Abstract
BackgroundSuccessful social interaction relies on the ability to attribute mental states to other people. Previous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that this process, described as Theory of Mind (ToM) or mentalization, is reliably associated with activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, this study presents a novel and surprising finding that provides new insight into the role of the mPFC in mentalization tasks.Methodology/Principal FindingsTwenty healthy individuals were recruited from a wide range of ages and social backgrounds. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing a well-established ToM visual paradigm involving moving triangles. Functional MRI data were analyzed using a classical general linear model. No activation was detected in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during movement patterns that typically elicit ToM. However, increased activity was observed in the right middle occipital gyrus, right temporoparietal junction (TPJ), left middle occipital gyrus and right inferior frontal gyrus. No correlation was found between participants’ age and BOLD response.Conclusions/SignificanceIn contrast with previous neuroimaging research, our findings support the notion that mPFC function is not critical for reasoning about the mental states of others; furthermore, our data indicate that the right TPJ and right inferior frontal gyrus are able to perform mentalization without any contributions from the mPFC.
Highlights
To achieve successful social interaction, human beings must be able to think of other conspecifics as psychological agents whose behavior is driven by mental states
Previous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that this process, described as Theory of Mind (ToM) or mentalization, is reliably associated with activation of the medial prefrontal cortex
ToM tasks activate a large-scale brain network that consists of cortical midline structures such as the medial prefrontal cortex and the precuneus, as well as lateral parietal regions such as the posterior temporal sulcus and the temporal pole [4,5,6,7,8,9]
Summary
To achieve successful social interaction, human beings must be able to think of other conspecifics as psychological agents whose behavior is driven by mental states. The process by which one attributes thoughts, intentions and beliefs to oneself and others is described as Theory of Mind (ToM) [1] or mentalization [2]. One study reported a single case of extensive frontal lobe damage that did not affect the patient’s ToM ability [13]. It remains unclear whether this finding can be generalized to other populations. Previous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that this process, described as Theory of Mind (ToM) or mentalization, is reliably associated with activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This study presents a novel and surprising finding that provides new insight into the role of the mPFC in mentalization tasks
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