PMID- 21954949
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20120224
LR  - 20221207
IS  - 1747-0927 (Electronic)
IS  - 1747-0919 (Linking)
VI  - 6
IP  - 5-6
DP  - 2011
TI  - Transcultural differences in brain activation patterns during theory of mind 
      (ToM) task performance in Japanese and Caucasian participants.
PG  - 615-26
LID - 10.1080/17470919.2011.620763 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Theory of mind (ToM) functioning develops during certain phases of 
      childhood. Factors such as language development and educational style seem to 
      influence its development. Some studies that have focused on transcultural 
      aspects of ToM development have found differences between Asian and Western 
      cultures. To date, however, little is known about transcultural differences in 
      neural activation patterns as they relate to ToM functioning. EXPERIMENTAL 
      METHODS: The aim of our study was to observe ToM functioning and differences in 
      brain activation patterns, as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging 
      (fMRI). This study included a sample of 18 healthy Japanese and 15 healthy 
      Caucasian subjects living in Japan. We presented a ToM task depicting geometrical 
      shapes moving in social patterns. We also administered questionnaires to examine 
      empathy abilities and cultural background factors. RESULTS: Behavioral data 
      showed no significant group differences in the subjects' post-scan descriptions 
      of the movies. The imaging results displayed stronger activation in the medial 
      prefrontal cortex (MPFC) in the Caucasian sample during the presentation of ToM 
      videos. Furthermore, the task-associated activation of the MPFC was positively 
      correlated with autistic and alexithymic features in the Japanese sample. 
      DISCUSSION: In summary, our results showed evidence of culturally dependent 
      sociobehavioral trait patterns, which suggests that they have an impact on brain 
      activation patterns during information processing involving ToM.
FAU - Koelkebeck, Katja
AU  - Koelkebeck K
AD  - Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Munster, Munster, 
      Germany. katja.koelkebeck@ukmuenster.de
FAU - Hirao, Kazuyuki
AU  - Hirao K
FAU - Kawada, Ryousaku
AU  - Kawada R
FAU - Miyata, Jun
AU  - Miyata J
FAU - Saze, Teruyasu
AU  - Saze T
FAU - Ubukata, Shiho
AU  - Ubukata S
FAU - Itakura, Shoji
AU  - Itakura S
FAU - Kanakogi, Yasuhiro
AU  - Kanakogi Y
FAU - Ohrmann, Patricia
AU  - Ohrmann P
FAU - Bauer, Jochen
AU  - Bauer J
FAU - Pedersen, Anya
AU  - Pedersen A
FAU - Sawamoto, Nobukatsu
AU  - Sawamoto N
FAU - Fukuyama, Hidenao
AU  - Fukuyama H
FAU - Takahashi, Hidehiko
AU  - Takahashi H
FAU - Murai, Toshiya
AU  - Murai T
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20110929
PL  - England
TA  - Soc Neurosci
JT  - Social neuroscience
JID - 101279009
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Asian People
MH  - Brain/*physiology
MH  - *Brain Mapping
MH  - *Cultural Characteristics
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MH  - Male
MH  - Photic Stimulation
MH  - Task Performance and Analysis
MH  - Theory of Mind/*physiology
MH  - White People
EDAT- 2011/10/01 06:00
MHDA- 2012/03/01 06:00
CRDT- 2011/09/30 06:00
PHST- 2011/09/30 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/10/01 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2012/03/01 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1080/17470919.2011.620763 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Soc Neurosci. 2011;6(5-6):615-26. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2011.620763. Epub 2011 
      Sep 29.