How Control and Reasoning Processes Contribute to Adult Mentalizing
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
TOWARDS A NEUROCOGNITIVE THEORY OF MIND: HOW CONTROL AND REASONING PROCESSES CONTRIBUTE TO ADULT MENTALIZING by CHARLOTTE EMILY HARTWRIGHT A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Psychology College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Birmingham October 2013 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT A series of neuroimaging experiments were conducted using adult participants to explore the neurocognitive bases of reasoning and control processes in Theory of Mind (ToM). Through careful manipulation of psychologically relevant parameters, these were designed to modulate neural regions considered important for ToM, the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), alongside regions more typically associated with executive function, the ventrolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices (vlPFC / dmPFC respectively). This enabled close inspection of the functional profile of these regions, in the context of mentalizing. The core findings were: 1) TPJ was modulated by the valence of mental states. Thus, TPJ does not simply respond to mental representation; the content of the representation is important. 2) The presence of activation in rostral mPFC was manipulated by varying the mode of reasoning. Context is therefore relevant to how adults approach ToM. 3) A neural dissociation was identified between two accounts of control processes for ToM in vlPFC and dmPFC. Such processes mediate the expression of certain ToM concepts. Together, these findings suggest that a neurocognitive account of ToM should describe a flexible system which adapts to the specific conceptual and contextual demands of the social world at that time. ii ~ FOR BERTIE ~ with fond memories of the Brain Club iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my PhD supervisors, Professor Ian Apperly and Dr Peter Hansen. Thank you for many hours of academic mentoring and scientific instruction. Ian, thank you for the thought provoking exchange over the years; your ability to fractionate complex psychological phenomena is incredible and has provided much inspiration. Peter, your technical instruction has been absolutely first class. Thank you for giving me such a comprehensive background in imaging. Thank you also for introducing me to a lasting friend; I will forever enjoy the benefits of being able to streamline my work processes with Bash. Thank you also to my dear friends Blaire, Chloé, Emily, Magda and Sam. Thank you for listening to me prattle on about ill-structured syntax, faulty chillers and excessive head motion. The coffee might have always been good, but I suspect at times my company wasn’t! Thank you to my family. You all have done so much to support me during my studies. Thank you, Nan, for your endless enthusiasm for my academic pursuits. Mum, thank you for the many hours of first class grand parenting; for getting out the ‘ticka tocka’ whilst I quietly shuffle off to the study. Thank you, Dad, for countless roasts with those monolithic Yorkshires – a welcome break from many hours spent writing scripts or analyzing data. Lastly, thank you to Rod. Without you, I would never have had the confidence to embark on this journey, instead, forever feeling unfulfilled by corporate drudgery. Thank you for always believing in me, for providing encouragement and eternal positivity. Thank you for being a support every day; for being the (pilot) pilot participant, the peer reviewer and the IT helpdesk, whilst remaining my wonderful, loving husband. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: 1 INTRODUCTION 2 The Role of Misinformation in Representation 4 False Belief / Photo Task Overview 6 Emergence, Expression and Executive Functions 7 A Social Cognitive Neuroscience of Theory of Mind 12 Neural Regions of Interest 17 Thesis Structure 19 CHAPTER 2: 22 MULTIPLE ROLES FOR EXECUTIVE CONTROL IN BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING: DISTINCT NEURAL NETWORKS ARE RECRUITED FOR SELF PERSPECTIVE INHIBITION AND COMPLEXITY OF REASONING 22 ABSTRACT 23 INTRODUCTION 23 Mental State Valence and the ToM Network 30 Mental State Valence and Neural Regions for Executive Control 31 Neurocognitive Processes for Belief and Desire 32 METHOD 32 Belief-Desire Reasoning Experiment 34 Theory of Mind Localizer Experiment 37 RESULTS 41 Belief-Desire Reasoning Experiment 43 Theory of Mind Localizer Experiment 47 ROI Results 50 DISCUSSION 52 Mental State Valence and the ToM Network 52 Mental State Valence and Neural Regions for Executive Control 54 v Neurocognitive Processes for Belief and Desire 56 CONCLUSION 59 CHAPTER 3: 61 REPRESENTATION, CONTROL OR REASONING? DISTINCT FUNCTIONS FOR THEORY OF MIND WITHIN THE MEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX 61 ABSTRACT 62 INTRODUCTION 62 ToM: A Task Analysis 63 METHOD 69 Social Judgements Experiment 70 RESULTS 77 Whole Brain Analysis 78 Contrast Masking Analysis 83 DISCUSSION 89 Conflict Monitoring, Control and the dmPFC 89 ToM Reasoning and the rmPFC 90 Cognitive versus Affective ToM. 93 Representing Mental States 94 CHAPTER 4: 96 A CAUSAL ROLE FOR RIGHT VENTROLATERAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX IN SELF PERSPECTIVE INHIBITION? A PERTURBATION STUDY OF BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING 96 ABSTRACT 97 INTRODUCTION 97 METHOD 101 Game Show Experiment 102 Control Task 106 RESULTS 109 vi Game Show Experiment 109 Control Task 111 DISCUSSION 113 CHAPTER 5: 118 THE SPECIAL CASE OF SELF PERSPECTIVE INHIBITION IN MENTAL, BUT NOT NON-MENTAL, REPRESENTATION 118 ABSTRACT 119 INTRODUCTION 119 METHOD 127 Modified Theory of Mind Localizer Experiment 127 RESULTS 136 DISCUSSION 146 CHAPTER 6: 152 GENERAL DISCUSSION 152 INTRODUCTION 153 Summary of Empirical Results and General Conclusions 155 Activation in the Temporoparietal Junction Reflects ToM Content 160 A Functional Subdivision within the Medial Prefrontal Cortex 164 A Laterality Effect in the Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex 171 LIMITATIONS 176 CONCLUSIONS 178 REFERENCES 180 APPENDIX 1 192 PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION 192 Online Screening 192 Behavioural Pre-screen 193 vii APPENDIX 2 195 ADDITIONAL SCREENING FOR TMS 195 viii LIST OF FIGURES FIG. 1. NEURAL REGIONS OF PARTICULAR RELEVANCE ..................................................................................................18 FIG. 2. METHOD: BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING PARADIGM...............................................................................................36 FIG. 3. RESULTS: BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING BEHAVIOURAL DATA ...................................................................................42 FIG. 4. RESULTS: BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING WHOLE BRAIN ANALYSIS ..............................................................................46 FIG. 5. RESULTS: BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING & LOCALIZER TASK OVERLAP ANALYSIS ............................................................49 FIG. 6. RESULTS: BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING REGION OF INTEREST ANALYSIS ......................................................................51 FIG. 7. METHOD: SOCIAL JUDGEMENTS PARADIGM ......................................................................................................74 FIG. 8. RESULTS: SOCIAL JUDGMENTS TASK BEHAVIOURAL DATA .....................................................................................79 FIG. 9. RESULTS: SOCIAL JUDGMENTS TASK WHOLE BRAIN ANALYSIS ................................................................................82 FIG. 20. RESULTS: SOCIAL JUDGMENTS TASK CONTRAST MASKING ANALYSIS ......................................................................88 FIG. 21. METHOD: GAME SHOW TASK PARADIGM ..................................................................................................... 105 FIG. 22. METHOD: CONTROL TASK PARADIGM .......................................................................................................... 107 FIG. 23. RESULTS: GAME SHOW TASK BEHAVIOURAL DATA .......................................................................................... 110 FIG. 24. RESULTS: CONTROL TASK BEHAVIOURAL DATA............................................................................................... 112 FIG. 25. RESULTS: MODIFIED TOM LOCALIZER BEHAVIOURAL DATA ............................................................................... 137 FIG. 26. RESULTS: MODIFIED TOM LOCALIZER CONFIRMATORY ANALYSIS ....................................................................... 141 FIG. 27. RESULTS: MODIFIED TOM LOCALIZER FACTORIAL ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 144 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 CLUSTER PEAKS FOR THE BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING TASK: FACTOR OF BELIEF-VALENCE ............................................44 TABLE 2 CLUSTER PEAKS FOR THE BELIEF-DESIRE REASONING TASK: FACTOR OF DESIRE-VALENCE............................................45 TABLE 3 CLUSTER PEAKS FOR THE TOM LOCALIZER TASK, SHOWING ACTIVATION WHERE FALSE BELIEF > FALSE PHOTOGRAPH ........48 TABLE 4 FACTORIAL ANALYSIS OF BELIEF AND DESIRE ....................................................................................................80