Sex differences in the neural basis of false-belief and pragmatic language comprehension

Frank, Chiyoko Kobayashi; Baron‐Cohen, Simon; Ganzel, Barbara

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.09.041

Cited by 48 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…To date, only three neuroimaging studies have investigated neurofunctional gender-related differences in brain activation on different social cognitive tasks, with different outcomes164243. Veroude and colleagues16 used a social appraisals task where participants had to indicate whether different phrases described them (“self” condition) and their friend (“other” condition), or judged what their friend would think about them (“reflective” condition); in overall appraisal conditions, the bilateral TPJ was activated to a greater extent in males than in females, whereas no gender-related differences were observed in the mPFC.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These authors found that activation of the mPFC when playing against a human was larger for males compared with females. More recently, Frank and colleagues42 investigated gender-related differences in ToM, using ToM stories with a second-order false-belief task, compared to (a) stories requiring only pragmatic reasoning but no ToM, and (b) unlinked sentences (control condition) not requiring ToM or pragmatic reasoning. Comparing ToM stories with control condition these authors found greater activation of the left mPFC and the left TPJ, and greater deactivation of the bilateral ventromedial PFC in females than males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex

Adenzato

Brambilla

Manenti

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

104

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Gender differences in social cognition are a long discussed issue, in particular those concerning Theory of Mind (ToM), i.e., the ability to explain and predict other people’s mental states. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to test the hypothesis that anodal tDCS over the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) selectively enhances cognitive ToM performance in females. In the first experiment we administered to sixteen females and sixteen males a cognitive ToM task during anodal or placebo tDCS over the mPFC. In the second experiment further sixteen females completed the task receiving anodal or placebo tDCS over the vertex. The results showed that anodal tDCS over the mPFC enhances ToM in females but not in males, an effect indicated by enhanced ToM in females that received anodal tDCS over the mPFC compared with females that received tDCS over the vertex. These findings are relevant for three reasons. First, we found evidence of gender-related differences in cognitive ToM, extending previous findings concerning affective ToM. Second, these differences emerge with anodal stimulation of the mPFC, confirming the crucial role of this area in cognitive ToM. Third, we show that taking into account gender-related differences is mandatory for the investigation of ToM.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex

Adenzato

Brambilla

Manenti

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

104

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“…Indeed, several previous studies have suggested sex differences in mind reading abilities as well as empathy (Adenzato et al, 2017;Frank, Baron-Cohen, & Ganzel, 2015;Krach et al, 2009;Schulte-Rüther, Markowitsch, Shah, Fink, & Piefke, 2008;Singer & Lamm, 2009 to be involved in other rather than self-orientation (Bischoff et al, 2012;Eddy, 2016), sexual arousal (Ponseti et al, 2006), and emotional salience (Gerber et al, 2008;Phan et al, 2003). Indeed, several previous studies have suggested sex differences in mind reading abilities as well as empathy (Adenzato et al, 2017;Frank, Baron-Cohen, & Ganzel, 2015;Krach et al, 2009;Schulte-Rüther, Markowitsch, Shah, Fink, & Piefke, 2008;Singer & Lamm, 2009 to be involved in other rather than self-orientation (Bischoff et al, 2012;Eddy, 2016), sexual arousal (Ponseti et al, 2006), and emotional salience (Gerber et al, 2008;Phan et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in own and other body perception

Burke

Majid

Manzouri

et al. 2018

Human Brain Mapping

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Own body perception, and differentiating and comparing one's body to another person's body, are common cognitive functions that have relevance for self‐identity and social interactions. In several psychiatric conditions, including anorexia nervosa, body dysmorphic disorder, gender dysphoria, and autism spectrum disorder, self and own body perception, as well as aspects of social communication are disturbed. Despite most of these conditions having skewed prevalence sex ratios, little is known about whether the neural basis of own body perception differs between the sexes. We addressed this question by investigating brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a Body Perception task in 15 male and 15 female healthy participants. Participants viewed their own body, bodies of same‐sex, or opposite‐sex other people, and rated the degree that they appeared like themselves. We found that men and women did not differ in the pattern of brain activation during own body perception compared to a scrambled control image. However, when viewing images of other bodies of same‐sex or opposite‐sex, men showed significantly stronger activations in attention‐related and reward‐related brain regions, whereas women engaged stronger activations in striatal, medial‐prefrontal, and insular cortices, when viewing the own body compared to other images of the opposite sex. It is possible that other body images, particularly of the opposite sex, may be of greater salience for men, whereas images of own bodies may be more salient for women. These observations provide tentative neurobiological correlates to why women may be more vulnerable than men to conditions involving own body perception.

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“…On this account, any potential gap in ToM abilities between children with SLI may be assumed to widen with age and age was therefore analyzed as a moderator of the differences between the two groups. Emerging research points to gender differences in ToM including different brain activity patterns during ToM reasoning (Frank, Baron-Cohen, & Ganzel, 2015) and different performance profiles on ToM tests with some tests favoring females (e.g., Calero, Salles, Semelman, & Sigman, 2013) and others males (e.g., Russell, Tchanturia, Rahman, & Schmidt, 2007). In consideration of such findings, as well as the higher prevalence of SLI in boys than girls (Tomblin et al, 1997), the role of gender was investigated in a second moderator analysis.…”

Section: Language Impairment and Tommentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory of Mind in Children With Specific Language Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Nilsson

López

2015

Child Development

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The relation between language and theory of mind (ToM) has been debated for more than two decades. In a similar vein, ToM has been examined in children with specific language impairment (SLI), albeit with inconsistent results. This meta-analysis of 17 studies with 745 children between the ages of 4 and 12 found that children with SLI had substantially lower ToM performance compared to age-matched typically developing children (d = .98). This effect size was not moderated by age and gender. By revealing that children with SLI have ToM impairments, this finding emphasizes the need for further investigation into the developmental interface between language and ToM as well as the extended consequences of atypical language development.

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Sex differences in the neural basis of false-belief and pragmatic language comprehension

Cited by 48 publications

References 100 publications

Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex

Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex

Sex differences in own and other body perception

Theory of Mind in Children With Specific Language Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

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