Functional imaging of ‘theory of mind’

Gallagher, Helen L.; Frith, C. D.

doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(02)00025-6

Cited by 1,857 publications

(1,313 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…However, as can be also inspected on Figure 2A, many tasks on intentionality also engage the mPFC. This has led to the view that the mPFC r Van Overwalle r r 844 r is the key region in mentalizing and aids in the realization of different perspectives for tasks that require decoupling other's perspective from one's own or reality [Frith and Frith, 2001;Gallagher and Frith, 2003]. However, true belief tasks do not require holding in mind diverging beliefs or intentions, and yet they also tend to activate the [A] The mPFC involved in social inferences of intentionality.…”

Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The search was confined between January 2000 and April 2007. For more complete coverage, I inspected several review articles from which I identified additional articles [Amodio and Frith, 2006;Beer and Ochsner, 2006;Decety and Chaminade, 2003;Frith and Frith, 2001;Gallagher and Frith, 2003;Grèzes and Decety, 2001;Matsumoto and Tanaka, 2004;Northoff and Bermpohl, 2004;Ochsner et al, 2004a;Olsen et al, 2007;Saxe et al, 2004a;Todorov et al, 2006]. In addition, to augment these studies with other functions that might be relevant to social cognition and that might activate the same brain areas, additional fMRI studies which also appeared between January 2000 and April 2007 besides those identified in the general search, were included for the following tasks:…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1A,B). According to some authors, mentalizing is a high-level mental process that is subserved mainly by cortical midline structures, especially the mPFC [e.g., Amodio and Frith, 2006;Gallagher and Frith, 2003]. On the other hand, an increasing number of authors suggest that the TPJ has specific social functions of its own, in particular for identifying the goals or intentions behind behaviors, together with the aid of ''mirror neurons'' [e.g., Gallese et al, 2004;Keysers and Gazzola, 2007;Saxe and Powell, 2006;Uddin et al, 2007].…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectives On Social Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several authors have even suggested that maintaining different representations of self and other's intentions or beliefs is a high-level capacity mediated by the PFC [e.g., Amodio and Frith, 2006;Decety and Chaminade, 2003;Frith and Frith, 2001;Gallagher and Frith, 2003;Leslie et al, 2004]. The following functions have been proposed and are explored in this metaanalysis:…”

Section: How the Mpfc Identifies Social Beliefs Traits And Scriptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social cognition and the brain: A meta‐analysis

Overwalle

2008

Human Brain Mapping

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This meta-analysis explores the location and function of brain areas involved in social cognition, or the capacity to understand people's behavioral intentions, social beliefs, and personality traits. On the basis of over 200 fMRI studies, it tests alternative theoretical proposals that attempt to explain how several brain areas process information relevant for social cognition. The results suggest that inferring temporary states such as goals, intentions, and desires of other people-even when they are false and unjust from our own perspective-strongly engages the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Inferring more enduring dispositions of others and the self, or interpersonal norms and scripts, engages the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), although temporal states can also activate the mPFC. Other candidate tasks reflecting general-purpose brain processes that may potentially subserve social cognition are briefly reviewed, such as sequence learning, causality detection, emotion processing, and executive functioning (action monitoring, attention, dual task monitoring, episodic memory retrieval), but none of them overlaps uniquely with the regions activated during social cognition. Hence, it appears that social cognition particularly engages the TPJ and mPFC regions. The available evidence is consistent with the role of a TPJ-related mirror system for inferring temporary goals and intentions at a relatively perceptual level of representation, and the mPFC as a module that integrates social information across time and allows reflection and representation of traits and norms, and presumably also of intentionality, at a more abstract cognitive level.

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Section: Summary and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Perspectives On Social Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: How the Mpfc Identifies Social Beliefs Traits And Scriptsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social cognition and the brain: A meta‐analysis

Overwalle

2008

Human Brain Mapping

1,556

102

1,300

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“…The anterior cingulate and ventromedial, orbital, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are other brain structures that appear to play an important role in other aspects of social cognition, such as the understanding of other's mental statues (i.e., theory of mind) and emotional regulation (Allman, Hakeem, Erwin, Nimchinsky, & Hof, 2001;Amodio & Frith, 2006;S. Anderson, Bechara, Damasio, Tranel, & Damasio, 1999;Bechara, Damasio, & Damasio, 2000;Frith & Frith, 2001;Gallagher & Frith, 2003;Goel, Grafman, Sadato, & Hallett, 1995;Grattan & Eslinger, 1989;Mah, Arnold, & Grafman, 2004;Siegal & Varley, 2002). Figure 2 portrays the various brain regions that have been implicated in social cognition and behavior, and Table 1 summarizes some of the links between those regions and specific socialcognitive and affective processes that have been the focus of research to date.…”

Section: The Emerging Discipline Of Social Cognitive Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Social outcomes in childhood brain disorder: A heuristic integration of social neuroscience and developmental psychology.

Yeates

Bigler

Dennis

et al. 2007

Psychological Bulletin

392

400

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The authors propose a heuristic model of the social outcomes of childhood brain disorder that draws on models and methods from both the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience and the study of social competence in developmental psychology/psychopathology. The heuristic model characterizes the relationships between social adjustment, peer interactions and relationships, social problem solving and communication, social-affective and cognitive-executive processes, and their neural substrates. The model is illustrated by research on a specific form of childhood brain disorder, traumatic brain injury. The heuristic model may promote research regarding the neural and cognitiveaffective substrates of children's social development. It also may engender more precise methods of measuring impairments and disabilities in children with brain disorder and suggest ways to promote their social adaptation. Surprisingly little is known about the extent, basis, and consequences of the social problems associated with neurological dys-function and brain insults occurring during childhood, despite the significant long-term implications of social development for children's functioning at home, in school, and in the community (Parker, Rubin, Erath, Wojslawowicz, & Buskirk, 2006;Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). Until recently, the lack of measurement tools and articulated models of social functioning has limited our ability to address social outcomes in children with brain disorder. The development of more sensitive measures and explicit models of social functioning would help researchers and clinicians to target children with brain disorders for further study and intervention.Now is an excellent time to consider social outcomes in children with brain disorder. The emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience provides a critical perspective on the social impact of childhood brain disorder. Social neuroscience not only supplies tools needed to better understand the neural substrates and social-cognitive processes associated with social functioning, but also provides a foundation for a multilevel, integrative analysis of the social difficulties arising from neurological insults (Brothers, 1990;Cacioppo, Berntson, Sheridan, & McClintock, 2000;Moss & Damasio, 2001;Ochsner & Lieberman, 2001;Posner, Rothbart, & Gerardi-Caulton, 2001). Although social neuroscience to date has focused primarily on adults, in part because of the inability to study the developing brain in vivo, this no longer need be the case. With contemporary neuroimaging, various elegant methods are available that can inform researchers about brain development and neuropathology in the study of social behavior in children with brain disorder (Toga & Thompson, 2005).The methods and models derived from social neuroscience will be particularly powerful when combined with those associated with the study of social competence in developmental psychology and developmental psychopathology Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). The latter approaches reflect a development...

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