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

Abstract

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.

Retrospective Analysis of Anesthesia in Geriatric Patients During Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography Abstract

“…The aMCI group was also compared with healthy controls in terms of ToM functions by using brain imaging methods, and it was concluded that activation of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) in the right hemisphere, which is related to affective ToM, is lower in aMCI patients than in healthy controls. Researchers have indicated that the decrease in STS activation in aMCI patients is an early neural finding of the deterioration of affective ToM functions that will develop in the future (24). According to the results of this study, the Eyes Test performance of aMCI patients was significantly lower than that of healthy controls, which disagrees with the aforementioned study.…”

“…The aMCI group scored lower than the control group on the Hinting Test. While ToM functions are typically impaired with increasing age, several studies have indicated that particularly second-tier ToM functions are deteriorated in aMCI patients, posing a risk for AD development (24). For this reason, as the deterioration of ToM functions in aMCI patients could be observed in clinical presentation, it is important that this deterioration has the potential to identify patients who will develop AD.…”

Alteration of affective Theory of Mind in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

“…Summarizing the clinical characteristics of individuals diagnosed as aMCI, it could be suggested that (1) aMCI subjects are at high risk of developing AD; (2) aMCI subjects present mild temporal atrophy and less severe signs of early prefrontal degeneration; (3) aMCI subjects may have difficulties in cognitive tasks that activate the medial PFC portions. Therefore, although a very recent study (Baglio et al ., ) reported a preserved RME performance of aMCI patients, we hypothesize that aMCI subjects could present at least sub‐clinical difficulties in tasks of affective ToM in comparison with age‐matched HC. The current exploratory study aimed at testing this hypothesis on affective ToM in aMCI, administering the RME and a neuropsychological battery to 20 aMCI individuals and to 20 age‐matched HC.…”

Fairness Norms and Theory of Mind in an Ultimatum Game: Judgments, Offers, and Decisions in School-Aged Children

“…The theory of mind has been called the “ability among abilities”, as it is not simply an independent competence used in specific and restricted contexts (for example, the false belief task), but it is one of the most important cognitive skills used in social and strategic reasoning [10]–[12]. This fact is particularly evident in studies that explore theory of mind development in a life-span perspective [13] and in age-related clinical conditions [14], [15].…”