Impairments of Theory of Mind disrupt patterns of brain activity

描述(由申请者提供)：人类不断地思考彼此的想法，例如，为了交流、教导、学习、合作、竞争和欺骗。这种流利地推断他人想法的能力损害了自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)患者的能力，但这种损害的神经基础尚不清楚。特别是，在患有自闭症的人中，涉及思考他人想法的大脑区域并不可靠地更小或更不活跃。这项提议将测试(I)活动强度降低，(Ii)活动模式的混乱，和/或(Iii)这些大脑区域的连接改变，从而导致自闭症社会障碍的可能性。我们将在成人自闭症患者的TOM区域的三个关键区域测试这些假说：理解与道德判断相关的他人想法(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，了解这些脑区的发育轨迹以及它们的结束状态是至关重要的。因此，我们还将在5-12岁的儿童中测试这些假设。我们还将测试Tom大脑区域的选择性或激活模式是否会随着发育而变化。

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.