Visuo-spatial functions mediate the association between cortical thickness of fronto-parietal areas and social processing abilities in congenital atypical development

IF 4.5 2区医学 Q1 NEUROIMAGING

NeuroImage Pub Date : 2025-10-08 DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121512

Viola Oldrati , Elisabetta Ferrari , Niccolò Butti , Chiara Gagliardi , Romina Romaniello , Renato Borgatti , Denis Peruzzo , Cosimo Urgesi

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Different theoretical perspectives emphasize the significance of sensorimotor and visuospatial functions in shaping social perception, including theory of mind (ToM) and affect recognition (AR) abilities. This study aimed to investigate where in the brain cortical thickness (CT) predicts social perception, and which cognitive functions mediate such relationship. To these aims, we used a hierarchical analytical plan: Step 1 identified brain areas’ CT that correlate with cognitive measures; Step 2 used stepwise regression to predict social perception outcomes (ToM and AR) from brain areas’ CT; Step 3 assessed whether cognitive measures mediate the link between CT and social perception outcomes. The results showed that the CT of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG; pars triangularis) predicted both ToM and AR, while the CT of the right superior parietal gyrus (SPL) and of the right anterior occipital sulcus (AOcs) predicted only AR. Mediation models unveiled that visuo-constructive abilities and visual attention mediated the relationship between CT in these areas and social perception outcomes. These findings align with the role of the IFG in mentalizing abilities and underscore the involvement of SPL in visuospatial functions, including mental object rotation and spatial perspective-taking, which are essential for advanced social skills; the role of the AOcs in face processing was also highlighted. Importantly, the findings suggest that fronto-parietal areas are indirectly involved in social perception thorough their involvement in visuo-constructive abilities and visual attention.

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视觉空间功能在先天性非典型发育中调节额顶叶皮质厚度与社会加工能力之间的关系。

不同的理论观点强调感觉运动和视觉空间功能在塑造社会知觉中的重要性，包括心理理论（ToM）和情感识别（AR）能力。本研究旨在探讨大脑皮层厚度（CT）在哪里预测社会知觉，以及哪些认知功能介导这种关系。为了实现这些目标，我们使用了分层分析计划：步骤1确定与认知测量相关的脑区域CT；步骤2采用逐步回归预测脑区CT的社会知觉结果（ToM和AR）；步骤3评估认知测量是否介导CT与社会感知结果之间的联系。结果表明，左侧额下回（IFG; partal triangularis）的CT可以预测ToM和AR，而右侧顶叶上回（SPL）和右侧枕前沟（AOcs）的CT只能预测AR。中介模型揭示了视觉构建能力和视觉注意在这些区域的CT与社会知觉结果之间的关系中起中介作用。这些发现与IFG在心智化能力中的作用一致，并强调了SPL在视觉空间功能中的作用，包括心理对象旋转和空间视角获取，这对高级社交技能至关重要；同时也强调了aoc在人脸加工中的作用。重要的是，研究结果表明，额顶叶区域通过参与视觉构建能力和视觉注意而间接参与社会知觉。

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.