether adolescents differ from each other in the structural development of the social brain and whether individual differences in social brain development predicted variability in friendship quality development. Adolescents (N = 299, Mage T1 = 13.98 years) were followed across three biannual waves. We analysed self-reported friendship quality with the best friend at T1 and T3, and bilateral measures of surface area and cortical thickness of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and precuneus across all waves. At the group level, growth curve models confirmed non-linear decreases of surface area and cortical thickness in social brain regions. We identified substantial individual differences in levels and change rates of social brain regions, especially for surface area of the mPFC, pSTS and TPJ. Change rates of cortical thickness varied less between persons. Higher levels of mPFC surface area and cortical thickness predicted stronger increases in friendship quality over time. Moreover, faster cortical thinning of mPFC surface area predicted a stronger increase in friendship quality. Higher levels of TPJ cortical thickness predicted lower friendship quality. Together, our results indicate heterogeneity in social brain development and how this variability uniquely predicts friendship quality development.

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Pediatric Stroke Impairs Theory of Mind Performance

Journal of Child Neurology ◽

10.1177/0883073819887590 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 228-234

Author(s):

Warren Lo ◽

Xiangrui Li ◽

Kristen Hoskinson ◽

Kelly McNally ◽

Melissa Chung ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Cognition ◽

Theory Of Mind ◽

Resting State ◽

Network Connectivity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Childhood Stroke ◽

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽

And Gender ◽

Resting State Connectivity ◽

Control Study

Aim: This pilot study explored whether childhood stroke impairs performance on theory of mind (ToM) tasks and whether ToM task performance correlates with resting state connectivity in brain regions linked with social cognition. Method: We performed a case-control study of 10 children with stroke and 10 age- and gender-matched controls. They completed 2 ToM tasks, and resting state connectivity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Results: Children with stroke performed worse than controls on conative ToM tasks. Resting state connectivity in the central executive network was significantly higher and connectivity between right and left inferior parietal lobules was significantly decreased in children with stroke. Resting state activity and ToM performance were not significantly correlated. Interpretation: Childhood stroke results in poorer performance on specific ToM tasks. Stroke is associated with changes in resting state connectivity in networks linked with social cognition including ToM. Although the basis for these changes in connectivity is not well understood, these results may provide preliminary insights into potential mechanisms affecting social cognition after stroke. The findings suggest that further study of the effect of childhood stroke on network connectivity may yield insights as to how stroke affects cognitive functions in children.

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