Functionally distinct language and Theory of Mind networks are synchronized at rest and during language comprehension.
Functionally distinct language and Theory of Mind networks are synchronized at rest and during language comprehension.
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功能上不同的语言和心理理论网络在休息和语言理解过程中是同步的。
DOI：
10.1152/jn.00619.2018
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发表时间：
2019
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Fedorenko,Evelina
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Paunov,AlexanderM;Blank,IdanA;Fedorenko,Evelina
沟通需要产生和解释话语的能力，以及推断他人的信念、愿望和目标的能力（“心智理论”；ToM）。这两种能力已被证明是分离的：失语症患者保留了思考他人精神状态的能力；自闭症患者的社会推理能力受损，但他们的基本语言处理能力通常完好无损。与这一来自脑部疾病的证据一致，功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）研究表明，语言能力和ToM能力涉及不同的大脑区域。然而，语言是一种社交工具，可以让我们彼此分享思想。因此，尽管语言和ToM大脑网络在不同的神经回路中实现，但它们必须共享信息。在这里，我们利用功能磁共振成像的功能相关性研究了这些网络在自然认知过程中的潜在相互作用。这些网络在个体参与者的功能上进行了定义，在语言方面对句子的偏好高于非词，以及在ToM中对信念推理高于物理事件处理的偏好，包括言语和非言语范式。尽管在整个实验中，每个网络的区域间相关性高于网络间相关性，但我们也观察到，在休息和故事理解期间，两个网络之间依赖于血氧水平的信号波动高于基线同步。这种同步在功能上是特定的：两个网络都不与执行控制网络同步（在功能上根据对执行任务的较难版本的偏好来定义）。因此，语言和ToM网络之间的协调似乎是其功能体系结构的固有和特定特征。人类与非人灵长类动物的不同之处在于他们的语言交流能力和推断他人精神状态的能力。虽然语言能力和社交能力在系统发育上似乎是相互联系的，但它们在成年人的大脑中是分离的。然而，成功的沟通需要语言和社会推理协同工作。利用功能性核磁共振成像，我们发现在休息和语言理解期间，语言区域与社会区域是同步的，指出了网络相互作用的可能机制。
Communication requires the abilities to generate and interpret utterances and to infer the beliefs, desires, and goals of others (“Theory of Mind”; ToM). These two abilities have been shown to dissociate: individuals with aphasia retain the ability to think about others’ mental states; and individuals with autism are impaired in social reasoning, but their basic language processing is often intact. In line with this evidence from brain disorders, functional MRI (fMRI) studies have shown that linguistic and ToM abilities recruit distinct sets of brain regions. And yet, language is a social tool that allows us to share thoughts with one another. Thus, the language and ToM brain networks must share information despite being implemented in distinct neural circuits. Here, we investigated potential interactions between these networks during naturalistic cognition using functional correlations in fMRI. The networks were functionally defined in individual participants, in terms of preference for sentences over nonwords for language, and for belief inference over physical-event processing for ToM, with both a verbal and a nonverbal paradigm. Although, across experiments, interregion correlations within each network were higher than between-network correlations, we also observed above-baseline synchronization of blood oxygenation level-dependent signal fluctuations between the two networks during rest and story comprehension. This synchronization was functionally specific: neither network was synchronized with the executive control network (functionally defined in terms of preference for a harder over easier version of an executive task). Thus, coordination between the language and ToM networks appears to be an inherent and specific characteristic of their functional architecture.NEW & NOTEWORTHYHumans differ from nonhuman primates in their abilities to communicate linguistically and to infer others’ mental states. Although linguistic and social abilities appear to be interlinked onto- and phylogenetically, they are dissociated in the adult human brain. Yet successful communication requires language and social reasoning to work in concert. Using functional MRI, we show that language regions are synchronized with social regions during rest and language comprehension, pointing to a possible mechanism for internetwork interaction.