Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics and its Interfaces as related to the Expression of Intention
Edited by István Kecskés
[Pragmatics & Cognition 26:1] 2019
► pp. 5–38

Theory of Mind, pragmatics and the brain

Converging evidence for the role of intention processing as a core feature of human communication

| University of Turin | Neuroscience Institute of Turin
| University of Turin
| Neuroscience Institute of Turin | University of Turin

Theory of Mind (ToM) is a neurocognitive system that allows the perceiver to attribute mental states, such as intentions, beliefs, or feelings, to others’ actions. The aim of the present work is to analyse the engagement of the ToM system in communication, in particular, in communicative intention processing. To this aim, we propose an Intention Processing Network (IPN) with its own principles and mechanisms, that is, a brain network differentially engaged according to the complex intertwining of the context, goal, and action involved. According to our IPN model, a set of brain regions of the ToM system (i.e. left and right temporoparietal junction, precuneus, and medial prefrontal cortex) are differentially involved in comprehending different types of intention, such as private or social intentions. We provide independent and convergent evidence on the role of the IPN model in communicative intention processing and we show that the engagement of the IPN does not depend upon the communicative means used, that is, written language, auditory language, or gesture. Evidence deriving from different experimental paradigms, including neuroimaging, lesion, neurodegenerative, and brain stimulation studies are discussed. In our view, this evidence establishes a link between ToM and pragmatics studies and suggests the role of intention processing as a core feature of human communication.

Keywords: communication, cognitive pragmatics, communicative intention, Intention Processing Network, pragmatics, Theory of Mind
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Intention processing for general and communicative action
    • 2.1Intention processing and communication
    • 2.2The intention processing network
  • 3.Independent neuroimaging evidence for the IPN model
    • 3.1Narrative processing
    • 3.2Pragmatic processing
    • 3.3One-sided interaction: Communicative production vs. comprehension processing
    • 3.4Two-sided interaction: The two-brain approach
  • 4.Convergent lesion and neurodegenerative evidence for the IPN model
    • 4.1Lesion studies
    • 4.2Neurodegenerative studies
  • 5.Convergent brain stimulation evidence for the IPN model
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 27 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.19010.enr
References
Abu–Akel, Ahmad & Simone Shamay-Tsoory
2011 Neuroanatomical and neurochemical bases of theory of mind. Neuropsychologia 49(11). 2971–2984. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ackeren, Markus J. van, Daniel Casasanto, Harold Bekkering, Peter Hagoort & Shirley-Ann Rueschemeyer
2012 Pragmatics in action: Indirect requests engage theory of mind areas and the cortical motor network. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24(11). 2237–2247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro, Rosa Manenti, Ivan Enrici, Elena Gobbi, Michela Brambilla, Antonella Alberici, Maria Sofia Cotelli, Alessandro Padovani, Barbara Borroni & Maria Cotelli
2019a Transcranial direct current stimulation enhances theory of mind in Parkinson’s disease patients with mild cognitive impairment: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study. Translational Neurodegeneration 8(1). 1–13. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro, Rosa Manenti, Elena Gobbi, Ivan Enrici, Danila Rusich & Maria Cotelli
2019b Aging, sex and cognitive Theory of Mind: A transcranial direct current stimulation study. Scientific Reports, 91, 18064. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro, Michela Brambilla, Rosa Manenti, Lucia De Lucia, Luigi Trojano, Sara Garofalo, Ivan Enrici & Maria Cotelli
2017 Gender differences in cognitive Theory of Mind revealed by transcranial direct current stimulation on medial prefrontal cortex. Scientific Reports 71. 412–419. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro & Michele Poletti
2013 Theory of Mind abilities in neurodegenerative diseases: An update and a call to introduce mentalizing tasks in standard neuropsychological assessments. Clinical Neuropsychiatry 10(5). 226–234.Google Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro, Marco Cavallo & Ivan Enrici
2010 Theory of mind ability in the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia: An analysis of the neural, cognitive, and social levels. Neuropsychologia 48(1). 2–12. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro & Monica Bucciarelli
2008 Recognition of mistakes and deceits in communicative interactions. Journal of Pragmatics 40(4). 608–629. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Adenzato, Mauro & Francesca Garbarini
2006 The As if in cognitive science, neuroscience and anthropology – A journey among robots, blacksmiths and neurons. Theory & Psychology 16(6). 747–759. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Airenti, Gabriella, Bruno G. Bara & Marco Colombetti
1993 Conversation and behavior games in the pragmatics of dialogue. Cognitive Science 17(2). 197–256. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anders, Silke, Jakob Heinzle, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Thomas Ethofer & John-Dylan Haynes
2011 Flow of affective information between communicating brains. NeuroImage 54(1). 439–446. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andric, Michael, Ana Solodkin, Giovanni Buccino, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Giacomo Rizzolatti & Steven L. Small
2013 Brain function overlaps when people observe emblems, speech, and grasping. Neuropsychologia 51(8). 1619–1629. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Apperly, Ian A., Dana Samson, Naomi Carroll, Shazia Hussain & Glyn Humphreys
2006 Intact first- and second-order false belief reasoning in a patient with severely impaired grammar. Social Neuroscience 1(3–4). 334–348. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arioli, Maria & Nicola Canessa
2019 Neural processing of social interaction: Coordinate-based meta-analytic evidence from human neuroimaging studies. Human Brain Mapping 40(13). 3712–3737.Google Scholar
Arioli, Maria, Daniela Perani, Stefano Cappa, Alice M. Proverbio, Alberto Zani, Andrea Falini & Nicola Canessa
2018 Affective and cooperative social interactions modulate effective connectivity within and between the mirror and mentalizing systems. Human Brain Mapping 39(3). 1412–1427. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bara, Bruno G.
2011 Cognitive pragmatics: The mental processes of communication. Intercultural Pragmatics 8(3). 443–485. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010 Cognitive pragmatics: The mental processes of communication. Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bara, Bruno G., Ivan Enrici & Mauro Adenzato
2016 At the core of pragmatics: The neural substrates of communicative intentions. In Gregory Hickok & Steven L. Small (eds.), Neurobiology of language. New York: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bara, Bruno G., Angela Ciaramidaro, Henrik Walter & Mauro Adenzato
2011 Intentional minds: A philosophical analysis of intention tested through fMRI experiments involving people with schizophrenia, people with autism, and healthy individuals. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 51. 7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Basnakova, Jana, Kirsten Weber, Karl M. Petersson, Jos van Berkum & Peter Hagoort
2014 Beyond the language given: The neural correlates of inferring speaker meaning. Cerebral Cortex 24(10). 2572–2578. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Becchio, Cristina, Mauro Adenzato & Bruno G. Bara
2006 How the brain understands intention: Different neural circuits identify the componential features of motor and prior intentions. Consciousness and Cognition 15(1). 64–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bigio, Eileen H., Anne M. Lipton, Charles L. White, Dennis W. Dickson & Akemi Hirano
2003 Frontotemporal and motor neurone degeneration with neurofilament inclusion bodies: Additional evidence for overlap between FTD and ALS. Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology 29(3). 239–253. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brass, Marcel, Ruth M. Schmitt, Stephanie Spengler & Gyorgy Gergely
2007 Investigating action understanding: Inferential processes versus action simulation. Current Biology 17(24). 2117–2121. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Broicher, Sarah D., Giorgi Kuchukhidze, Thomas Grunwald, Gunter Kramer, Martin Kurthen & Hennric Jokeit
2012 “Tell me how do I feel”-- emotion recognition and theory of mind in symptomatic mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Neuropsychologia 50(1). 118–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Butterfill, Stephen A. & Ian A. Apperly
2013 How to construct a minimal Theory of Mind. Mind & Language 28(5). 606–637. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bzdok, Danilo, Robert Langner, Leonhard Schilbach, Denis Engemann, Angela Laird, Peter Fox & Simon Eickhoff
2013 Segregation of the human medial prefrontal cortex in social cognition. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7(232).Google Scholar
Calarge, Chadi, Nancy C. Andreasen & Daniel S. O’Leary
2003 Visualizing how one brain understands another: A PET study of theory of mind. American Journal of Psychiatry 160(11). 1954–1964. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Canessa, Nicola, Federica Alemanno, Federica Riva, Alberto Zani, Alice M. Proverbio, Nicola Mannara, Daniela Perani & Stefano Cappa
2012 The neural bases of social intention understanding: The role of interaction goals. Plos One 7(7). e42347. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carotenuto, Antonio, Sirio Cocozza, Mario Quarantelli, Giorgio Arcara, Roberta Lanzillo, Vincenzo Brescia Morra, Ilaria Cerillo, Enrico Tedeschi, Giuseppe Orefice, Valentina Bambini, Arturo Brunetti & Rosa Iodice
2018 Pragmatic abilities in multiple sclerosis: The contribution of the temporo-parietal junction. Brain and Language 1851. 47–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carrington, Sarah J. & Anthony J. Bailey
2009 Are there theory of mind regions in the brain? A review of the neuroimaging literature. Human Brain Mapping 30(8). 2313–2335. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cavallo, Marco, Mauro Adenzato, Sarah E. Macpherson, Gillian Karwig, Ivan Enrici & Sharon Abrahams
2011a Evidence of social understanding impairment in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Plos One 6(10). e25948. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cavallo, Marco, Ivan Enrici & Mauro Adenzato
2011b The comprehension of social situations in a small group of patients with frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Neuropsychologica 9(2). 167–176.Google Scholar
Chatel-Goldman, Jonas, Jean-Luc Schwartz, Christian Jutten & Marco Congedo
2013 Non-local mind from the perspective of social cognition. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 71. 107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ciaramidaro, Angela, Mauro Adenzato, Ivan Enrici, Susanne Erk, Lorenzo Pia, Bruno G. Bara & Henrik Walter
2007 The intentional network: How the brain reads varieties of intentions. Neuropsychologia 45(13). 3105–3113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costa, Alberto, Sara Torriero, Massimiliano Oliveri & Carlo Caltagirone
2008 Prefrontal and temporo-parietal involvement in taking others’ perspective: TMS evidence. Behavioural Neurology 19(1–2). 71–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cotelli, Maria, Mauro Adenzato, Valentina Cantoni, Rosa Manenti, Antonella Alberici, Ivan Enrici, Alberto Benussi, Valentina Dell’Era, Elisa Bonetta, Alessandro Padovani & Barbara Borroni
2018 Enhancing theory of mind in behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia with transcranial direct current stimulation. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience 18(6). 1065–1075. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Dodell–Feder, David & Diana I. Tamir
2018 Fiction reading has a small positive impact on social cognition: A meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 147(11). 1713–1727. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Egorova, Natalia, Yury Shtyrov & Friedmann Pulvermuller
2016 Brain basis of communicative actions in language. NeuroImage 1251. 857–867. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Enrici, Ivan, Mauro Adenzato, Stefano Cappa, Bruno G. Bara & Marco Tettamanti
2011 Intention processing in communication: A common brain network for language and gestures. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23(9). 2415–2431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Enrici, Ivan, Antonia Mitkova, Lorys Castelli, Michele Lanotte, Leonardo Lopiano, Mauro Adenzato
2017 Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus does not negatively affect social cognitive abilities of patients with Parkinson’s disease Scientific Reports 71 9413 DOI logo
Fontana, Elena, Mauro Adenzato, Jacopo S. Penso, Ivan Enrici & Rita B. Ardito
2018 On the relationship between Theory of Mind and syntax in clinical and non-clinical populations: State of the art and implications for research. The Open Psychology Journal 121. 95–104. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Frith, Christopher D. & Uta Frith
2006 How we predict what other people are going to do. Brain Research 1079(1). 36–46. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gallagher, Helen L., Anthony I. Jack, Andreas Roepstorff & Christopher D. Frith
2002 Imaging the intentional stance in a competitive game. NeuroImage 16(3). 814–821. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geraci, Alessandra, Luca Surian, Marco Ferraro & Anna Cantagallo
2010 Theory of Mind in patients with ventromedial or dorsolateral prefrontal lesions following traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury 24(7–8). 978–987. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, Sam J., Stephanie Spengler, Jon S. Simons, Douglas Steele, Stephen M. Lawrie, Christopher D. Frith & Paul W. Burgess
2006 Functional specialization within rostral prefrontal cortex (area 10): A meta-analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 18(6). 932–948. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, Sam J., Iain D. Williamson, Iroise Dumontheil, Jon S. Simons, Christopher D. Frith & Paul W. Burgess
2007 Distinct regions of medial rostral prefrontal cortex supporting social and nonsocial functions. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2(3). 217–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gobbini, Maria Ida, Aaron C. Koralek, Ronald E. Bryan, Kimberly J. Montgomery & James V. Haxby
2007 Two takes on the social brain: A comparison of Theory of Mind tasks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19(11). 1803–1814. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Rupa Gupta, Arianna Rigon, Natalie V. Covington, Michelle Voss & Melissa C. Duff
2019 Higher resting state functional connectivity between the vmPFC and rTPJ in individuals who display conversational synchrony. Journal of Neurolinguistics 511. 212–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grice, Paul H.
1975 Logic and conversation, syntax and semantics. In Peter Cole & Jerry L. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and semantics, vol. 3, Speech Acts, 41–58. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
1957 Meaning. The Philosophical Review 66(3). 377–388. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hartwright, Charlotte E., Ian A. Apperly & Peter C. Hansen
2014 Representation, control, or reasoning? Distinct functions for theory of mind within the medial prefrontal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 26(4). 683–698. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heil, Lieke, Olympia Colizoli, Egbert Hartstra, Johan Kwisthout, Stan van Pelt, Iris van Rooij & Harold Bekkering
2019 Processing of prediction errors in mentalizing areas. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 31(6). 900–912. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jang, Gijeong, Shin-ae Yoon, Sung-Eun Lee, Haeil Park, Joohan Kim, Jeong-Hoon Ko & Hae-Jeong Park
2013 Everyday conversation requires cognitive inference: Neural bases of comprehending implicated meanings in conversations. NeuroImage 811. 61–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kampe, Knut K., Christopher D. Frith & Uta Frith
2003 “Hey John”: Signals conveying communicative intention toward the self activate brain regions associated with “mentalizing,” regardless of modality. Journal of Neuroscience 23(12). 5258–5263. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kidd, David Comer & Emanuele Castano
2013 Reading literary fiction improves Theory of Mind. Science 342(6156). 377–380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
King-Casas, Brooks, Damon Tomlin, Cedric Anen, Colin F. Camerer, Steven R. Quartz & Read Montague
2005 Getting to know you: Reputation and trust in a two–person economic exchange. Science 308(5718). 78–83. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kipps, Christopher M., Peter J. Nestor, Julio Acosta-Cabronero, Robert Arnold & John R. Hodges
2009 Understanding social dysfunction in the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia: The role of emotion and sarcasm processing. Brain 132(3). 592–603. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kircher, Tilo, Benjamin Straube, Dirk Leube, Susanne Weis, Olga Sachs, Klaus Willmes, Kerstin Konrad & Antonia Green
2009 Neural interaction of speech and gesture: Differential activations of metaphoric co-verbal gestures. Neuropsychologia 47(1). 169–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Konvalinka, Ivana & Andreas Roepstorff
2012 The two-brain approach: How can mutually interacting brains teach us something about social interaction? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 61. 215. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koster-Hale, Jorie, Hilary Richardson, Natalia Velez, Mika Asaba, Liane Young & Rebecca Saxe
2017 Mentalizing regions represent distributed, continuous, and abstract dimensions of others’ beliefs. NeuroImage 1611. 9–18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Koster-Hale, Jorie & Rebecca Saxe
2013 Theory of Mind: A neural prediction problem. Neuron 79(5). 836–848. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krause, Laura, Peter G. Enticott, Abraham Zangen & Paul B. Fitzgerald
2012 The role of medial prefrontal cortex in theory of mind: A deep rTMS study. Behavioural Brain Research 228(1). 87–90. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuhlen, Anna K., Carsten Bogler, Susan E. Brennan & John-Dylan Haynes
2017 Brains in dialogue: Decoding neural preparation of speaking to a conversational partner. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 12(6). 871–880. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Tatia M., Alison K. Ip, Kai Wang, Chun-hua Xi, Pan-pan Hu, Henry K. Mak, Shi-hui Han & Chetwyn C. Chan
2010 Faux pas deficits in people with medial frontal lesions as related to impaired understanding of a speaker’s mental state. Neuropsychologia 48(6). 1670–1676. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lev-Ran, Shaul, Simone Shamay-Tsoory, Abraham Zangen & Yechiel Levkovitz
2012 Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex impairs theory of mind learning. European Psychiatry 27(4). 285–289. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mai, Xiaoqin, Wenli Zhang, Xinmu Hu, Zhen Zhen, Zhenhua Xu, Jing Zhang & Chao Liu
2016 Using tDCS to explore the role of the right temporo-parietal junction in Theory of Mind and cognitive empathy. Frontiers in Psychology 71. 380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mar, Raymond A.
2004 The neuropsychology of narrative: Story comprehension, story production and their interrelation. Neuropsychologia 42(10). 1414–1434. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 The neural bases of social cognition and story comprehension. Annual Review of Psychology 621. 103–134. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mar, Raymond A. & Keith Oatley
2008 The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Perspectives on Psychological Science 3(3). 173–192. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mar, Raymond A., Keith Oatley, Jacob Hirsh, Jennifer dela Paz & Jordan B. Peterson
2006 Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds. Journal of Research in Personality 40(5). 694–712. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marini, Maddalena, Mahzarin R. Banaji & Alvaro Pascual-Leone
2018 Studying implicit social cognition with noninvasive brain stimulation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22(11). 1050–1066. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Materna, Simone, Peter W. Dicke & Peter Thier
2008 The posterior superior temporal sulcus is involved in social communication not specific for the eyes. Neuropsychologia 46(11). 2759–2765. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCabe, Kevin, Daniel Houser, Lee Ryan, Vernon Smith & Theodore Trouard
2001 A functional imaging study of cooperation in two-person reciprocal exchange. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98(20). 11832–11835. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montague, Read, Gregory S. Berns, Jonathan D. Cohen, Samuel M. McClure, Giuseppe Pagnoni, Mukesh Dhamala, Michael C. Wiest, Igor Karpov, Richard D. King, Nathan Apple & Ronald E. Fisher
2002 Hyperscanning: Simultaneous fMRI during linked social interactions. NeuroImage 16(4). 1159–1164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noguchi, Yasuki & Rei Oizumi
2018 Electric stimulation of the right temporo-parietal junction induces a task-specific effect in deceptive behaviors. Neuroscience Research 1281. 33–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oatley, Keith
2016 Fiction: Simulation of social worlds. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 20(8). 618–628. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pezzati, Rita, Valentina Molteni, Marco Bani, Carmen Settanta, Maria G. Di Maggio, Ivan Villa, Barbara Poletti & Rita B. Ardito
2014 Can Doll therapy preserve or promote attachment in people with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional problems? A pilot study in institutionalized patients with dementia. Frontiers in Psychology 51. 342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pickering, Martin J. & Simon Garrod
2013 An integrated theory of language production and comprehension Behavioral and Brain Sciences 36 4 329 47 DOI logo
Pickering, Martin J. & Chiara Gambi
2018 Predicting while comprehending language: A theory and review Psychological Bulletin 144 10 1002 1044 DOI logo
Poletti, Michele, Ivan Enrici, Ubaldo Bonuccelli & Mauro Adenzato
2011 Theory of Mind in Parkinson’s disease. Behavioural Brain Research, 2191, 342-350. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Poletti, Michele, Ivan Enrici & Mauro Adenzato
2012 Cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in neurodegenerative diseases: Neuropsychological, neuroanatomical and neurochemical levels. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 36(9). 2147–2164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prat, Chantal S., Robert A. Mason & Marcel A. Just
2012 An fMRI investigation of analogical mapping in metaphor comprehension: The influence of context and individual cognitive capacities on processing demands. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory and Cognition 38(2). 282–294. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Quadflieg, Susanne & Kami Koldewyn
2017 The neuroscience of people watching: How the human brain makes sense of other people’s encounters. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1396(1). 166–182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Redcay, Elizabeth, Kayla R. Velnoskey & Meredith L. Rowe
2016 Perceived communicative intent in gesture and language modulates the superior temporal sulcus. Human Brain Mapping 37(10). 3444–3461. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roca, Maria, Teresa Torralva, Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht, Alexandra Woolgar, Russell Thompson, John Duncan & Facundo Manes
2011 The role of Area 10 (BA10) in human multitasking and in social cognition: A lesion study. Neuropsychologia 49(13). 3525–3531. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rorden, Chris & Hans–Otto Karnath
2004 Using human brain lesions to infer function: A relic from a past era in the fMRI age? Nature Review Neuroscience 5(10). 813–819. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saito, Daisuke N., Hiroki C. Tanabe, Keise Izuma, Masamichi J. Hayashi, Yusuke Morito, Hidetsugu Komeda, Hitoshi Uchiyama, Hirotaka Kosaka, Hidehiko Okazawa, Yasuhisa Fujibayashi & Norihiro Sadato
2010 “Stay tuned”: Inter-individual neural synchronization during mutual gaze and joint attention. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience 41. 127. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sassa, Yuko, Motoaki Sugiura, Hyeonjeong Jeong, Kaoru Horie, Shigeru Sato & Ryuta Kawashima
2007 Cortical mechanism of communicative speech production. NeuroImage 37(3). 985–992. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Saxe, Rebecca
2006 Why and how to study Theory of Mind with fMRI. Brain Research 1079(1). 57–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schaafsma, Sara M., Donald W. Pfaff, Robert P. Spunt & Ralph Adolphs
2015 Deconstructing and reconstructing Theory of Mind. Trends in Cognitive Science 19(2). 65–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schippers, Marleen B., Valeria Gazzola, Rainer Goebel & Christian Keysers
2009 Playing charades in the fMRI: Are mirror and/or mentalizing areas involved in gestural communication? Plos One 4(8). e6801. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schroeter, Matthias L., Karolina Raczka, Jane Neumann & Yves von Cramon
2008 Neural networks in frontotemporal dementia – a meta-analysis. Neurobiology of Aging 29(3). 418–426. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schurz, Matthias, Joaquim Radua, Markus Aichhorn, Fabio Richlan & Josef Perner
2014 Fractionating Theory of Mind: A meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Neuroscience and Biobehavavioral Reviews 421. 9–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schuwerk, Tobias, Katrin Dohnel, Beate Sodian, Ingo R. Keck, Rainer Rupprecht & Monika Sommer
2014 Functional activity and effective connectivity of the posterior medial prefrontal cortex during processing of incongruent mental states. Human Brain Mapping 35(7). 2950–2965. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shany-Ur, Tal, Pardis Poorzand, Scott N. Grossman, Matthew E. Growdon, Jung Y. Jang, Robin S. Ketelle, Bruce L. Miller & Katherine P. Rankin
2012 Comprehension of insincere communication in neurodegenerative disease: Lies, sarcasm, and Theory of Mind. Cortex 48(10). 1329–1341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shibata, Midori, Akira Toyomura, Hiroaki Itoh & Jun-ichi Abe
2010 Neural substrates of irony comprehension: A functional MRI study. Brain Research 13081. 114–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siegal, Michael & Rosemary Varley
2006 Aphasia, language, and Theory of Mind. Social Neuroscience 1(3–4). 167–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sperber, Dan & Deirdre Wilson
2002 Pragmatics, modularity and mind-reading. Mind & Language 17(1–2). 3–23. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spotorno, Nicola, Corey T. McMillan, Katya Rascovsky, David J. Irwin, Robin Clark & Murray Grossman
2015 Beyond words: Pragmatic inference in behavioral variant of frontotemporal degeneration. Neuropsychologia 751. 556–564. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spotorno, Nicola, Eric Koun, Jérome Prado, Jean-Baptiste Van Der Henst & Ira A. Noveck
2012 Neural evidence that utterance-processing entails mentalizing: The case of irony. NeuroImage 63(1). 25–39. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spreng, Nathan, Raymond A. Mar & Alice S. Kim
2009 The common neural basis of autobiographical memory, prospection, navigation, theory of mind, and the default mode: A quantitative meta-analysis. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 21(3). 489–510. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spunt, Robert P. & Ralph Adolphs
2014 Validating the Why/How contrast for functional MRI studies of Theory of Mind. NeuroImage 991. 301–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spunt, Robert P., David Kemmerer & Ralph Adolphs
2016 The neural basis of conceptualizing the same action at different levels of abstraction. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 11(7). 1141–1151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spunt, Robert P., Ajay B. Satpute & Matthew D. Lieberman
2011 Identifying the what, why, and how of an observed action: An fMRI study of mentalizing and mechanizing during action observation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23(1). 63–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stephens, Greg J., Lauren J. Silbert & Uri Hasson
2010 Speaker-listener neural coupling underlies successful communication. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(32). 14425–14430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tettamanti, Marco, Matilde M. Vaghi, Bruno G. Bara, Stefano Cappa, Ivan Enrici & Mauro Adenzato
2017 Effective connectivity gateways to the Theory of Mind network in processing communicative intention. NeuroImage 1551. 169–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tylen, Kristian, Micah Allen, Bjork K. Hunter & Andreas Roepstorff
2012 Interaction vs. observation: Distinctive modes of social cognition in human brain and behavior? A combined fMRI and eye-tracking study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 61. 331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Overwalle, Frank
2011 A dissociation between social mentalizing and general reasoning. NeuroImage 54(2). 1589–1599. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Social cognition and the brain: A meta-analysis. Human Brain Mapping 30(3). 829–858. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Overwalle, Frank & Kris Baetens
2009 Understanding others’ actions and goals by mirror and mentalizing systems: A meta-analysis. NeuroImage 48(3). 564–584. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Varley, Rosemary & Michael Siegal
2000 Evidence for cognition without grammar from causal reasoning and ‘theory of mind’ in an agrammatic aphasic patient. Current Biology 10(12). 723–726. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Varley, Rosemary, Michael Siegal & Stephen C. Want
2001 Severe impairment in grammar does not preclude Theory of Mind. Neurocase 7(6). 489–493. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vicari, Giuseppe & Mauro Adenzato
2014 Is recursion language-specific? Evidence of recursive mechanisms in the structure of intentional action. Consciousness and Cognition 261. 169–188. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walter, Henrik, Angela Ciaramidaro, Mauro Adenzato, Nenad Vasic, Rita B. Ardito, Susanne Erk & Bruno G. Bara
2009 Dysfunction of the social brain in schizophrenia is modulated by intention type: An fMRI study. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 4(2). 166–176. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Walter, Henrik, Mauro Adenzato, Angela Ciaramidaro, Ivan Enrici, Lorenzo Pia & Bruno G. Bara
2004 Understanding intentions in social interaction: The role of the anterior paracingulate cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 16(10). 1854–1863. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Willems, Roel M. & Rosemary Varley
2010 Neural insights into the relation between language and communication. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 41. 203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Willems, Roel M., Yael Benn, Peter Hagoort, Ivan Toni & Rosemary Varley
2011 Communicating without a functioning language system: Implications for the role of language in mentalizing. Neuropsychologia 49(11). 3130–3135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Willems, Roel M., Miriam de Boer, Jan P. de Ruiter, Matthijs L. Noordzij, Peter Hagoort & Ivan Toni
2010 A dissociation between linguistic and communicative abilities in the human brain. Psychological Science 21(1). 8–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yang, Daniel Y. J., Gabriela Rosenblau, Cara Keifer & Kevin A. Pelphrey
2015 An integrative neural model of social perception, action observation, and Theory of Mind. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Review 511. 263–275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Young, Liane, Joan A. Camprodon, Marc Hauser, Alvaro Pascual-Leone & Rebecca Saxe
2010 Disruption of the right temporoparietal junction with transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the role of beliefs in moral judgments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(15). 6753–6758. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yuan, Ye, Judy Major-Girardin & Steven Brown
2018 Storytelling is intrinsically mentalistic: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of narrative production across modalities. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 30(9). 1298–1314. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 9 other publications

Adenzato, Mauro, Rosa Manenti, Elena Gobbi, Ivan Enrici, Danila Rusich & Maria Cotelli
2019. Aging, sex and cognitive Theory of Mind: a transcranial direct current stimulation study. Scientific Reports 9:1 DOI logo
Bendtz, Katarina, Sarah Ericsson, Josephine Schneider, Julia Borg, Jana Bašnáková & Julia Uddén
2022. Individual Differences in Indirect Speech Act Processing Found Outside the Language Network. Neurobiology of Language 3:2 ► pp. 287 ff. DOI logo
Cotelli, Maria, Rosa Manenti, Elena Gobbi, Ivan Enrici, Danila Rusich, Clarissa Ferrari & Mauro Adenzato
2020. Theory of Mind Performance Predicts tDCS-Mediated Effects on the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: A Pilot Study to Investigate the Role of Sex and Age. Brain Sciences 10:5 ► pp. 257 ff. DOI logo
Di Tella, Marialaura, Mauro Adenzato, Caroline Catmur, Francesca Miti, Lorys Castelli & Rita B. Ardito
2020. The role of alexithymia in social cognition: Evidence from a non-clinical population. Journal of Affective Disorders 273 ► pp. 482 ff. DOI logo
Di Tella, Marialaura, Rita B. Ardito, Federico Dutto & Mauro Adenzato
2020. On the (lack of) association between theory of mind and executive functions: a study in a non-clinical adult sample. Scientific Reports 10:1 DOI logo
Di Tella, Marialaura, Francesca Miti, Rita B. Ardito & Mauro Adenzato
2020. Social cognition and sex: Are men and women really different?. Personality and Individual Differences 162 ► pp. 110045 ff. DOI logo
Fekete, Judit, Zsuzsanna Pótó, Eszter Varga, Tímea Csulak, Orsolya Zsélyi, Tamás Tényi & Róbert Herold
2020. Persons With Schizophrenia Misread Hemingway: A New Approach to Study Theory of Mind in Schizophrenia. Frontiers in Psychiatry 11 DOI logo
Licea-Haquet, G.L., A. Reyes-Aguilar, S. Alcauter & M. Giordano
2021. The Neural Substrate of Speech Act Recognition. Neuroscience 471 ► pp. 102 ff. DOI logo
Massullo, Chiara, Claudio Imperatori, Mauro Adenzato, Riccardo Brunetti, Allegra Indraccolo, Giacomo Della Marca, Benedetto Farina & Rita B. Ardito
2020. Abnormal EEG Power Spectrum in Individuals with High Autistic Personality Traits: an eLORETA Study. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 42:3 ► pp. 560 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 17 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.