Balgova, Eva, Diveica, Veronica, Jackson, Rebecca Louise et al. (1 more author) (2024) Overlapping Neural Correlates Underpin Theory of Mind and Semantic Cognition:Evidence from a Meta-Analysis of 344 Functional Neuroimaging Studies. Neuropsychologia. 108904. ISSN 0028-3932
Abstract
Key unanswered questions for cognitive neuroscience include whether social cognition is underpinned by specialised brain regions and to what extent it simultaneously depends on more domain-general systems. Until we glean a better understanding of the full set of contributions made by various systems, theories of social cognition will remain fundamentally limited. In the present study, we evaluate a recent proposal that semantic cognition plays a crucial role in supporting social cognition. While previous brain-based investigations have focused on dissociating these two systems, our primary aim was to assess the degree to which the neural correlates are overlapping, particularly within two key regions, the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) and the temporoparietal junction (TPJ). We focus on activation associated with theory of mind (ToM) and adopt a meta-analytic activation likelihood approach to synthesise a large set of functional neuroimaging studies and compare their results with studies of semantic cognition. As a key consideration, we sought to account for methodological differences across the two sets of studies, including the fact that ToM studies tend to use nonverbal stimuli while the semantics literature is dominated by language-based tasks. Overall, we observed consistent overlap between the two sets of brain regions, especially in the ATL and TPJ. This supports the claim that tasks involving ToM draw upon more general semantic retrieval processes. We also identified activation specific to ToM in the right TPJ, bilateral anterior mPFC, and right precuneus. This is consistent with the view that, nested amongst more domain-general systems, there is specialised circuitry that is tuned to social processes.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 08 May 2024 13:00 |
Last Modified: | 19 Mar 2025 00:12 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.10... |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108904 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:212361 |
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Description: Overlapping neural correlates underpin theory of mind and semantic cognition: Evidence from a meta-analysis of 344 functional neuroimaging studies
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