Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty understanding other minds (Theory of Mind; ToM), with atypical processing evident at both behavioural and neural levels. Individuals with conduct problems and high levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (CP/HCU) exhibit reduced responsiveness to others' emotions and difficulties interacting with others, but nonetheless perform normally in experimental tests of ToM. The present study aimed to examine the neural underpinnings of ToM in children (aged 10–16) with ASD (N = 16), CP/HCU (N = 16) and typically developing (TD) controls (N = 16) using a non-verbal cartoon vignette task. Whilst individuals with ASD were predicted to show reduced fMRI responses across regions involved in ToM processing, CP/HCU individuals were predicted to show no differences compared with TD controls. The analyses indicated that neural responses did not differ between TD and CP/HCU groups during ToM. TD and CP/HCU children exhibited significantly greater medial prefrontal cortex responses during ToM than did the ASD group. Within the ASD group, responses in medial prefrontal cortex and right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) correlated with symptom severity as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Findings suggest that although both ASD and CP/HCU are characterized by social difficulties, only children with ASD display atypical neural processing associated with ToM.
Highlights
Theory of Mind (ToM) describes the ability to attribute mental states in order to explain or predict behaviour (Premack & Woodruff, 1978)
Social difficulties are mirrored by atypical neural processing, with most fMRI studies to date reporting reduced neural responses in adults and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) relative to controls across a network of regions implicated in ToM (posterior superior temporal sulcus/temporoparietal junction (TPJ), medial prefrontal cortex and temporal poles) (e.g. Castelli, Frith, Happe & Frith, 2002; Lombardo, Chakrabarti, Bullmore & Baron-Cohen, 2011; Mason, Williams, Kana, Minshew & Just, 2008; Wang, Lee, Sigman & Dapretto, 2006)
The current study focuses on the comparison of ASD and CP/HCU groups in ToM processing relative to the physical causality (PC) control condition
Summary
Theory of Mind (ToM) describes the ability to attribute mental states in order to explain or predict behaviour (Premack & Woodruff, 1978). Research indicates that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have impairments in ToM (Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985; Senju, Southgate, White & Frith, 2009). Children with autism have difficulties attributing mental states such as beliefs or intentions to explain characters’ actions or communication in simple stories (Baron-Cohen, O’Riordan, Jones, Stone & Plaisted, 1999; Happe, 1994; White, Hill, Happe & Frith, 2009). Cognitive-experimental studies in adults with psychopathy and children with CP/HCU indicate intact ToM across a range of measures (Dolan & Fullam, 2004; Richell, Mitchell, Newman, Leonard, Baron-Cohen & Blair, 2003; Jones et al, 2011), this has not yet been explored with fMRI
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