Description: Differential involvement of the posterior temporal cortex in mentalizing but not perspective taking

This title appears in the Scientific Report : 2008

Differential involvement of the posterior temporal cortex in mentalizing but not perspective taking

Understanding and predicting other people's mental states and behavior are important prerequisites for social interactions. The capacity to attribute mental states such as desires, thoughts or intentions to oneself or others is referred to as mentalizing. The right posterior temporal cortex at...

Personal Name(s):	David, N.
	Aumann, C. / Santos, N.S. / Bewernick, B. H. / Eickhoff, S. B. / Newen, A. / Shah, J. N. / Fink, G. R. / Vogeley, K.
Contributing Institute:	Institut für Neurowissenschaften und Biophysik - Medizin; INB-3 JARA-BRAIN; JARA-BRAIN
Published in:	Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 3 (2008) S. 279 - 289
Imprint:	Oxford Oxford Univ. Press 2008
Physical Description:	279 - 289
PubMed ID:	19015120
DOI:	10.1093/scan/nsn023
Document Type:	Journal Article
Research Program:	Funktion und Dysfunktion des Nervensystems
Series Title:	Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 3
Subject (ZB):	Adult Analysis of Variance Concept Formation: physiology Empathy Functional Laterality: physiology Humans Interpersonal Relations Magnetic Resonance Imaging Male Reference Values Social Perception Temporal Lobe: physiology Thinking: physiology Young Adult J posterior superior temporal sulcus temporo-parietal junction mentalizing theory of mind perspective taking social cognition
	Publikationsportal JuSER

Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsn023 in citations.

Understanding and predicting other people's mental states and behavior are important prerequisites for social interactions. The capacity to attribute mental states such as desires, thoughts or intentions to oneself or others is referred to as mentalizing. The right posterior temporal cortex at the temporal-parietal junction has been associated with mentalizing but also with taking someone else's spatial perspective onto the world--possibly an important prerequisite for mentalizing. Here, we directly compared the neural correlates of mentalizing and perspective taking using the same stimulus material. We found significantly increased neural activity in the right posterior segment of the superior temporal sulcus only during mentalizing but not perspective taking. Our data further clarify the role of the posterior temporal cortex in social cognition by showing that it is involved in processing information from socially salient visual cues in situations that require the inference about other people's mental states.