Schuwerk Tobias, Schurz Matthias, Müller Fabian, Rupprecht Rainer, Sommer Monika
Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Leopoldstr. 13, Munich 80802, Germany.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstr. 84, Regensburg 93053, Germany.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2017 Jan 1;12(1):157-168. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsw163.
Cortical networks underpinning attentional control and mentalizing converge at the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ). It is debated whether the rTPJ is fractionated in neighboring, but separate functional modules underpinning attentional control and mentalizing, or whether one overarching cognitive mechanism explains the rTPJ's role in both domains. Addressing this question, we combined attentional control and mentalizing in a factorial design within one task. We added a social context condition, in which another individual's mental states became apparently task-relevant, to a spatial cueing paradigm. This allowed for assessing cue validity- and context-dependent functional activity and effective connectivity of the rTPJ within corresponding cortical networks. We found two discriminable rTPJ subregions, an anterior and a posterior one. Yet, we did not observe a sharp functional dissociation between these two, as both regions responded to attention cueing and social context manipulation. The results suggest that the rTPJ is part of both the ventral attention and the ToM network and that its function is defined by context-dependent coupling with the respective network. We argue that the rTPJ as a functional unit underpins an overarching cognitive mechanism in attentional control and mentalizing and discuss how the present results help to further specify this mechanism.
支持注意力控制和心理理论的皮质网络在右侧颞顶联合区（rTPJ）汇聚。目前存在争议的是，rTPJ是否被划分为相邻但独立的功能模块，分别支持注意力控制和心理理论，或者是否有一种总体认知机制可以解释rTPJ在这两个领域中的作用。为了解决这个问题，我们在一个任务中采用析因设计，将注意力控制和心理理论结合起来。我们在空间线索范式中增加了一种社会情境条件，即另一个人的心理状态显然与任务相关。这使得我们能够评估rTPJ在相应皮质网络中与线索有效性和情境相关的功能活动及有效连接性。我们发现了两个可区分的rTPJ子区域，一个在前部，一个在后部。然而，我们并未观察到这两个区域之间存在明显的功能分离，因为两个区域都对注意力线索和社会情境操纵有反应。结果表明，rTPJ是腹侧注意力网络和心理理论网络的一部分，其功能由与各自网络的情境依赖耦合所定义。我们认为，rTPJ作为一个功能单元，在注意力控制和心理理论中支持一种总体认知机制，并讨论了当前结果如何有助于进一步明确这一机制。
Zotero 插件
