Department of Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B - 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
University of Ghent & Ghent Institute for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ghent, Belgium.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2019 Dec;19(6):1433-1443. doi: 10.3758/s13415-019-00714-2.
Neuroimaging research has demonstrated that mentalizing about false beliefs held by other people recruits the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). However, earlier work was limited to a single agent that held a false belief. We investigated the effect of two agents that held similar or mixed false and/or true beliefs. Participants saw animated stories with two smurfs holding true or false beliefs (Story phase). At the end of each trial, they were requested to take the perspective of the self or one of the smurfs (Question phase). We predicted that an increasing number of smurfs holding a false belief would increase activation in the TPJ when participants have to report the belief of the smurf, because the incongruent belief should have a stronger influence if it is held by two compared with one agent. This prediction was confirmed as activation in the TPJ during the Story and Question phase increased when more smurfs held a false belief. Taking the perspective of the self led to stronger activation of the TPJ in the two conditions that involved a true belief and weakest activation in the condition of two false beliefs. These data suggest that activation in TPJ depends on the perspective participants take, and that the number of agents holding a false belief influences activation in the TPJ only when taking the agent's perspective.
神经影像学研究表明，对他人持有错误信念的心理化会招募颞顶联合区（TPJ）。然而，早期的工作仅限于一个持有错误信念的主体。我们研究了两个主体持有相似或混合的错误和/或真实信念的影响。参与者观看了两个蓝精灵持有真实或错误信念的动画故事（故事阶段）。在每次试验结束时，他们被要求从自己或一个蓝精灵的角度来报告（问题阶段）。我们预测，如果有两个主体而不是一个主体持有错误信念，那么当参与者必须报告蓝精灵的信念时，TPJ 的激活会增加，因为如果信念由两个主体持有，那么这个不一致的信念应该会有更强的影响。当更多的蓝精灵持有错误信念时，TPJ 在故事和问题阶段的激活增加，这一预测得到了证实。从自我的角度出发，在涉及真实信念的两种情况下会导致 TPJ 更强的激活，而在两种错误信念的情况下则会导致最弱的激活。这些数据表明，TPJ 的激活取决于参与者所采取的视角，并且只有在从主体的角度出发时，持有错误信念的主体数量才会影响 TPJ 的激活。
