Visualizing how one brain understands another: A PET study of theory of mind

被引:137
作者
Calarge, C
Andreasen, NC
O'Leary, DS
机构
[1] Univ Iowa, Dept Psychiat, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
[2] Univ New Mexico, Dept Psychiat, Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA
[3] Mental Illness & Neurosci Discovery MIND Inst, Albuquerque, NM USA
[4] Univ Iowa Hosp & Clin, Roy J & Lucille A Carver Coll Med, Dept Psychiat, Mental Hlth Clin Res Ctr, Iowa City, IA 52242 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1954
中图分类号
R749 [精神病学];
学科分类号
100205 [精神病与精神卫生学];
摘要
Objective: Theory of mind (TOM), or "mentalizing," refers to the ability to attribute mental states to self and others. inferring what people are thinking and feeling is an important aspect of human social interaction, and it is also an important aspect of both psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. The authors conducted a positron emission tomography (PET) study to examine the neural substrates of TOM, using a task that mimics real-life social interaction. Method: Thirteen healthy volunteers underwent [O-15]H2O PET while performing an experimental task and a control task. During the experimental task they created a "story" about the mental state of a stranger whom they imagined encountering on a park bench. During the control task, they read aloud a story requiring no mental state attribution. Results: The TOM task activated an extensive neural network that included the medial frontal cortex, the superior frontal cortex, the anterior and retrosplenial cingulate, and the anterior temporal pole; most of these activations were limited to the left hemisphere. In addition, the largest activation was in the contralateral right cerebellum, as well as the anterior vermis. Conclusions: A language-based TOM task activated distributed brain regions that are important for representing mental states of the self and others, retrieving memory of personal experiences, and coordinating and monitoring the overall performance of the task. The activations in the medial frontal cortex replicate findings in previous TOM studies, while the activations in the cerebellum reinforce the growing evidence that the cerebellum performs cognitive functions in the human brain.
引用
收藏
页码:1954 / 1964
页数:11
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