PMID- 19929761
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20101130
LR  - 20140325
IS  - 1530-8898 (Electronic)
IS  - 0898-929X (Linking)
VI  - 22
IP  - 12
DP  - 2010 Dec
TI  - Minds made for sharing: initiating joint attention recruits reward-related 
      neurocircuitry.
PG  - 2702-15
LID - 10.1162/jocn.2009.21401 [doi]
AB  - The ability and motivation to share attention is a unique aspect of human 
      cognition. Despite its significance, the neural basis remains elusive. To 
      investigate the neural correlates of joint attention, we developed a novel, 
      interactive research paradigm in which participants' gaze behavior--as measured 
      by an eye tracking device--was used to contingently control the gaze of a 
      computer-animated character. Instructed that the character on screen was 
      controlled by a real person outside the scanner, 21 participants interacted with 
      the virtual other while undergoing fMRI. Experimental variations focused on 
      leading versus following the gaze of the character when fixating one of three 
      objects also shown on the screen. In concordance with our hypotheses, results 
      demonstrate, firstly, that following someone else's gaze to engage in joint 
      attention resulted in activation of anterior portion of medial prefrontal cortex 
      (MPFC) known to be involved in the supramodal coordination of perceptual and 
      cognitive processes. Secondly, directing someone else's gaze toward an object 
      activated the ventral striatum which--in light of ratings obtained from 
      participants--appears to underlie the hedonic aspects of sharing attention. The 
      data, therefore, support the idea that other-initiated joint attention relies 
      upon recruitment of MPFC previously related to the "meeting of minds." In 
      contrast, self-initiated joint attention leads to a differential increase of 
      neural activity in reward-related brain areas, which might contribute to the 
      uniquely human motivation to engage in the sharing of experiences.
FAU - Schilbach, Leonhard
AU  - Schilbach L
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. 
      leonhard.schilbach@uk-koeln.de
FAU - Wilms, Marcus
AU  - Wilms M
FAU - Eickhoff, Simon B
AU  - Eickhoff SB
FAU - Romanzetti, Sandro
AU  - Romanzetti S
FAU - Tepest, Ralf
AU  - Tepest R
FAU - Bente, Gary
AU  - Bente G
FAU - Shah, N Jon
AU  - Shah NJ
FAU - Fink, Gereon R
AU  - Fink GR
FAU - Vogeley, Kai
AU  - Vogeley K
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - United States
TA  - J Cogn Neurosci
JT  - Journal of cognitive neuroscience
JID - 8910747
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Analysis of Variance
MH  - Attention/*physiology
MH  - Brain Mapping
MH  - Eye Movements/*physiology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
MH  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MH  - Male
MH  - Motivation/*physiology
MH  - Nerve Net/*physiology
MH  - Photic Stimulation
MH  - Prefrontal Cortex/*physiology
MH  - *Reward
EDAT- 2009/11/26 06:00
MHDA- 2010/12/14 06:00
CRDT- 2009/11/26 06:00
PHST- 2009/11/26 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2009/11/26 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2010/12/14 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1162/jocn.2009.21401 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Cogn Neurosci. 2010 Dec;22(12):2702-15. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21401.