The neural network for the mirror system and mentalizing in normally developed children: an fMRI study
Abstract
We performed fMRI measurements in normal children to clarify which cortical areas are commonly involved in the mirror system (MS) and mentalizing, which areas are specific for mentalizing, and whether children have the same neural networks for MS and mentalizing as adults. Normal children had the same neural networks for the MS and mentalizing as adults. Common activations were found in the superior temporal sulcus and the fusiform gyri, whereas mentalizing specific activation was found in the medial prefrontal, temporal pole and the inferior parietal cortices. We suggest that mentalizing might evolve from a capacity to detect the motion of agents and to infer intentions. Further, mentalizing might require self-perspectives.
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Animations of human-like movements create greater activity in the TPJ than goal-directed hand manipulations of an object.
“It is interesting to note that these animations are so compelling that they create greater activity in the TPJ than goal-directed hand manipulations of an object (cup, hammer, telephone etc. Ohnishi et al., 2004).”
From Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis (2009) · cites this paper as Ohnishi et al., 2004
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Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 · Cited by 8,599 · cited 2× · see citing works
“This is referred to as a theory of mind, or mentalizing [1].”
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Friston, K. J., Holmes, A. P., & Worsley, K. J. (1999) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.1999.0439 · Cited by 814 · cited 1× · see citing works
“To account for inter-individual variance, all group analyses were computed using a random-effects model [12].”
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Spreng, R. N., Mar, R. A., & Kim, A. S. N. (2009) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/jocn.2008.21029 · Cited by 2,143 · see citing works
Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis
Van Overwalle, F. (2009) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.20547 · Cited by 1,792 · see citing works
The Enigmatic temporal pole: a review of findings on social and emotional processing
Olson, I. R., Plotzker, A., & Ezzyat, Y. (2007) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/awm052 · Cited by 1,370 · see citing works
Understanding others' actions and goals by mirror and mentalizing systems: a meta-analysis
Van Overwalle, F., & Baetens, K. (2009) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.06.009 · Cited by 1,329 · see citing works
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The Neural Bases of Social Cognition and Story Comprehension
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Interactive Specialization: A domain-general framework for human functional brain development?
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Self-projection and the default network in frontotemporal dementia
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- Authors
- Ohnishi, T., Moriguchi, Y., Matsuda, H., Mori, T., Hirakata, M., Imabayashi, E., Hirao, K., Nemoto, K., Kaga, M., Inagaki, M., Yamada, M., & Uno, A.
- Affiliations
- National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (JP)
- ORCID
- Venue
- NeuroReport
- Published
- 2004-06-28
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1483-1487
- ISSN
- 0959-4965 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1996047860
- Cited by
- 114
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 6.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroreport (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- 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
- mirror system, mentalization, theory of mind, children, artificial neural networks, superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, medial prefrontal cortex, temporal pole, inferior parietal cortex, intention inference, self-perspective
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Child, Dominance, Cerebral, Female, Humans, Imagination, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Occipital Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Social Behavior, Prefrontal Cortex
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