Abstract
Attributing mental states to others in social interactions [Theory of Mind (ToM)] often depends on visual social cues like eye gaze or mimic. This study presents an event-related potentials task (Brainy-ERP) that was developed in order to investigate the electrophysiological correlates of first-, second-, and third-order cognitive and affective ToM processing. The task was based on social visual cues and involved electroencephalographic event-related potential (ERP) analyses and exact low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analyses (eLORETA) source localization analyses. Results showed that in cognitive and affective conditions, first-order trials elicited greater Anterior P2 (180–370 ms) amplitudes. In the cognitive condition, third-order trials elicited greatest amplitudes in the broadly distributed early negative slow wave (eNSW, 260–470 ms) and the late NSW (LNSW, 460–1,000 ms). In the affective condition, third-order and second-order trials elicited greatest amplitudes in a broadly distributed NSW (250–1,000 ms). Regarding affective trials in the NSW time span, statistical significant differences and trends were shown regarding activation of underlying brain regions. Third-order trials elicited greatest activation in a number of regions typically associated with the ToM network, especially the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), cuneus, and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Furthermore, ToM low performers (participants with high accuracy but longer reaction times) showed by trend smaller Posterior N1 and significantly smaller eNSW amplitudes compared to average and high performers. This study offers new insights into electrophysiological correlates of basic and higher order cognitive and affective ToM processing and its precise time course.
Highlights
Theory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the attribution of mental states such as desires or intentions to oneself and others (e.g., Wellman, 2011)
In case of the current task, it was interpreted that higher order ToM requires more effort to integrate information into such internal representations as higher order ToM involves a greater number of protagonists and ToM-specific visual cues to take into account
It was interpreted in a way that greater amplitudes in higher order ToM trials can on the one hand be linked to increased attribution of mental states which was previously associated with greater amplitudes at frontal sites
Summary
Theory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the attribution of mental states such as desires or intentions to oneself and others (e.g., Wellman, 2011). If someone looks you in the eyes, you may observe said person’s facial expression and conclude his or her feelings in the current situation This essential tool of social interaction called ToM makes use of consecutive cognitive processing steps, each associated with activity in specific brain regions (see e.g., Abu-Akel and ShamayTsoory, 2011). Visual cues need to be perceived and interpreted, and the resulting data need to be processed so as to produce a meta-representation of the other person’s mental state In their neurobiological model, Abu-Akel and ShamayTsoory (2011) divide ToM processing into three basic steps that include (1) representing affective and cognitive mental states, (2) attributing these mental states to oneself or others, and (3) applying these mental states in order to understand and predict behavior. A social interaction in which one imagines what a person thinks about the thoughts of another person represents (second-order ToM) reasoning as the mental states of two individuals need to be considered
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