Abstract
Narrative comprehension rests on the ability to understand the intentions and perceptions of various agents in a story who interact with respect to some goal or problem. Reasoning about the state of mind of another person, real or fictional, has been referred to as Theory of Mind processing. While Theory of Mind Processing was first postulated prior to the existence of neuroimaging research, fMRI studies make it possible to characterize this processing in some detail. We propose that narrative comprehension makes use of some of the neural substrate of Theory of Mind reasoning, evoking what is referred to as a protagonist perspective network. The main cortical components of this protagonist-based network are the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the right temporo-parietal junction. The article discusses how these two cortical centers interact in narrative comprehension but still play distinguishable roles, and how the interaction between the two centers is disrupted in individuals with autism.
Highlights
The psychological construct of Theory of Mind has been widely discussed in the field of developmental psychology and has influenced the fields of social psychology, philosophy, and neuroimaging
We have previously proposed that discourse comprehension involves a number of cortical networks, one of which is referred to as a Protagonist Perspective Interpreter network consisting of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the right temporal parietal junction (RTPJ), possibly extending into the posterior superior temporal sulcus as shown in Figure 1 (Mason & Just, 2006)
The initial neuroimaging studies of the Theory of Mind network focused primarily on nondiscourse tasks. Many of these involved the presentation of cartoons, vignettes, and animations (Brunet et al, 2000; Castelli et al, 2000, 2002; Fletcher et al, 1995; Galllagher et al, 2000; Martin & Weisberg, 2003; Saxe & Kanwisher, 2003; Schultz et al, 2003). These neuroimaging studies identified a set of brain regions involved in Theory of Mind processing that includes the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the posterior superior temporal sulcus, and the temporal poles (Fletcher et al, 1995; Gallagher et al, 2000; Vogeley et al, 2001; Castelli et al, 2000, 2002; Brunet et al, 2000)
Summary
The psychological construct of Theory of Mind has been widely discussed in the field of developmental psychology and has influenced the fields of social psychology, philosophy, and neuroimaging. To understand the interactions of characters in a story, a reader has to attribute thoughts, goals, and intentions to the characters It was not known, prior to the age of neuroimaging, that the considerations of others’ mental states evoke a special cortical network. Neuroimaging research in narrative processing offers an unusual opportunity to examine the interaction between language comprehension and Theory of Mind processing in the understanding of protagonists’ actions (see Gernsbacher et al, 1998; Mason et al, 2008). Consider for example this set of sentences: Brad had no money but he just had to have the beautiful ruby ring for his wife.
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