Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer mental states of others and this skill relies on a distributed network of brain regions. A brain region that has been traditionally disregarded in relation to non-motor functions is the cerebellum. Here, we leveraged large-scale multimodal neuroimaging data to elucidate the structural and functional role of the cerebellum in ToM. We used functional activations to determine whether the cerebellum has a domain-general or domain-specific functional role. We found that the cerebellum is organized in a domain-specific way. We used effective connectivity and probabilistic tractography to map the cerebello-cerebral ToM network. We found a left cerebellar effective and structural lateralization, with more and stronger effective connections from the left cerebellar hemisphere to the contralateral cerebral ToM areas and greater cerebello-thalamo-cortical (CTC) and cortico-ponto-cerebellar (CPC) streamline counts from and to the left cerebellum. Lastly, we examined the relationship between CTC and CPC white matter and ToM speed and accuracy but found no correlation. Our study provides novel insights to the network organization of the cerebellum, an overlooked brain structure, and ToM, one of humans’ most essential abilities to navigate the social world. / Psychology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/4738 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Metoki, Athanasia, 0000-0002-8945-269X |
| Contributors | Olson, Ingrid R., Chein, Jason M., Murty, Vishnu, Wright, Geoffrey W., Peng, Huiling, Dosenbach, Nico |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 94 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/4720, Theses and Dissertations |
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