Task-specific activity and connectivity within the mentalizing network during emotion and intention mentalizing
Task-specific activity and connectivity within the mentalizing network during emotion and intention mentalizing
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.12.036
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发表时间：
2011-04-15
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Anders, Silke
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Atique, Bijoy;Erb, Michael;Anders, Silke
意念化，即推断他人心理状态的过程，被认为主要由三个大脑区域辅助，即VMPFC(腹内侧额前皮质)、前楔叶和TPJ(临时顶叶交界处)。然而，目前还不清楚这些区域在精神化中的确切作用是什么。在这里，我们比较了在两个不同的意志化任务中，VMPFC、楔前核和TPJ内的活动以及它们之间的功能连接。具体地说，我们考察了推断另一个人的情绪(“情绪脑化”)和推断另一个人的意图(“意向脑化”)是否激活了VMPFC、楔前核和TPJ内相似或不同的亚区，以及这些不同类型的脑化是否与这些区域之间不同的功能连接模式有关。我们的研究结果表明，情绪心理和意图心理激活了左右两侧TPJ的部分不同亚区，这些亚区可以在不同的被试之间在空间上分离。这些亚区与VMPFC的功能连接也表现出不同的模式：在情绪心脑化过程中激活更强烈的左右顶叶交界处的较前部区域，显示出与VMPFC的功能连接性更强，特别是在情绪心理化时，比在意图心脑化过程中激活更强烈的后部区域更强。关键的是，这种双重解离只有在分析激活区域内活动的细微分布时才明显，尽管在两项任务期间活动也有显著重叠。我们的发现提供了第一个证据，表明不同的神经模块可能在TPJ内进化，显示出不同的功能连接模式，并可能从属于略有不同的心理化亚功能。(C)2010 Elsevier Inc.保留所有权利。
Mentalizing, i.e. the process of inferring another person's mental state, is thought to be primarily subserved by three brain regions, the VMPFC (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), precuneus and TPJ (temporo-parietal junction). However, it is still unclear what the exact roles of these regions in mentalizing are. Here, we compare activity within, and functional connectivity between, the VMPFC, precuneus and TPJ during two different mentalizing tasks. Specifically, we examine whether inferring another person's emotion ("emotion mentalizing") and inferring another person's intention ("intention mentalizing") activate similar or distinct subregions within the VMPFC, precuneus and TPJ, and whether these different kinds of mentalizing are associated with different patterns of functional connectivity between these regions. Our results indicate that emotion mentalizing and intention mentalizing activate partly distinct subregions of the right and left TPJ that can be spatially separated across participants. These subregions also showed different patterns of functional connectivity with the VMPFC: a more anterior region of the right and left TPJ, which was more strongly activated during emotion mentalizing, showed stronger functional connectivity with the VMPFC, particularly during emotion mentalizing, than a more posterior region that was more strongly activated during intention mentalizing. Critically, this double dissociation became evident only when the fine-scale distribution of activity within activated regions was analysed, and despite the fact that there was also a significant overlap of activity during the two tasks. Our findings provide first evidence that different neural modules might have evolved within the TPJ that show distinct patterns of functional connectivity and might subserve slightly different subfunctions of mentalizing. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.