Ammons Carla J, Doss Constance F, Bala David, Kana Rajesh K
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Open Neuroimag J. 2018 Mar 30;12:16-29. doi: 10.2174/1874440001812010016. eCollection 2018.
Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, is frequently impaired in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and may result from altered activation of social brain regions. Conversely, Typically Developing (TD) individuals overextend ToM and show a strong tendency to anthropomorphize and interpret biological motion in the environment. Less is known about how the degree of anthropomorphism influences intentional attribution and engagement of the social brain in ASD.
This fMRI study examines the extent of anthropomorphism, its role in social attribution, and the underlying neural responses in ASD and TD using a series of human stick figures and geometrical shapes.
14 ASD and 14 TD adults watched videos of stick figures and triangles interacting in random or socially meaningful ways while in an fMRI scanner. In addition, they completed out-of-scanner measures of ToM skill and real-world social deficits. Whole brain statistical analysis was performed for regression and within and between group comparisons of all conditions using SPM12's implementation of the general linear model.
ToM network regions were activated in response to social movement and human-like characters in ASD and TD. In addition, greater ToM ability was associated with increased TPJ and MPFC activity while watching stick figures; whereas more severe social symptoms were associated with reduced right TPJ activation in response to social movement.
These results suggest that degree of anthropomorphism does not differentially affect social attribution in ASD and highlights the importance of TPJ in ToM and social attribution.
心理理论（ToM），即将心理状态归因于自己和他人的能力，在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中经常受损，可能是由于社会脑区的激活改变所致。相反，发育正常（TD）的个体过度扩展心理理论，表现出强烈的拟人化倾向，并对环境中的生物运动进行解读。关于拟人化程度如何影响ASD中社会脑区的意图归因和参与度，我们所知甚少。
这项功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究使用一系列人体简笔画和几何形状，考察了拟人化的程度、其在社会归因中的作用以及ASD和TD中潜在的神经反应。
14名患有ASD的成年人和14名发育正常的成年人在fMRI扫描仪中观看人体简笔画和三角形以随机或具有社会意义的方式相互作用的视频。此外，他们还完成了扫描仪外的心理理论技能和现实世界社交缺陷的测量。使用SPM12的一般线性模型实现，对所有条件进行回归分析以及组内和组间比较，进行全脑统计分析。
在ASD和TD中，心理理论网络区域对社会运动和类人角色有反应而被激活。此外，观看人体简笔画时，心理理论能力越强，颞顶联合区（TPJ）和内侧前额叶皮质（MPFC）的活动增加；而更严重的社会症状与对社会运动的反应中右侧TPJ激活减少有关。
这些结果表明，拟人化程度对ASD中的社会归因没有差异影响，并突出了TPJ在心理理论和社会归因中的重要性。
