title: Individual differences in anthropomorphic attributions and human brain structure.
abstract: Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to animals, non-living things or natural phenomena. It is pervasive among humans, yet nonetheless exhibits a high degree of inter-individual variability. We hypothesized that brain areas associated with anthropomorphic thinking might be similar to those engaged in the attribution of mental states to other humans, the so-called 'theory of mind' or mentalizing network. To test this hypothesis, we related brain structure measured using magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 83 healthy young adults to a simple, self-report questionnaire that measured the extent to which our participants made anthropomorphic attributions about non-human animals and non-animal stimuli. We found that individual differences in anthropomorphism for non-human animals correlated with the grey matter volume of the left temporoparietal junction, a brain area involved in mentalizing. Our data support previous work indicating a link between areas of the brain involved in attributing mental states to other humans and those involved in anthropomorphism.
authors.affiliation: UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK harriet.cullen@doctors.org.uk.
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.affiliation: UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kanai
authors.affiliation: UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
authors.forename: Bahador
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bahrami
authors.affiliation: UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR and Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
authors.forename: Geraint
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rees
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007206:Individuality; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anthropomorphism; mentalizing and VBM; temporoparietal junction