Brain mechanisms of visuospatial perspective-taking in relation to object mental rotation and the theory of mind

Gunia, Anna; Moraresku, Sofiia; Vlček, Kamil

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113247

Cited by 22 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 128 publications

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“…We present a novel paradigm, the "Seeing-Believing Task", designed specifically to investigate differences between cognitive processes that allow us to infer another's belief states and their visual perspective of the world. This is a crucial question in ToM research (Gunia et al, 2021;Hamilton et al, 2009;Schurz et al, 2013), insights into which would afford a more precise neurocognitive categorisation of the processing mechanisms involved. Previously, research has focused on false belief (FB) rather than true belief (TB) reasoning (Baron-Cohen et al, 1985) because a more complex understanding of another's mental representation is required when their belief is known to the observer to be false (Apperly et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This allowed us to compare TB and VPT-2 directly and without egocentric confound. Two alternative hypotheses were contrasted: First, in light of strong correlations between independent performance indices of ToM and VPT-2 (e.g., Hamilton et al, 2009) and a degree of overlap in their associated neural substrates (e.g., Gunia et al, 2021;Schurz et al, 2013), it might be expected that representing another's TB is identical to processing their visual perspective. If so, TB and VPT-2 judgements should take the same time and be equally accurate.…”

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dissociating visual perspective taking and belief reasoning using a novel integrated paradigm: A preregistered online study

Green¹,

Shaw²,

Kessler³

2022

Preprint

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There is conceptual overlap between Level 2 Visual Perspective Taking (VPT-2) and Belief Reasoning; both cognitive processes involve representing another’s viewpoint and experience of reality while inhibiting one’s own egocentric representations. In a series of three pre-registered online experiments, we used a novel paradigm to directly compare VPT-2 and true-belief (TB) reasoning in the general adult population. Although VPT-2 and TB judgements required identical responses (the underlying state of reality was the same), TBs were associated consistently with slower response times. This indicates that VPT-2 and TB reasoning are, at least partly, psychologically distinct processes. Further, our results suggest that the greater cognitive effort for TBs is unlikely to be explained by differences in mnemonic processing (Experiment 2). Instead, the observed effects are likely to reflect differences in social processing – we suggest that TB requires a more complex representation of another’s mental states than VPT-2.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Current Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dissociating visual perspective taking and belief reasoning using a novel integrated paradigm: A preregistered online study

Green¹,

Shaw²,

Kessler³

2022

Preprint

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“…There are some suggestions for a possible relationship between the body schema and ToM. For example, Gunia and colleagues [ 23 ] have recently summarized findings suggesting that visuospatial perspective-taking, a process strictly related to ToM (see [ 24 ]), engages brain areas coding for the body schema, implying a possible relationship between these constructs. The possible relationship between ToM and the body schema is also evident through the second reading of behavioral studies that have used mental rotation tasks with bodily stimuli (i.e., tasks that are classically used as measures to evaluate the body schema) in healthy adults [ 25 ] and children [ 26 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Embodiment of Social Cognition Skills: The Inner and Outer Body Processing Differently Contributes to the Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind

et al. 2022

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A specific interpretation of embodiment assigns a central role to the body representations (BR) in cognition. In the social cognition domain, BR could be pivotal in representing others’ actions and states. However, empirical evidence on the relationship between different BR and social cognition, in terms of Theory of Mind (ToM), in the same sample of participants is missing. Here, this relationship was explored considering individual differences in the action-oriented BR (aBR), nonaction-oriented BR (NaBR), and subjective predisposition toward internal bodily sensations (interoceptive sensibility, ISe). Eighty-two healthy adults were given behavioral measures probing aBR, NaBR, ISe, and affective/cognitive ToM. The results suggest that NaBR, which mainly relies on exteroceptive signals, predicts individual differences in cognitive ToM, possibly because it can allow differentiating between the self and others. Instead, the negative association between affective ToM and ISe suggests that an alteration of the internal body state representation (i.e., over-reporting interoceptive sensations) can affect emotional processing in social contexts. The finding that distinct aspects of the body processing from within (ISe) and from the outside (NaBR) differently contribute to ToM provides empirical support to the BR role in social cognition and can be relevant for developing interventions in clinical settings.

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“…Visual perspective taking (VPT) is the ability to understand how the world looks to others and has two different levels. Level 1 VPT (VPT1), also called perspective tracking (Gunia et al, 2021), is the ability to determine if another person can see an object, whereas level 2 VPT (VPT2) is the ability to understand that others have different views of an object than one’s own (Flavell, 1977). Previous studies have indicated that VPT1 and VPT2 are distinct cognitive processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many neuroimaging studies have consistently shown TPJ activations during the processes of VPT (Aichhorn et al, 2006; Corradi-Dell’Acqua et al, 2008; Schurz et al, 2015; Agarwal et al, 2017) and ToM (Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003; Otsuka et al, 2009; Dodell-Feder et al, 2011; Schurz et al, 2014; Kanske et al, 2015). Some meta-analyses have also shown that VPT and ToM cause TPJ activation (Schurz et al, 2013; Gunia et al, 2021). However, another study found no overlap activation between VTP and the different types of ToM tasks (Arora et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity of social cognition in temporo-parietal junction: Overlapping yet distinct representation between visual perspective-taking and theory of mind

Ogawa

Matsuyama

2022

Preprint

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Visual perspective taking (VPT), particularly level 2 VPT (VPT2), which allows an individual to understand that the same object can be seen differently by others, is related to the theory of mind (ToM), because both functions require a decoupled representation from oneself. Although previous neuroimaging studies have shown that VPT and ToM activate the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), it is unclear whether common neural substrates are involved in VPT and ToM. To clarify this point, the present study directly compared the TPJ activation patterns of individual participants performing VPT2 and ToM tasks using functional magnetic resonance imaging and within-subjects design. VPT2-induced activations were compared with activations observed during a mental rotation task as a control task, whereas ToM-related activities were identified with a standard ToM localizer using false-belief stories. A whole-brain analysis revealed that VPT2 and ToM activated overlapping areas in the posterior part of the TPJ. By comparing the activations induced by VPT2 and ToM in individual participants, we found that the peak voxels induced by ToM were located significantly more anteriorly and dorsally within the bilateral TPJ than those measured during the VPT2 task. We further confirmed that these activity areas were spatially distinct from the nearby extrastriate body area (EBA), visual motion area (MT+), and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) using independent localizer scans. Our findings revealed that VPT2 and ToM have distinct representations, albeit partially overlapping, indicating the functional heterogeneity of social cognition within the TPJ.

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Brain mechanisms of visuospatial perspective-taking in relation to object mental rotation and the theory of mind

Cited by 22 publications

References 128 publications

Dissociating visual perspective taking and belief reasoning using a novel integrated paradigm: A preregistered online study

Dissociating visual perspective taking and belief reasoning using a novel integrated paradigm: A preregistered online study

On the Embodiment of Social Cognition Skills: The Inner and Outer Body Processing Differently Contributes to the Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind

Heterogeneity of social cognition in temporo-parietal junction: Overlapping yet distinct representation between visual perspective-taking and theory of mind

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