title: Theory of mind in schizophrenia: exploring neural mechanisms of belief attribution.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although previous behavioral studies have shown that schizophrenia patients have impaired theory of mind (ToM), the neural mechanisms associated with this impairment are poorly understood. This study aimed to identify the neural mechanisms of ToM in schizophrenia, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a belief attribution task.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the scanner, 12 schizophrenia patients and 13 healthy control subjects performed the belief attribution task with three conditions: a false belief condition, a false photograph condition, and a simple reading condition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the false belief versus simple reading conditions, schizophrenia patients showed reduced neural activation in areas including the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) compared with controls. Further, during the false belief versus false photograph conditions, we observed increased activations in the TPJ and the MPFC in healthy controls, but not in schizophrenia patients. For the false photograph versus simple reading condition, both groups showed comparable neural activations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Schizophrenia patients showed reduced task-related activation in the TPJ and the MPFC during the false belief condition compared with controls, but not for the false photograph condition. This pattern suggests that reduced activation in these regions is associated with, and specific to, impaired ToM in schizophrenia.
authors: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-6968, USA. jungheelee@ucla.edu
authors: Junghee
authors: J
authors: Lee
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Quintana
authors: Poorang
authors: P
authors: Nori
authors: Michael F
authors: MF
authors: Green
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult