People thinking about thinking peopleThe role of the temporo-parietal junction in “theory of mind”

Saxe, Rebecca; Kanwisher, Nancy

doi:10.1016/s1053-8119(03)00230-1

Cited by 2,128 publications

(1,919 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Quantitative measures of brain maturation (Carmody et al, 2004) applied to infants and young children have shown the relations between brain maturation of the left temporo-parietal and right medial frontal cortex and the emergence of self representational behavior (Lewis and Carmody, 2006). It is interesting to note that the finding of the maturity of the left temporo-parietal junction is consistent with others who have also found the left side to be most involved in self referential behavior (Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003) and is involved in reasoning about the beliefs of others (Samson et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Brain activation when hearing one's own and others' names

Carmody

Lewis

2006

Brain Research

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Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain activation patterns were examined in response to hearing one's own first name in contrast to hearing the names of others. There are several regions in the left hemisphere that show greater activation to one's own name, including middle frontal cortex, middle and superior temporal cortex, and cuneus. These findings provide evidence that hearing one's own name has unique brain functioning activation specific to one's own name in relation to the names of others.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Brain activation when hearing one's own and others' names

Carmody

Lewis

2006

Brain Research

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“…While the MCC has been shown to be involved in both self-and other-perspectives (Vogt, 2005), the bilateral STS and TPJ belong to the core neural network of mentalising ( Saxe and Wexler, 2005;Dodell-Feder et al, 2011). These latter two areas make up the network described by the cognitive neuroscience term "temporoparietal junction" (TPJ), known collectively to play a crucial role in self-other distinction processes, ToM, and the ability to make moral decisions (Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003). The right TPJ, in particular, includes areas that might be recruited exclusively by mentalising (Saxe and Pelphrey, 2009;Scholz et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ToM describes the ability an individual has to understand and appreciate that others can have mental states (wants, needs, beliefs, knowledge, emotions, etc.) different from one's own, and to understand that these can be used to explain and predict the behaviours of others (Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003). Mentalization is the process by which we implicitly and explicitly interpret the actions of ourselves and others as meaningful on the basis of intentional mental states (Bateman and Fonagy, 2004), and thus mentalization shares similarities with the concept of ToM.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dysregulation between emotion and theory of mind networks in borderline personality disorder

O’Neill

D'Souza

Samson

et al. 2015

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging

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a b s t r a c tIndividuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) commonly display deficits in emotion regulation, but findings in the area of social cognitive (e.g., theory of mind, ToM) capacities have been heterogeneous. The aims of the current study were to investigate differences between patients with BPD and controls in functional connectivity (1) between the emotion and ToM network and (2) in the default mode network (DMN). Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate 19 healthy controls and 17 patients with BPD at rest and during ToM processing. Functional coupling was analysed. Significantly decreased functional connectivity was found for patients compared with controls between anterior cingulate cortex and three brain areas involved in ToM processes: the left superior temporal lobe, right supramarginal/inferior parietal lobes, and right middle cingulate cortex. Increased functional connectivity was found in patients compared with controls between the precuneus as the DMN seed and the left inferior frontal lobe, left precentral/middle frontal, and left middle occipital/ superior parietal lobes during rest. Reduced functional coupling between the emotional and the ToM network during ToM processing is in line with emotion-regulation dysfunctions in BPD. The increased connectivity between precuneus and frontal regions during rest might be related to extensive processing of internal thoughts and self-referential information in BPD.

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“…The temporo-parietal junction, including both the inferior parietal lobule and superior temporal gyrus has been implicated in at least one previous studies of risky financial decision making (Paulus and Frank, 2006). This region has also been suggested to play a critical role in the judgment of true and false beliefs originating from other people (Grezes et al, 2004;Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003;Sommer et al, 2007) as well as attention shifting (Shulman et al, 2007). Its role in our experiment may operate similarly, if more generally outside the specific circumstance of decision making: judging the likelihood of receiving and avoiding an aversive outcome (Mitchell, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear neurobiological probability weighting functions for aversive outcomes

Berns¹,

Capra²,

Chappelow³

et al. 2008

NeuroImage

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While mainstream economic models assume that individuals treat probabilities objectively, many people tend to overestimate the likelihood of improbable events and underestimate the likelihood of probable events. However, a biological account for why probabilities would be treated this way does not yet exist. While undergoing fMRI, we presented individuals with a series of lotteries, defined by the voltage of an impending cutaneous electric shock and the probability with which the shock would be received. During the prospect phase, neural activity that tracked the probability of the expected outcome was observed in a circumscribed network of brain regions that included the anterior cingulate, visual, parietal, and temporal cortices. Most of these regions displayed responses to probabilities consistent with nonlinear probability weighting. The neural responses to passive lotteries predicted 79% of subsequent decisions when individuals were offered choices between different lotteries, and exceeded that predicted by behavior alone near the indifference point.

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People thinking about thinking peopleThe role of the temporo-parietal junction in “theory of mind”

Cited by 2,128 publications

References 26 publications

Brain activation when hearing one's own and others' names

Brain activation when hearing one's own and others' names

Dysregulation between emotion and theory of mind networks in borderline personality disorder

Nonlinear neurobiological probability weighting functions for aversive outcomes

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