Impairments of Theory of Mind disrupt patterns of brain activity

描述（由申请人提供）：人类不断地思考彼此的想法，例如，为了交流、教育、学习、合作、竞争和欺骗彼此。这种流畅地推断他人想法的能力在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者中受到损害，但这种损害的神经基础尚不清楚。特别是，ASD患者大脑中与思考他人想法有关的区域并不一定更小或更不活跃。该提案将测试以下可能性：(i)活动强度降低，（ii）活动模式紊乱，和/或（iii）这些大脑区域的连接改变，从而导致ASD患者的社交障碍。我们将测试这些关于成年ASD患者ToM区域功能的假设，在ToM的三个关键领域：理解他人与道德判断相关的想法（例如故意伤害与意外伤害），推断情绪，以及有效沟通。由于ASD是一种发育障碍，因此了解这些大脑区域的发育轨迹及其最终状态至关重要。因此，我们也将在5-12岁的儿童中测试这些假设。我们还将测试ToM脑区域的选择性或激活模式是否会随着发育而改变。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Humans think constantly about one another's thoughts, for example, in order to communicate, to teach, to learn from, to cooperate with, to compete with, and to deceive one another. This ability to fluently infer what others are thinking i impaired in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but the neural basis of this impairment is poorly understood. In particular, brain regions involved in thinking about other people's thoughts are not reliably smaller or less active in individuals with ASD. This proposal will test the possibilities that (i) reduced magnitude of activity, (ii) disorganization of the patern of activity, and/or (iii) altered connectivity of these brain regions that leads to social impairmets in ASD. We will test these hypotheses about the function of ToM regions in adults with ASD, in three key areas of ToM: understanding others' thoughts that are relevant for moral judgments (e.g. intentional vs. accidental harm), for inferring emotions, and for effective communication. Since ASD is a developmental disorder, it is critical to understand the developmental trajectory of these brain regions as well as their end state. Consequently, we will also test these hypotheses in children aged 5-12 years. We will also test whether the selectivity or pattern of activation in ToM brain regions changes over development.