A possible brain network for representation of cooperative behavior and its implications for the psychopathology of schizophrenia.

It has been shown that social deficits contribute to psychopathology in schizophrenia, such as the bleulerian autism. A possible dysfunction in the mirror neuron system may be the reason for these deficits in the disorder. We wanted to better characterize the neural networks involved in the perception of social behavior. Fifteen healthy participants were presented with video clips of 8 seconds' duration depicting either (1) one actor manipulating an object, (2) two actors with only one manipulating an object or (3) two actors cooperating in manipulating an object and 2 other control conditions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired during watching these videos. We found the perception of social cooperation is supported by a neural network comprising the precuneus, the temporoparietal junction (supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, BA 39/40), the middle temporal gyrus (including superior temporal sulcus) and frontal regions (medial frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus). These areas form a complex network also being activated during theory of mind and cooperative behavior tasks. Its nodes overlap with those of the mirror neuron system. Consequently, both theory of mind abilities and mirror mechanisms are relevant in the perception and understanding of social cooperative behavior. We outline the consequences of these results for a further understanding of schizophrenic psychopathology with respect to social deficits and ego disturbances.

Online mentalising investigated with functional MRI.

For successful interpersonal communication, inferring intentions, goals or desires of others is highly advantageous. Increasingly, humans also interact with computers or robots. In this study, we sought to determine to what degree an interactive task, which involves receiving feedback from social partners that can be used to infer intent, engaged the medial prefrontal cortex, a region previously associated with Theory of Mind processes among others. Participants were scanned using fMRI as they played an adapted version of the Prisoner's Dilemma Game with alleged human and computer partners who were outside the scanner. The medial frontal cortex was activated when both human and computer partner were played, while the direct contrast revealed significantly stronger signal change during the human-human interaction. The results suggest a link between activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and the partner played in a mentalising task. This signal change was also present for to the computers partner. Implying agency or a will to non-human actors might be an innate human resource that could lead to an evolutionary advantage.

Are women better mindreaders? Sex differences in neural correlates of mentalizing detected with functional MRI.

BACKGROUND: The ability to mentalize, i.e. develop a Theory of Mind (ToM), enables us to anticipate and build a model of the thoughts, emotions and intentions of others. It has long been hypothesised that women differ from men in their mentalizing abilities. In the present fMRI study we examined the impact of (1) gender (women vs. men) and (2) game partner (human vs. computer) on ToM associated neural activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Groups of men (n = 12) and women (n = 12) interacted in an iterated classical prisoner's dilemma forced choice situation with alleged human and computer partners who were outside the scanner. RESULTS: Both the conditions of playing against putative human as well as computer partners led to activity increases in mPFC, ACC and rTPJ, constituting the classic ToM network. However, mPFC/ACC activity was more pronounced when participants believed they were playing against the alleged human partner. Differences in the medial frontal lobe activation related to the sex of the participants could be demonstrated for the human partner > computer partner contrast. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrate differences in medial prefrontal brain activation during a ToM task depending on both the gender of participants and the game partner.