Neural responses to affective and cognitive theory of mind in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2016-05, Vol.621, p.117-125
• Main Authors: Kim, Eunjoo, Kyeong, Sunghyon, Cheon, Keun-Ah, Park, Bumhee, Oh, Maeng-Keun, Chun, Ji Won, Park, Hae-Jeong, Kim, Jae-Jin, Song, Dong-Ho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Affect; Affective ToM; Autism spectrum disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorder - physiopathology; Autism Spectrum Disorder - psychology; Brain - physiopathology; Brain Mapping; Child; Cognition; Cognitive ToM; Female; Functional MRI; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Theory of Mind
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.04.026

•We examined the neural correlates of cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) in children and adolescents with ASD.•Cognitive ToM was related to greater activation of the medial prefrontal cortex, superior temporal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex in ASD group.•Affective ToM was related to greater activation in the insula and other subcortical regions in both ASD and TDC group.•Greater activation of m PFC/ACC regions was associated with a lesser symptom severity in ASD participants. Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are characterized by an impaired Theory of Mind (ToM). Recent evidence suggested that two aspects of ToM (cognitive ToM versus affective ToM) are differentially impaired in individuals with ASD. In this study, we examined the neural correlates of cognitive and affective ToM in children and adolescents with ASD compared to typically developing children (TDCs). Twelve children and adolescents with ASD and 12 age, IQ matched TDCs participated in this functional MRI study. The ToM task involved the attribution of cognitive and affective mental states to a cartoon character based on verbal and eye-gaze cues. In cognitive ToM tasks, ASD participants recruited the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and superior temporal gyrus (STG) to a greater extent than did TDCs. In affective ToM tasks, both ASD and TDC participants showed more activation in the insula and other subcortical regions than in cognitive ToM tasks. Correlational analysis revealed that greater activation of the mPFC/ACC regions was associated with less symptom severity in ASD patients. In sum, our study suggests that the recruitment of additional prefrontal resources can compensate for the successful behavioral performance in the ToM task in ASD participants.