Growing up blind does not change the neural bases of Theory of Mind

Abstract

Humans reason about the mental states of others; this capacity is called Theory of Mind (ToM). In typically developing adults, ToM is supported by a consistent group of brain regions: the bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), precuneus (PC), and anterior temporal sulci (aSTS). How experience and intrinsic biological factors interact to produce this adult functional profile is not known. In the current study we investigate the role of visual experience in the development of the ToM network by studying congenitally blind adults. In experiment 1, participants listened to stories and answered true/false questions about them. The stories were either about mental or physical representations of reality (e.g., photographs). In experiment 2, participants listened to stories about people's beliefs based on seeing or hearing; people's bodily sensations (e.g., hunger); and control stories without people. Participants judged whether each story had positive or negative valance. We find that ToM brain regions of sighted and congenitally blind adults are similarly localized and functionally specific. In congenitally blind adults, reasoning about mental states leads to activity in bilateral TPJ, MPFC, PC, and aSTS. These brain regions responded more to passages about beliefs than passages about nonbelief representations or passages about bodily sensations. Reasoning about mental states that are based on seeing is furthermore similar in congenitally blind and sighted individuals. Despite their different developmental experience, congenitally blind adults have a typical ToM network. We conclude that the development of neural mechanisms for ToM depends on innate factors and on experiences represented at an abstract level, amodally.

Modulation of the face- and body-selective visual regions by the motion and emotion of point-light face and body stimuli

“…These analyses were performed in a similar fashion to the voxelwise correlation analyses used in several previous studies (Bedny et al, 2009;Berman et al, 2010;Downing et al, 2007;Peelen et al, 2007;Peelen et al, 2006). To be unbiased with respect to the voxels selected for these correlation analyses, we selected, for each participant and ROI, all voxels in the relevant cortical regions (e.g., right fusiform) within a 12 × 12 × 12 mm cube centred on the peak voxel used to define the functional ROI from the localizer tasks (described above).…”

Guilt-Specific Processing in the Prefrontal Cortex

“…These shared regions included the left TPJ/angular gyrus and anterior STS, that is, 2 critical components of the ToM network (Gallagher and Frith 2003;Saxe 2006;Bedny et al 2009), as well as the retrosplenial cortex/PCC and lingual gyrus, generally involved in emotional memory retrieval and mental imagery (Maddock 1999;Maratos et al 2001;Vann et al 2009;Burianova et al 2010). In addition, when specifically compared with shame, activation by guilt was found to overlap with 2 areas that were selective for other-related processing, namely, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/anterior superior frontal gyrus and the right amygdala, a brain structure implicated in a variety of processes of emotional and social evaluation (Adolphs et al 1998;LeDoux 2000;Zald 2003).…”

Theory of Mind and Neurodevelopmental Disorders of Childhood

“…Congenital blindness prevents a myriad of opportunities for infants to follow other people's lines of gaze, to perceive the objects of their feelings and attitudes, and the directedness of their actions and attitudes, and to grasp alternative meanings in reality and play, and this leads to severe limitations in psychological perspective-taking and social referencing (92). However, it should be noted that absence of visual learning in the infant and child does not change the neural mechanisms for ToM in adulthood (93).…”