Another Advanced Test of Theory of Mind: Evidence from Very High Functioning Adults with Autism or Asperger Syndrome

Baron‐Cohen, Simon; Jolliffe, Therese; Mortimore, Catherine; Robertson, Mary M.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01599.x

Cited by 1,558 publications

(1,047 citation statements)

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“…The second baseline condition consisted of an odd-even number judgment task. This second baseline was included because it has been shown that 1 The current dataset only included women, as there is evidence that AM (Andreano & Cahill, 2009), and possibly ToM (Baron-Cohen et al, 1997), differ across sex. Although beyond the scope of the current study, sex differences in brain networks underlying AM and ToM is an important topic for future research.…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Familiarity modulates the functional relationship between theory of mind and autobiographical memory

Rabin

Rosenbaum

2012

NeuroImage

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Qualitative and quantitative reviews of the neuroimaging literature show that overlapping brain regions support theory of mind (ToM) and autobiographical memory (AM). This overlap has been taken to suggest that individuals draw on past personal experiences to infer others' mental states, but work with amnesic people shows that ToM does not always depend on AM. One variable that may determine the extent to which one relies on AM when inferring another's thoughts and feelings during ToM is whether that individual is personally known. To test this possibility, participants were scanned with fMRI as they remembered past experiences in response to personal photos ('AM' condition) and imagined others' experiences in response to photos of personally familiar ('pToM' condition) and unfamiliar ('ToM' condition) others. Spatiotemporal Partial Least Squares was used to identify the spatial and temporal characteristics of neural activation patterns associated with AM, pToM, and ToM. We found that the brain regions supporting pToM more closely resembled those supporting AM relative to ToM involving unfamiliar others, with the greatest degree of overlap within midline regions. A complementary finding was the observation of striking differences between pToM and ToM such that midline regions associated with AM predominated during pToM, whereas more lateral regions associated with social semantic memory predominated during ToM. Overall, this study demonstrates that ToM involves a dynamic interplay between AM and social semantic memory that is biased towards AM when a personally familiar other is the subject of the mental state inference. KeywordsfMRI; self; other; partial least squares; medial prefrontal cortex; hippocampus Humans possess the remarkable ability to decipher other people's imperceptible mental states, including their thoughts, feelings, desires, and intentions. This ability, known as "theory of mind" (ToM), plays an important role in our social lives; it facilitates our capacity to communicate, cooperate, and empathize with others (Amodio & Frith, 2006). The question of how we attribute mental states to others has been a central pursuit in the field of social cognition. One possibility is that humans draw on their own past experiences to infer and simulate the mental states of other people (Buckner & Carroll, 2007;Corcoran, 2001; Gallagher & Frith, 2003). However, patient work shows that ToM does not always depend on the ability to remember past experiences via autobiographical memory (AM; Rosenbaum et al., 2007). One variable that may determine the extent to which one relies on AM to infer another's mental state is one's knowledge of that individual through shared personal experiences. The objective of the current study was to test whether different neural and cognitive mechanisms support mental state inferences of personally familiar versus unfamiliar others and how these abilities relate to AM.Recent qualitative and quantitative reviews of the neuroimaging literature show that the brain regions supporti...

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Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Familiarity modulates the functional relationship between theory of mind and autobiographical memory

Rabin

Rosenbaum

2012

NeuroImage

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“…Prefrontal regions are mainly related to the social-cognitive aspect of mentalizing, while the amygdala und superior temporal cortex are linked to the social-perceptual aspect (Tager-Flusberg and Sullivan, 2000). However, it can be assumed that the Eyes test used in our study is a measure of both the perceptual and the cognitive component of mentalizing through the attribution of complex mental states (Baron-Cohen et al, 1997, Baron-Cohen, et al, 2001, Shur et al, 2008. In line with this claim, two neuroimaging studies have shown the activation of temporal regions, prefrontal cortex, medial frontal lobe and the amygdala during test performance, confirming that both aspects of mentalizing are involved (Baron-Cohen et al, 1999, Russell et al, 2000.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sense of agency and mentalizing: Dissociation of subdomains of social cognition in patients with schizophrenia

Schimansky

David

Rössler

et al. 2010

Psychiatry Research

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The sense of agency, i.e., the sense that "I am the one who is causing an action", and mentalizing, the ability to understand the mental states of other individuals, are key domains of social cognition. It has been hypothesized that an intact sense of agency is an important precondition for higher-level mentalizing abilities. A substantial body of evidence shows that both processes rely on similar brain areas and are severely impaired in schizophrenia, suggesting a close link between agency and mentalizing. Yet this relationship has not been explicitly tested. We investigated 40 individuals with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls on an agency and mentalizing task. On the agency task, participants carried out simple mouse movements and judged the partially manipulated visual feedback as either self-or other-generated. On the mentalizing task, participants inferred mental states from pictures that depicted others' eyes ("Reading the mind in the eyes test"). Neuropsychological, psychopathological and social functioning levels were also evaluated. Both sense of agency and mentalizing were impaired in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy controls. However, testing for a relationship revealed no significant correlations between the two processes, either in the schizophrenia or the control group. The present findings demonstrate a dissociation of agency and mentalizing deficits in schizophrenia, suggesting that the multifaceted construct of social cognition consists of independent subdomains in healthy and psychiatrically ill individuals. AbstractThe sense of agency, i.e., the sense that "I am the one who is causing an action", and mentalizing, the ability to understand the mental states of other individuals, are key domains of social cognition. It has been hypothesized that an intact sense of agency is an important precondition for higher-level mentalizing abilities. A substantial body of evidence shows that both processes rely on similar brain areas and are severely impaired in schizophrenia, suggesting a close link between agency andmentalizing. Yet this relationship has not been explicitly tested. We investigated 40 individuals with schizophrenia and 40 healthy controls on an agency and mentalizing task. On the agency task, participants carried out simple mouse movements and judged the partially manipulated visual feedback as either self or other generated. On the mentalizing task, participants inferred mental states from pictures that depicted others' eyes ("Reading the Mind in the Eyes test"). Neuropsychological, psychopathological and social functioning levels were also evaluated.Both sense of agency and mentalizing were impaired in schizophrenics compared to healthy controls.However, testing for a relationship revealed no significant correlations between the two processes, either in the schizophrenia or the control group.The present findings demonstrate a dissociation of agency and mentalizing deficits in schizophrenia,suggesting that the multifaceted construct of social cognition consists of independ...

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“…For example, the eyes are used to modulate social interactions by indicating turn-taking during conversations and to communicate social dominance and appeasement (Exline 1971;Kendon 1967). The eyes also provide rich information about the emotional state of another (Baron-Cohen et al 1997).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Alexithymia in Reduced Eye-Fixation in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Bird

Press

Richardson

2011

J Autism Dev Disord

158

164

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Another Advanced Test of Theory of Mind: Evidence from Very High Functioning Adults with Autism or Asperger Syndrome

Cited by 1,558 publications

References 35 publications

Familiarity modulates the functional relationship between theory of mind and autobiographical memory

Familiarity modulates the functional relationship between theory of mind and autobiographical memory

Sense of agency and mentalizing: Dissociation of subdomains of social cognition in patients with schizophrenia

The Role of Alexithymia in Reduced Eye-Fixation in Autism Spectrum Conditions

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