Theory of Mind in patients with ventromedial or dorsolateral prefrontal lesions following traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
Previous studies on patients with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and diffuse brain damages have reported selective deficits in mental states reasoning or 'Theory of Mind' (ToM). The goal of the current study is to investigate the fundamental role of the prefrontal cortex in two ToM components: inferential reasoning and social perception.


METHODS
Selective cognitive impairments following a TBI provide crucial evidence for assessing competing models of specific aspects of the cognitive system.


METHODS
This study compared the performance of patients with predominantly focal lesions in the ventromedial (n = 11) or dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (n = 7) with matched controls (n = 20). All subjects performed two ToM tasks: the Eyes Test and the Faux-pas Test.


RESULTS
It was found that both groups of patients performed equally poorly on the Eyes Test, but only patients with predominantly lesions in the ventromedial cortex performed poorly on the Faux-pas test. The group effects on ToM tasks could not be reduced to differences in the global severity of brain injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
These results provide evidence supporting some current models of the fractionation of the mind-reading system and support the claim that the ventromedial cortex plays a fundamental role in inferential reasoning.
Geraci
Alessandra
A
Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Corso Bettini 31, Rovereto (TN), Italy. alessandra.geraci@unitn.it
Surian
Luca
L
Ferraro
Marco
M
Cantagallo
Anna
A
D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000293:injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult