Theory of Mind in adults with right hemisphere damage: What’s the story?

Abstract

a b s t r a c tWhy do people with right hemisphere damage (RHD) have difficulty with pragmatics and communication? One hypothesis has been that pragmatic impairment in RHD is the result of an underlying impairment in Theory of Mind (ToM): the ability to infer the mental states of others. In previous studies evaluating ToM abilities in people with RHD, researchers have used judgment tasks based on story or still cartoon stimuli. However, ToM is likely to draw on kinetic information as well, and these tasks ignore this aspect. The aim of this study was to assess ToM abilities in people with RHD using participants' evaluations of animated films with moving geometric shapes. Participants were presented with eight films of animated triangles. Four of the films represented the triangles as intentional agents with mental states, while the other four represented the triangles as simply inanimate, though moving, objects. Films were evaluated by both button-press response and by oral descriptions. Analysis of the transcriptions revealed that participants with RHD had a reduced ability to discriminate between the film categories, and a bias toward reduced mental-state ascription in the ToM condition.

Discourse production after right brain damage: Gaining a comprehensive picture using a multi-level processing model

“…Similarly, participants with RBD judged tangential conversation as normal significantly more often than NBD participants, indicating that the former may suffer from a breakdown in those components of their mental models which deal with judging intention and appropriateness in conversation . This impairment relates to the "theory of mind" explanation of their difficulties which has received some experimental support (Griffin et al, 2006;Weed, 2008;Weed, McGregor, Feldbaek Nielsen, Roepstorff, & Frith, 2010), but the theory of mind deficit in this population has been shown to be less extensive (ChampagneLavau & Joanette, 2009;Tompkins, Scharp, Fassbinder, Meigh, & Armstrong, 2006;Tompkins, Scharp, Fassbinder, Meigh, & Armstrong, 2008).…”

What's left to learn about right hemisphere damage and pragmatic impairment?

“…Although both left and right pSTS and pSTG seem to be important for these functions (Saygin, 2007), some evidence suggests that the right pSTS and pSTG are particularly responsive in this sort of task (Grossman et al, 2000;Saxe, Xiao, Kovacs, Perrett, & Kanwisher, 2004). We have previously found impairment in people with RHD on a mental-state attribution task based on assessment of motion cues (Weed, McGregor, Feldbaek Nielsen, Roepstorff, & Frith, 2010). Some people with RHD may therefore be impacted in their ability to make accurate pragmatic judgements because of a reduced ability to read the motion cues of their interlocutor.…”

Should Damage to the Machinery of Social Perception Damage Perception?

“…It has been suggested that the TPJ is selectively recruited during theory-ofmind tasks, especially during tasks that require constructing a model of someone else's beliefs (Saxe & Kanwisher, 2003;Saxe & Wexler, 2005). Damage to the TPJ is associated with impairment in theory-ofmind reasoning Samson et al, 2004;Weed, McGregor, Feldbaek Nielsen, Roepstorff, & Frith, 2010).…”