Leslie Monica, Halls Daniel, Leppanen Jenni, Sedgewick Felicity, Smith Katherine, Hayward Hannah, Lang Katie, Fonville Leon, Simic Mima, Mandy William, Nicholls Dasha, Murphy Declan, Williams Steven, Tchanturia Kate
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, University of Chester, Chester, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 10;11:568073. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568073. eCollection 2020.
People with anorexia nervosa (AN) commonly exhibit social difficulties, which may be related to problems with understanding the perspectives of others, commonly known as Theory of Mind (ToM) processing. However, there is a dearth of literature investigating the neural basis of these differences in ToM and at what age they emerge. This study aimed to test for differences in the neural correlates of ToM processes in young women with AN, and young women weight-restored (WR) from AN, as compared to healthy control participants (HC). Based on previous findings in AN, we hypothesized that young women with current or prior AN, as compared to HCs, would exhibit a reduced neural response in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the inferior frontal gyrus, and the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) whilst completing a ToM task. We recruited 73 young women with AN, 45 WR young women, and 70 young women without a history of AN to take part in the current study. Whilst undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan, participants completed the Frith-Happé task, which is a commonly used measure of ToM with demonstrated reliability and validity in adult populations. In this task, participants viewed the movements of triangles, which depicted either action movements, simple interactions, or complex social interactions. Viewing trials with more complex social interactions in the Frith-Happé task was associated with increased brain activation in regions including the right TPJ, the bilateral mPFC, the cerebellum, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. There were no group differences in neural activation in response to the ToM contrast. Overall, these results suggest that the neural basis of spontaneous mentalizing is preserved in most young women with AN.
神经性厌食症（AN）患者通常存在社交困难，这可能与理解他人观点存在问题有关，这种问题通常被称为心理理论（ToM）加工。然而，缺乏研究这些ToM差异的神经基础以及它们在什么年龄出现的文献。本研究旨在测试患有AN的年轻女性以及从AN恢复体重（WR）的年轻女性与健康对照参与者（HC）相比，在ToM过程的神经相关性方面的差异。基于之前在AN方面的研究结果，我们假设与HC相比，患有当前或既往AN的年轻女性在完成ToM任务时，内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）、额下回和颞顶联合区（TPJ）的神经反应会减弱。我们招募了73名患有AN的年轻女性、45名体重恢复的年轻女性和70名无AN病史的年轻女性参与本研究。在进行功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描时，参与者完成了Frith-Happé任务，这是一种常用的ToM测量方法，在成年人群中已证明具有可靠性和有效性。在这个任务中，参与者观看三角形的运动，这些运动描绘了动作运动、简单互动或复杂的社会互动。在Frith-Happé任务中观看更复杂的社会互动试验与包括右侧TPJ、双侧mPFC、小脑和背外侧前额叶皮质等区域的大脑激活增加有关。在对ToM对比的神经激活方面没有组间差异。总体而言，这些结果表明，大多数患有AN的年轻女性自发心理化的神经基础得以保留。
