ERP markers of basic and higher order cognitive and affective Theory of Mind processing in young adulthood

IF 4.5 2区医学 Q1 NEUROIMAGING

NeuroImage Pub Date : 2025-10-02 DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121487

Benjamin Tesar-Boehm , Matthias Deckert , Michaela Ludwig , Ulrike Willinger

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Basic and higher order attribution of mental states to others (ToM) based on visual social cues was recently associated with different early and late occurring event-related potential (ERP) components. As cognitive and affective ToM in everyday life occur in unspecific order, this study included three experiments in which they were presented in different sequences to investigate possible mutual influences of these types. ERPs of first, second, and third order cognitive and affective ToM processing based on eye gaze and mimic were investigated with the Brainy-ERP task. Accuracy, response times and ERP components anterior P2 (aP2) and posterior P2 (both 210–400 ms post-stimulus [p.s.]) as well as anterior late negative slow wave (LNSW) and posterior LNSW (both 280–1000 ms p.s.) together indicate in three experiments that affective ToM processing requires more effort. However, starting with solely Cognitive ToM negates the superiority in performance of Cognitive ToM compared to Affective ToM. Affective ToM processing shows an early step in complexity between first and second order whereas a comparable step regarding cognitive ToM occurred between second and third order. While early ERPs showed higher amplitudes on the right hemisphere, late components where more pronounced on the left. Taken mutually influencing effects into account, this study offers new insights into visual-based cognitive and affective ToM including confirmation of P2 and late negative slow wave components during processing, and allowing for a more thorough interpretation of the electrophysiological activity associated with ToM processing and a solid foundation for the planning of future experimental designs.

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青年成人基本、高阶认知和情感心理理论加工的ERP标记。

基于视觉社会线索的心理状态对他人（ToM）的基本和高阶归因与不同的早、晚发生事件相关电位（ERP）成分有关。由于日常生活中的认知和情感行为的发生顺序不确定，本研究包括三个实验，其中它们以不同的顺序呈现，以探讨这些类型可能的相互影响。采用Brainy-ERP任务研究了基于注视和模仿的一、二、三阶认知和情感ToM加工的erp。准确性、反应时间和ERP成分前P2 （aP2）和后P2（均为刺激后210-400ms）。])以及前晚期负慢波（LNSW）和后晚期负慢波（LNSW均为280-1000ms p.s）的三个实验共同表明，情感ToM加工需要更多的努力。然而，仅仅从认知ToM开始就否定了认知ToM相对于情感ToM在性能上的优越性。情感汤姆加工在一阶和二阶之间显示出较早的复杂性步骤，而认知汤姆加工在二阶和三阶之间显示出可比的复杂性步骤。早期的erp在右半球表现出更高的振幅，而晚期的erp在左半球表现得更明显。考虑到相互影响的效应，本研究为基于视觉的认知和情感ToM提供了新的见解，包括在加工过程中P2和晚期负慢波成分的确认，并允许更彻底地解释与ToM加工相关的电生理活动，为未来实验设计的规划奠定了坚实的基础。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

NeuroImage 医学-核医学

CiteScore

11.30

自引率

10.50%

发文量

809

审稿时长

63 days

期刊介绍： NeuroImage, a Journal of Brain Function provides a vehicle for communicating important advances in acquiring, analyzing, and modelling neuroimaging data and in applying these techniques to the study of structure-function and brain-behavior relationships. Though the emphasis is on the macroscopic level of human brain organization, meso-and microscopic neuroimaging across all species will be considered if informative for understanding the aforementioned relationships.