Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex

Abstract

Gender differences in social cognition are a long discussed issue, in particular those concerning Theory of Mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to explain and predict other people’s mental states. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to test the hypothesis that anodal tDCS over the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) selectively enhances cognitive ToM performance in females. In the first experiment we administered to sixteen females and sixteen males a cognitive ToM task during anodal or placebo tDCS over the mPFC. In the second experiment further sixteen females completed the task receiving anodal or placebo tDCS over the vertex. The results showed that anodal tDCS over the mPFC enhances ToM in females but not in males, an effect indicated by enhanced ToM in females that received anodal tDCS over the mPFC compared with females that received tDCS over the vertex. These findings are relevant for three reasons. First, we found evidence of gender-related differences in cognitive ToM, extending previous findings concerning affective ToM. Second, these differences emerge with anodal stimulation of the mPFC, confirming the crucial role of this area in cognitive ToM. Third, we show that taking into account gender-related differences is mandatory for the investigation of ToM.

Common and unique effects of HD-tDCS to the social brain across cultural groups

“…Anodal stimulation to the dmPFC also had a unique effect in the SEA cohort of reducing overall memory performance, whereas in the CA, overall memory performance remained the same and only the bias towards self-referential memories was removed.Previous studies have highlighted differential tDCS effects on the social brain based on sex (Adenzato et al, 2017;Martin, Huang, et al, 2017), but this is the first study to provide evidence that cultural background may also be a necessary consideration. Although this effect may be limited to social cognition where culture is a recognised source of variance, performance on other cognitive domains has been shown to be culturally specific (Nisbett & Miyamoto, 2005) and…”

Sex differences in own and other body perception

“…Indeed, several previous studies have suggested sex differences in mind reading abilities as well as empathy (Adenzato et al, 2017;Frank, Baron-Cohen, & Ganzel, 2015;Krach et al, 2009;Schulte-Rüther, Markowitsch, Shah, Fink, & Piefke, 2008;Singer & Lamm, 2009 to be involved in other rather than self-orientation (Bischoff et al, 2012;Eddy, 2016), sexual arousal (Ponseti et al, 2006), and emotional salience (Gerber et al, 2008;Phan et al, 2003). Indeed, several previous studies have suggested sex differences in mind reading abilities as well as empathy (Adenzato et al, 2017;Frank, Baron-Cohen, & Ganzel, 2015;Krach et al, 2009;Schulte-Rüther, Markowitsch, Shah, Fink, & Piefke, 2008;Singer & Lamm, 2009 to be involved in other rather than self-orientation (Bischoff et al, 2012;Eddy, 2016), sexual arousal (Ponseti et al, 2006), and emotional salience (Gerber et al, 2008;Phan et al, 2003).…”

“…Thus, our findings may be interpreted as that women may more easily be able to put themselves in other females' shoes, which require Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to explain and predict other people's mental states, and cognitive empathy. Indeed, several previous studies have suggested sex differences in mind reading abilities as well as empathy (Adenzato et al, 2017;Frank, Baron-Cohen, & Ganzel, 2015;Krach et al, 2009;Schulte-Rüther, Markowitsch, Shah, Fink, & Piefke, 2008;Singer & Lamm, 2009 to be involved in other rather than self-orientation (Bischoff et al, 2012;Eddy, 2016), sexual arousal (Ponseti et al, 2006), and emotional salience (Gerber et al, 2008;Phan et al, 2003).…”

Psychometric Properties of Mind-reading Belief Scale on an Italian Sample and Correlation with the Self-Construal

“…(Dunn, Brown, Slomkowski, Tesla, & Youngblade, 1991;Dunn, 1995;Davis & Pratt, 1995;Kinderman, Dunbar & Bentall, 1998;Hughes & Cutting, 1999;Astington & Jenkins, 1999;Carlson & Moses, 2001;Kühnen & Oysermanb, 2002;Birch & Bloom, 2003Apperly, 2012). In this respect, although controversially, gender differences have emerged in ToM abilities suggesting that women, as compared to men, show a greater ToM competence, particularly in relation to the affective dimension of social cognition, such as emotion recognition, social sensitivity, empathy, and emotional intelligence (McClure, 2000;Baron-Cohen, O'Riordan, Stone, Jones, & Plaisted, 1999;Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004;Brackett & Salovey, 2006; see also, Adenzato et al, 2017). Additionally, it has also been shown that ToM evolution affects all the different epochs of life (Kuhn, 2000;Valle, Massaro, Castelli, & Marchetti, 2015;Cabinio et al, 2015).…”

“…On the other hand, items written in an impersonal form could lead individuals to not specifically reason about themselves. Additionally, considering that evidence about ToM has sometimes highlighted gender discrepancies as introduced above (e.g., Adenzato et al, 2017), it is relevant to assess whether measurement of beliefs about one's mind-reading competences is similar between women and men.…”