scholarly journals Early continuity in neuronal correlates of mentalizing: ALE meta-analyses in adults, children and youths

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn V. Fehlbaum ◽  
Réka Borbás ◽  
Katharina Paul ◽  
Nora Maria Raschle
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Right Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Meta Analyses

The ability to understand mental states of others is known as Theory of Mind or mentalizing. Neuroimaging studies in adults have reported activation increases in medial prefrontal, inferior frontal, temporoparietal cortices and precuneus during mentalizing. In children/youths, activation in some areas of this social brain network are suggested to develop early, while other areas mature later. We compared neuroimaging evidence in children/youths and adults during mentalizing using coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses to inform about brain regions consistently or differentially engaged across age. Healthy adults (N=5286) recruited medial prefrontal and middle/inferior frontal cortices, precuneus, temporoparietal junction and middle temporal gyri during mentalizing, which were functionally connected to bilateral inferior/superior parietal lobule and thalamus/striatum. Children and youths (N=479) recruited similar, but fewer regions, including temporoparietal junction, precuneus, medial prefrontal and middle temporal cortices. Subgroup analyses revealed an early continuous engagement of middle medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and right temporoparietal junction in children (8–11y) and youths (12–18y). Youths additionally recruited the left temporoparietal junction and middle/inferior temporal cortex. Overall, the observed continuous engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and right temporoparietal junction during mentalizing across all ages reflects an early specialization of some of the key social brain regions.

scholarly journals Early and late neural correlates of mentalizing: ALE meta-analyses in adults, children and adolescents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn V Fehlbaum ◽  
Réka Borbás ◽  
Katharina Paul ◽  
Simon b Eickhoff ◽  
Nora m Raschle
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Right Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Meta Analyses

Abstract The ability to understand mental states of others is referred to as mentalizing and enabled by our Theory of Mind. This social skill relies on brain regions comprising the mentalizing network as robustly observed in adults but also in a growing number of developmental studies. We summarized and compared neuroimaging evidence in children/adolescents and adults during mentalizing using coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses to inform about brain regions consistently or differentially engaged across age categories. Adults (N = 5286) recruited medial prefrontal and middle/inferior frontal cortices, precuneus, temporoparietal junction and middle temporal gyri during mentalizing, which were functionally connected to bilateral inferior/superior parietal lobule and thalamus/striatum. Conjunction and contrast analyses revealed that children and adolescents (N = 479) recruit similar but fewer regions within core mentalizing regions. Subgroup analyses revealed an early continuous engagement of middle medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and right temporoparietal junction in younger children (8–11 years) and adolescents (12–18 years). Adolescents additionally recruited the left temporoparietal junction and middle/inferior temporal cortex. Overall, the observed engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and right temporoparietal junction during mentalizing across all ages reflects an early specialization of some key regions of the social brain.

scholarly journals Novel Inferences in a Multidimensional Social Network Use a Grid-like Code

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seongmin A. Park ◽  
Douglas S. Miller ◽  
Erie D. Boorman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Entorhinal Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Flexible Behavior ◽  
Discrete Problems

ABSTRACTGeneralizing experiences to guide decision making in novel situations is a hallmark of flexible behavior. It has been hypothesized such flexibility depends on a cognitive map of an environment or task, but directly linking the two has proven elusive. Here, we find that discretely sampled abstract relationships between entities in an unseen two-dimensional (2-D) social hierarchy are reconstructed into a unitary 2-D cognitive map in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. We further show that humans utilize a grid-like code in several brain regions, including entorhinal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex, for inferred direct trajectories between entities in the reconstructed abstract space during discrete decisions. Moreover, these neural grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex predict neural decision value computations in the medial prefrontal cortex and temporoparietal junction area during choice. Collectively, these findings show that grid-like codes are used by the human brain to infer novel solutions, even in abstract and discrete problems, and suggest a general mechanism underpinning flexible decision making and generalization.

scholarly journals Brain activity during reciprocal social interaction investigated using conversational robots as control condition

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1771) ◽  
pp. 20180033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Rauchbauer ◽  
Bruno Nazarian ◽  
Morgane Bourhis ◽  
Magalie Ochs ◽  
Laurent Prévot ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Peripheral Blood Flow ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction

We present a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm for second-person neuroscience. The paradigm compares a human social interaction (human–human interaction, HHI) to an interaction with a conversational robot (human–robot interaction, HRI). The social interaction consists of 1 min blocks of live bidirectional discussion between the scanned participant and the human or robot agent. A final sample of 21 participants is included in the corpus comprising physiological (blood oxygen level-dependent, respiration and peripheral blood flow) and behavioural (recorded speech from all interlocutors, eye tracking from the scanned participant, face recording of the human and robot agents) data. Here, we present the first analysis of this corpus, contrasting neural activity between HHI and HRI. We hypothesized that independently of differences in behaviour between interactions with the human and robot agent, neural markers of mentalizing (temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex) and social motivation (hypothalamus and amygdala) would only be active in HHI. Results confirmed significantly increased response associated with HHI in the TPJ, hypothalamus and amygdala, but not in the medial prefrontal cortex. Future analysis of this corpus will include fine-grained characterization of verbal and non-verbal behaviours recorded during the interaction to investigate their neural correlates. This article is part of the theme issue ‘From social brains to social robots: applying neurocognitive insights to human–robot interaction'.

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

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.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of integrated self and social processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 941-949
Author(s):  
Laura Finlayson-Short ◽  
Christopher G Davey ◽  
Ben J Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Processing Condition ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Social Processing ◽  
Referential Processing ◽  
Core Self

Abstract Self-referential and social processing are often engaged concurrently in naturalistic judgements and elicit activity in overlapping brain regions. We have termed this integrated processing ‘self-other referential processing’ and developed a task to measure its neural correlates. Ninety-eight healthy young people aged 16–25 (M = 21.5 years old, 67% female) completed our novel functional magnetic resonance imaging task. The task had two conditions, an active self-other referential processing condition in which participants rated how much they related to emotional faces and a control condition. Rating relatedness required thinking about oneself (self-referential processing) and drawing a comparison to an imagined other (social processing). Self-other referential processing elicited activity in the default mode network and social cognition system; most notably in the ‘core self’ regions of the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex. Relatedness and emotional valence directly modulated activity in these core self areas, while emotional valence additionally modulated medial prefrontal cortex activity. This shows the key role of the medial prefrontal cortex in constructing the ‘social-affective self’. This may help to unify disparate models of medial prefrontal cortex function, demonstrating its role in coordinating multiple processes—self-referential, social and affective processing—to allow the self to exist in a complex social world.

scholarly journals Large-scale functional coactivation patterns reflect the structural connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale T Tovar ◽  
Robert S Chavez
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Affective Neuroscience ◽  
Psychological Phenomena

Abstract The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is among the most consistently implicated brain regions in social and affective neuroscience. Yet, this region is also highly functionally heterogeneous across many domains and has diverse patterns of connectivity. The extent to which the communication of functional networks in this area is facilitated by its underlying structural connectivity fingerprint is critical for understanding how psychological phenomena are represented within this region. In the current study, we combined diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography with large-scale meta-analysis to investigate the degree to which the functional co-activation patterns of the MPFC is reflected in its underlying structural connectivity. Using unsupervised machine learning techniques, we compared parcellations between the two modalities and found congruence between parcellations at multiple spatial scales. Additionally, using connectivity and coactivation similarity analyses, we found high correspondence in voxel-to-voxel similarity between each modality across most, but not all, subregions of the MPFC. These results provide evidence that meta-analytic functional coactivation patterns are meaningfully constrained by underlying neuroanatomical connectivity and provide convergent evidence of distinct subregions within the MPFC involved in affective processing and social cognition.

scholarly journals Brain Mechanisms of Arithmetic: A Crucial Role for Ventral Temporal Cortex

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 1757-1772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Pinheiro-Chagas ◽  
Amy Daitch ◽  
Josef Parvizi ◽  
Stanislas Dehaene
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Cognition ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Classical Problem ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Problem Size ◽  
Ventral Temporal Cortex ◽  
Intracranial Electroencephalography ◽  
Problem Size Effect

Elementary arithmetic requires a complex interplay between several brain regions. The classical view, arising from fMRI, is that the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and the superior parietal lobe (SPL) are the main hubs for arithmetic calculations. However, recent studies using intracranial electroencephalography have discovered a specific site, within the posterior inferior temporal cortex (pITG), that activates during visual perception of numerals, with widespread adjacent responses when numerals are used in calculation. Here, we reexamined the contribution of the IPS, SPL, and pITG to arithmetic by recording intracranial electroencephalography signals while participants solved addition problems. Behavioral results showed a classical problem size effect: RTs increased with the size of the operands. We then examined how high-frequency broadband (HFB) activity is modulated by problem size. As expected from previous fMRI findings, we showed that the total HFB activity in IPS and SPL sites increased with problem size. More surprisingly, pITG sites showed an initial burst of HFB activity that decreased as the operands got larger, yet with a constant integral over the whole trial, thus making these signals invisible to slow fMRI. Although parietal sites appear to have a more sustained function in arithmetic computations, the pITG may have a role of early identification of the problem difficulty, beyond merely digit recognition. Our results ask for a reevaluation of the current models of numerical cognition and reveal that the ventral temporal cortex contains regions specifically engaged in mathematical processing.

Top-Down Signal of Retrieved Information From Prefrontal to Inferior Temporal Cortices

2007 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1965-1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masato Inoue ◽  
Akichika Mikami
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Critical Area ◽  
Retrieval Process ◽  
Multiple Objects ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex

We compared neuronal activities in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and the inferior temporal cortex (IT) during the retrieval of an object from the working memory. About one third of IT neurons showed color- and target-selective (CT) or target-selective (T) response during the color cue period of the serial probe reproduction (SPR) task. These object-selective (CT and T) responses in IT could be correlated with the retrieval process of an object from the memorized multiple objects because no objects were presented during this period. However, proportion of CT and T responses was smaller in IT than in VLPFC, where two thirds of neurons showed object-selective response. In addition, object-selective response started earlier in VLPFC than in IT. These results suggest that VLPFC retrieves particular object information from the working memory and sends the retrieved object information to IT. The fact that the responses in the error trials did not decrease in IT suggests that IT is not a critical area for the retrieval process from the working memory.

scholarly journals Constitutive Genetic Deletion of Hcn1 Increases Alcohol Preference during Adolescence

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 763
Author(s):  
Michael C. Salling ◽  
Neil L. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neuronal Excitability ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Alcohol Preference ◽  
Hcn Channels ◽  
Direct Role ◽  
Genetic Deletion

The hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (HCN), which underlies the hyperpolarization-activated cation current (Ih), has diverse roles in regulating neuronal excitability across cell types and brain regions. Recently, HCN channels have been implicated in preclinical models of substance abuse including alcohol. In the prefrontal cortex of rodents, HCN expression and Ih magnitude are developmentally regulated during adolescence and may be vulnerable to alcohol’s effects. In mice, binge alcohol consumption during the adolescent period results in a sustained reduction in Ih that coincides with increased alcohol consumption in adulthood, yet the direct role HCN channels have on alcohol consumption are unknown. Here, we show that the genetic deletion of Hcn1 causes an increase in alcohol preference on intermittent 2-bottle choice task in homozygous null (HCN1−/−) male mice compared to wild-type littermates without affecting saccharine or quinine preference. The targeted viral deletion of HCN1 in pyramidal neurons of the medial prefrontal cortex resulted in a gradual loss of Hcn1 expression and a reduction in Ih magnitude during adolescence, however, this did not significantly affect alcohol consumption or preference. We conclude that while HCN1 regulates alcohol preference, the genetic deletion of Hcn1 in the medial prefrontal cortex does not appear to be the locus for this effect.

scholarly journals Asking ‘why?’ enhances theory of mind when evaluating harm but not purity violations

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 699-708 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A Dungan ◽  
Liane Young
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
Right Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right

Abstract Recent work in psychology and neuroscience has revealed important differences in the cognitive processes underlying judgments of harm and purity violations. In particular, research has demonstrated that whether a violation was committed intentionally vs accidentally has a larger impact on moral judgments of harm violations (e.g. assault) than purity violations (e.g. incest). Here, we manipulate the instructions provided to participants for a moral judgment task to further probe the boundary conditions of this intent effect. Specifically, we instructed participants undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging to attend to either a violator’s mental states (why they acted that way) or their low-level behavior (how they acted) before delivering moral judgments. Results revealed that task instructions enhanced rather than diminished differences between how harm and purity violations are processed in brain regions for mental state reasoning or theory of mind. In particular, activity in the right temporoparietal junction increased when participants were instructed to attend to why vs how a violator acted to a greater extent for harm than for purity violations. This result constrains the potential accounts of why intentions matter less for purity violations compared to harm violations and provide further insight into the differences between distinct moral norms.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document