title: Do you mean me? Communicative intentions recruit the mirror and the mentalizing system.
abstract: Being able to comprehend communicative intentions and to recognize whether such intentions are directed toward us or not is extremely important in social interaction. Two brain systems, the mentalizing and the mirror neuron system, have been proposed to underlie intention recognition. However, little is still known about how the systems cooperate within the process of communicative intention understanding and to what degree they respond to self-directed and other-directed stimuli. To investigate the role of the mentalizing and the mirror neuron system, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging with four types of action sequence: communicative and private intentions as well as other-directed and self-directed intentions. Categorical and functional connectivity analyses showed that both systems contribute to the encoding of communicative intentions and that both systems are significantly stronger activated and more strongly coupled in self-directed communicative actions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University, Deutschordenstr. 50, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany, Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123 Turin, Italy, and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Mind and Brain Research, Charité, University of Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charité Platz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany angela.ciaramidaro@kgu.de.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciaramidaro
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University, Deutschordenstr. 50, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany, Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123 Turin, Italy, and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Mind and Brain Research, Charité, University of Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charité Platz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Becchio
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University, Deutschordenstr. 50, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany, Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123 Turin, Italy, and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Mind and Brain Research, Charité, University of Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charité Platz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Livia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Colle
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University, Deutschordenstr. 50, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany, Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123 Turin, Italy, and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Mind and Brain Research, Charité, University of Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charité Platz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Bruno G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Bara
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University, Deutschordenstr. 50, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany, Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, Via Po 14, 10123 Turin, Italy, and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Division of Mind and Brain Research, Charité, University of Berlin, Campus Mitte, Charité Platz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walter
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture; D011601:Psychophysics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: communicative intentions; mentalizing; mirror system; second-person interaction