Differential responses of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and right posterior superior temporal sulcus to spontaneous mentalizing

Abstract

Previous research suggests a role of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) in metacognitive representation of social information, while the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) has been linked to social perception. This study targeted these functional roles in the context of spontaneous mentalizing. An animated shapes task was presented to 46 subjects during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Stimuli consisted of video clips depicting animated shapes whose movement patterns prompt spontaneous mentalizing or simple intention attribution. Based on their differential response during spontaneous mentalizing, both regions were characterized with respect to their task-dependent connectivity profiles and their associations with autistic traits. Functional network analyses revealed highly localized coupling of the right pSTS with visual areas in the lateral occipital cortex, while the dmPFC showed extensive coupling with instances of large-scale control networks and temporal areas including the right pSTS. Autistic traits were related to mentalizing-specific activation of the dmPFC and to the strength of connectivity between the dmPFC and posterior temporal regions. These results are in good agreement with the hypothesized roles of the dmPFC and right pSTS for metacognitive representation and perception-based processing of social information, respectively, and further inform their implication in social behavior linked to autism. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3791-3803, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

No evidence for differences in contrast of the grey-white matter boundary in Autism Spectrum Disorders: An open replication

“…Atypical gaze analysis also seems to be related to activation differences observed in functional MRI at the level of the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), as well as the right anterior insula and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Pitskel et al 2011). At the same time, when analysing scenes involving animated geometric shapes whose movements evoke intentions and social interactions, the functional network analyses revealed a strong coupling between the visual areas of the lateral occipital cortex and the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) (Moessnang et al 2017). In addition to primary sensory and motor regions, we also observed an increase in GWPC in parts of STS and TPJ.…”

Social brain activation during mentalizing in a large autism cohort: the Longitudinal European Autism Project

“…Increasing values of the parametric modulator (i.e., 1, 2, and 3) coded for increasing mentalizing demands in random, goal-directed, and ToM conditions, respectively. This approach deviates from previous ASD studies where the ToM condition was compared to the low-level baseline condition (i.e., random movement) while ignoring the goal-directed condition [7,12,13,28,29,45,46]. The current approach comes with the advantage that it draws on all available data, thereby maximizing statistical power and aligning with the assumption of a gradual increase of mentalizing demands across conditions [26].…”

“…The animated shapes task was chosen as one of four neurocognitive paradigms in this large study, given the promising findings in earlier reports that suggest high construct validity for on-line mentalizing deficits in ASD [7,26,27], and due to its good applicability across age ranges and intellectual abilities. Here, we used an adapted version of the task [27] that was recently shown to have reproducible effects on functional activation [28] and to be sensitive for autism-related traits [29]. Functional responses were comprehensively assessed as changes in brain activation and related to age and clinical status.…”

Neural Processing and Production of Gesture in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Additionally, in conjunction with the AON, it forms a core circuit for imitation (Iacoboni and Dapretto, 2006;Molenberghs et al, 2010). It supports processing of complex social information and is especially critical for processing of goal-directed actions such as gestures (Allison et al, 2000;Villarreal et al, 2008;Arfeller et al, 2013;Moessnang et al, 2017). Abnormalities in this region have been implicated in ASD: neuroimaging studies provide evidence of atypical patterns of activity during tasks involving social cognition, including those involving BM, as well as abnormal structural integrity (Zilbovicius et al, 2006;Pelphrey and Carter, 2008;Williams, 2008;Kaiser et al, 2010;Patriquin et al, 2016).…”