title: Differences and commonalities in the judgment of causality in physical and social contexts: an fMRI study.
abstract: Understanding cause and effect is a fundamental aspect of human cognition. When shown videos of simple two-dimensional shapes colliding, humans experience one object causing the other to move, e.g., one billiard-like ball seeming to hit and move the other. The impression of causality can also occur when people attribute social interactions to moving objects. Whether the judgment of social and physical causality engages distinct or shared neural networks is not known. In a functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) study, participants were presented with two types of dynamic videos: a blue ball colliding with a red ball (P; physical condition) and a blue ball ("Mr. Blue") passing a red ball ("Mrs. Red") without making contact (S; social condition). Participants judged causal relationships (C) or movement direction (D; control task) in both video types, resulting in four conditions (PC; SC; PD; SD). We found common neural activations for physical and social causality judgments (SC > SD)∩(PC > PD) in the right middle/inferior frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, the right supplementary motor area, and bilateral insulae. For social causal judgments (SC > PC), we found distinct neural activity in the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ). These results provide evidence for a common neural network underlying judgments of causality that apply to both physical and social situations. The results also indicate that social causality judgments recruit additional neural resources in an area critical for determining animacy and intentionality.
authors: Department of Psychiatry und Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, D-35039 Marburg, Germany. Electronic address: wendek@med.uni-marburg.de.
authors: Kim C
authors: KC
authors: Wende
authors: Arne
authors: A
authors: Nagels
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: Blos
authors: Mirjam
authors: M
authors: Stratmann
authors: Anjan
authors: A
authors: Chatterjee
authors: Tilo
authors: T
authors: Kircher
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Straube
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D015984:Causality; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011601:Psychophysics; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Cause-and-effect; Launching event; Physical causality; Social causality; fMRI