The DOI matches its Crossref record; 64 of the 65 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Task-specific activity and connectivity within the mentalizing network during emotion and intention mentalizing
Abstract
Mentalizing, i.e. the process of inferring another person's mental state, is thought to be primarily subserved by three brain regions, the VMPFC (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), precuneus and TPJ (temporo-parietal junction). However, it is still unclear what the exact roles of these regions in mentalizing are. Here, we compare activity within, and functional connectivity between, the VMPFC, precuneus and TPJ during two different mentalizing tasks. Specifically, we examine whether inferring another person's emotion ("emotion mentalizing") and inferring another person's intention ("intention mentalizing") activate similar or distinct subregions within the VMPFC, precuneus and TPJ, and whether these different kinds of mentalizing are associated with different patterns of functional connectivity between these regions. Our results indicate that emotion mentalizing and intention mentalizing activate partly distinct subregions of the right and left TPJ that can be spatially separated across participants. These subregions also showed different patterns of functional connectivity with the VMPFC: a more anterior region of the right and left TPJ, which was more strongly activated during emotion mentalizing, showed stronger functional connectivity with the VMPFC, particularly during emotion mentalizing, than a more posterior region that was more strongly activated during intention mentalizing. Critically, this double dissociation became evident only when the fine-scale distribution of activity within activated regions was analysed, and despite the fact that there was also a significant overlap of activity during the two tasks. Our findings provide first evidence that different neural modules might have evolved within the TPJ that show distinct patterns of functional connectivity and might subserve slightly different subfunctions of mentalizing.
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“For instance, the right MTG and the two sections of the right precuneus that correlated with dialogic inner speech reports have previously been implicated in theory-of-mind (Atique et al., 2011; Brüne et al., 2011).”
From The brain's conversation with itself: neural substrates of dialogic inner speech (2016) · cites this paper as Atique et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“For example, the middle occipital gyrus has been implicated in mentalizing or inferring the emotions of others (Atique et al., 2011; Schurz et al., 2014)”
From Changes in functional connectivity following treatment with emotion regulation therapy (2019) · cites this paper as Atique et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“Finally, rsFC changes in the middle occipital gyrus, implicated with both attention (Benedek et al., 2016) and metacognition (Atique et al., 2011; Schurz et al., 2014) were similarly correlated with ERT-linked gains in attention, decentering, and reappraisal.”
From Changes in functional connectivity following treatment with emotion regulation therapy (2019) · cites this paper as Atique et al., 2011
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Metadata
- Authors
- Atique, B., Erb, M., Gharabaghi, A., Grodd, W., & Anders, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Anders, Silke
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-04
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1899-1911
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2140619570
- Cited by
- 116
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 5.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- RWTH Publications (RWTH Aachen) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AN 755/2-1)
- Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01GW0752)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Keywords
- mentalization, mental state inference, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, temporoparietal junction, functional connectivity, double dissociation, neural modules
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cognition, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Nerve Net, Parietal Lobe, Task Performance and Analysis, Temporal Lobe, Intention, Young Adult
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