Mossad Sarah I, Vandewouw Marlee M, Smith Mary Lou, Taylor Margot J
Department of Psychology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON M5G 1X8, Canada.
Brain Commun. 2021 Jan 25;3(1):fcaa237. doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcaa237. eCollection 2021.
Neurodevelopmental difficulties emerge in very preterm born children (<32-week gestation) in infancy and continue to early adulthood but little is known about their social-cognitive development. This study utilized the complementary methodological advantages of both functional MRI and magnetoencephalography to examine the neural underpinnings of Theory of Mind in very preterm birth. Theory of Mind, one of the core social-cognitive skills, is the ability to attribute mental states to others, and is crucial for predicting others' behaviours in social interactions. Eighty-three children (40 very preterm born, 24 boys, age = 8.7 ± 0.5 years, and 43 full-term born, 22 boys, age = 8.6 ± 0.5 years) completed the study. In functional MRI, both groups recruited classic Theory of Mind areas, without significant group differences. However, reduced Theory of Mind connectivity in the very preterm born group was found in magnetoencephalography in distinct theta, alpha and beta-band networks anchored in a set of brain regions that comprise the social brain. These networks included regions such as the angular gyrus, the medial pre-frontal cortex, the superior temporal gyrus and the temporal poles. Very preterm born children showed increased connectivity compared to controls in a network anchored in the occipital gyri rather than classical social-processing regions. Very preterm born children made significantly more attribution errors and mis-construed the social scenarios. Findings offer novel insight into the neural networks, supporting social cognition in very preterm born children and highlight the importance of multimodal neuroimaging to interrogate the social brain in clinical populations.
神经发育困难在极早产儿（孕周<32周）的婴儿期出现，并持续到成年早期，但人们对他们的社会认知发展知之甚少。本研究利用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）和脑磁图（MEG）的互补方法优势，来研究极早产情况下心理理论的神经基础。心理理论是核心社会认知技能之一，是将心理状态归因于他人的能力，对于预测社交互动中他人的行为至关重要。83名儿童（40名极早产儿，24名男孩，年龄=8.7±0.5岁；43名足月儿，22名男孩，年龄=8.6±0.5岁）完成了该研究。在功能磁共振成像中，两组均激活了经典的心理理论区域，无显著组间差异。然而，在脑磁图中发现，极早产组在以一组构成社会脑的脑区为锚定的不同θ、α和β波段网络中，心理理论的连接性降低。这些网络包括角回、内侧前额叶皮质、颞上回和颞极等区域。与对照组相比，极早产儿在以枕回而非经典社会加工区域为锚定的网络中显示出连接性增加。极早产儿出现了更多的归因错误，并且误解了社会场景。研究结果为神经网络提供了新的见解，支持极早产儿的社会认知，并强调了多模态神经成像在临床人群中研究社会脑的重要性。
