The impact of bilateral cerebellar damage on theory of mind, empathy and decision making

Gerschcovich, Eliana Roldan; Cerquetti, Daniel; Tenca, Eduardo; Leiguarda, R

doi:10.1080/13554791003730618

Cited by 42 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This fact is especially surprising given the large number of studies suggesting that this population displays impaired performance in other aspects of EF (Karatekin et al, 2000; Gottwald et al, 2004; Manes et al, 2009). One of the few studies which examined DM in patients with cerebellar damage was conducted by Gerschcovich et al (2011). These authors assessed a patient with extensive bilateral cerebellar damage, and found that this individual displayed impairments in the IGT, as he consistently selected cards from the disadvantageous decks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Abel et al (2007) found that patients with cerebellar degeneration performed similarly to controls in the IGT, in that they learned to avoid the disadvantageous decks as the task progressed. Nonetheless, it is important to note two important methodological differences between these two studies: one examined a group of individuals with cerebellar degeneration (Abel et al, 2007) while the other consisted of a case study of an individual with an acquired cerebellar lesion (Gerschcovich et al, 2011). These findings show that research into the role of the cerebellum in DM is still in its infancy, and there is little convergence in the results of the few studies conducted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spite of the valuable information produced by studies of the IGT in patients with lesions in different cerebral location, to the best of the authors' knowledge, only two studies so far have used the IGT to assess DM in patients with cerebellar damage (Abel et al, 2007; Gerschcovich et al, 2011). Although the results obtained by these two studies were inconclusive, studies with healthy participants support the idea of cerebellar involvement in the IGT, as neuroimaging studies by Ernst et al (2002) and Christakou et al (2009), for instance, detected cerebellar activation during IGT performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of frontal and cerebellar lesions on decision making: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

et al. 2014

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Although the frontal lobes have traditionally been considered the neural substrates of executive functioning (EF), recent studies have suggested that other structures, such as the cerebellum, may be associated with these abilities. The role of the cerebellum has only been sparsely investigated in connection with decision making (DM), an important component of EF, and the few results obtained on this front have been inconclusive. The current study sought to investigate the role of the cerebellum in DM by comparing the performance of patients with cerebellar strokes, frontal-damaged patients, and a healthy control group on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). A total of nine cerebellar-damaged adults participated in the study, as well as nine individuals with frontal strokes and 18 control individuals. Patients were administered a version of the IGT adapted to the population of Southern Brazil. There was a marginal difference in mean IGT net scores between the two clinical groups, although both displayed impaired performance as compared to the control group. Overall, the DM ability of patients with cerebellar damage proved to be more preserved than that of individuals with frontal lobe strokes, but less preserved than that of the control group. These data suggested that, while the frontal lobes may be the most important brain structures for DM, the cerebellum might also play an active role in this cognitive function. Future studies assessing participants with lesions in different cerebellar regions and hemispheres will prove invaluable for the understanding of the neural structures involved in DM, and make significant contributions to the globalist-localizationist debate in DM neuroscience.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of frontal and cerebellar lesions on decision making: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

et al. 2014

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“…In fact, after being confined only to motor planning and control for many years, the cerebellum is now considered to be involved in high-order cognitive functions (reasoning, language processing, working memory, ToM) due to its connections with the frontal lobes [89][90][91]. In particular, a malfunctioning of the frontal node of the ToM network was found in patients with progressive ataxia and cognitive dysfunction [92][93][94], as well as in patients with bilateral cerebellar lesions [95].…”

Section: F Baglio Et Al / Tom Decay In Amci: Fmri Studymentioning

confidence: 98%

Theory of Mind in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: An fMRI Study

Baglio

Castelli

Alberoni

et al. 2012

JAD

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Theory of Mind (ToM) undergoes changes at the behavioral level in pathological aging (Alzheimer's disease (AD)) and at the neural level in physiological aging. The aim was to determine if there are changes in ToM in the behavioral and neural domains in old subjects with high risk of switching from successful to unsuccessful neurocognitive aging. Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) syndrome were studied, since aMCI was proposed to fill the gap between normal aging and dementia. Sixteen aMCI patients (mean age 71 years) and fifteen healthy controls (mean age 67 years) with no differences in age or education were subjected to increasingly complex ToM tasks and to fMRI scanning while performing the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RME), which attributes mental states by focusing on eye-gaze. aMCI subjects had worse performances in two second order false belief tasks, confirming the decay of ToM on the behavioral level. Despite a minor activation of some components (posterior end of the superior temporal sulcus and temporal pole) of the ToM neural circuit, no significant differences in the behavioral performances to the RME was found in aMCI compared to controls. Probably the preservation of the mirror neuron system (precentral gyrus-BA 6; Broca area - BA 44) and the stronger involvement of frontal areas (middle and medial frontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) supplemented the decay of part of the mentalizing neural circuit, preserving task performance.

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“…Furthermore, absent late positive event-related potential on electroencephalography (EEG) during processing of emotional face expressions in patients with cerebellar stroke indicated the network for interpretation of emotional information may be altered after cerebellar damage (Adamaszek et al, 2015). A patient with massive bilateral ponto-cerebellar ischemia was impaired on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET), along with other ToM deficits (Roldan Gerschcovich et al, 2011). A larger scale study on 57 patients with various types of cerebellar damage (degeneration, hemorrhage, ischemia, and tumors; confined to the cerebellum in 26 patients) reported deficient performance on the RMET and impaired emotional regulation (Hoche et al, 2016).…”

Section: Socio-cognitive Deficits In Patients With Focal Cerebellar Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cerebellum in Social Cognition

Sokolov

2018

Front. Cell. Neurosci.

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The impact of bilateral cerebellar damage on theory of mind, empathy and decision making

Cited by 42 publications

References 29 publications

The impact of frontal and cerebellar lesions on decision making: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

The impact of frontal and cerebellar lesions on decision making: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

Theory of Mind in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: An fMRI Study

The Cerebellum in Social Cognition

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