Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome and CLN(2)S@Sapienza, Italian Institute of Technology, Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy.
Cortex. 2023 Sep;166:107-120. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.05.009. Epub 2023 Jun 1.
Inferring intentions from verbal and nonverbal human behaviour is critical for everyday social life. Here, we combined Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with a behavioural priming paradigm to test whether key nodes of the Theory of Mind network (ToMn) contribute to understanding others' intentions by integrating prior knowledge about an agent with the observed action kinematics. We used a modified version of the Faked-Action Discrimination Task (FAD), a forced-choice paradigm in which participants watch videos of actors lifting a cube and judge whether the actors are trying to deceive them concerning the weight of the cube. Videos could be preceded or not by verbal description (prior) about the agent's truthful or deceitful intent. We applied single pulse TMS over three key nodes of the ToMn, namely dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ). Sham-TMS served as a control (baseline) condition. Following sham or rTPJ stimulation, we observed no consistent influence of priors on FAD performance. In contrast, following dmPFC stimulation, and to a lesser extent pSTS stimulation, truthful and deceitful actions were perceived as more deceptive only when the prior suggested a dishonest intention. These findings highlight a functional role of dmPFC and pSTS in coupling prior knowledge about deceptive intents with observed action kinematics in order to judge faked actions. Our study provides causal evidence that fronto-temporal nodes of the ToMn are functionally relevant to mental state inference during action observation.
从言语和非言语的人类行为推断意图对于日常生活至关重要。在这里，我们结合经颅磁刺激（TMS）和行为启动范式，测试了心智理论网络（ToMn）的关键节点是否通过将关于主体的先验知识与观察到的动作运动学相结合来帮助理解他人的意图。我们使用了经过修改的虚假动作辨别任务（FAD）的版本，这是一种强制选择范式，参与者观看演员举起方块的视频，并判断演员是否试图在方块的重量上欺骗他们。视频可以先于或不先于关于主体真实或欺骗意图的言语描述（先验）。我们在 ToMn 的三个关键节点（即背内侧前额叶皮层（dmPFC）、右侧后上颞叶回（pSTS）和右侧颞顶联合区（rTPJ））上施加单脉冲 TMS。假 TMS 用作对照（基线）条件。在进行 sham 或 rTPJ 刺激后，我们没有观察到先验对 FAD 表现的一致影响。相比之下，在 dmPFC 刺激后，并且在较小程度上在 pSTS 刺激后，只有当先验提示不诚实意图时，真实和欺骗性动作才被视为更具欺骗性。这些发现强调了 dmPFC 和 pSTS 在将有关欺骗意图的先验知识与观察到的动作运动学结合起来以判断虚假动作方面的功能作用。我们的研究提供了因果证据，表明 ToMn 的额颞节点在动作观察期间的心理状态推断中具有功能相关性。
