Activation of the left medial temporal gyrus and adjacent brain areas during affective theory of mind processing correlates with trait schizotypy in a nonclinical population

Neural Basis of Pain Empathy Dysregulations in Mental Disorders: A Preregistered Neuroimaging Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Pain empathy represents a fundamental building block of several social functions, which have been demonstrated to be impaired across various mental disorders by accumulating evidence from case-control functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. However, it remains unclear whether the dysregulations are underpinned by robust neural alterations across mental disorders.

METHODS

This study utilized coordinate-based meta-analyses to quantitatively determine robust markers of altered pain empathy across mental disorders. To support the interpretation of the findings, exploratory network-level and behavioral meta-analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Quantitative analysis of 11 case-control functional magnetic resonance imaging studies with data from 296 patients and 229 control participants revealed that patients with mental disorders exhibited increased pain empathic reactivity in the left anterior cingulate gyrus, adjacent medial prefrontal cortex, and right middle temporal gyrus but decreased activity in the left cerebellum IV/V and left middle occipital gyrus compared with control participants. The hyperactive regions showed network-level interactions with the core default mode network and were associated with affective and social cognitive domains.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that pain empathic alterations across mental disorders are underpinned by excessive empathic reactivity in brain systems involved in empathic distress and social processes, highlighting a shared therapeutic target to normalize basal social dysfunctions in mental disorders.

Neural activations during cognitive and affective theory of mind processing in healthy adults with a family history of alcohol use disorder

BACKGROUND

Social cognition impairments are a common feature of alcohol use disorders (AUD). However, it remains unclear whether these impairments are solely the consequence of chronic alcohol consumption or whether they could be a marker of vulnerability.

METHODS

The present study implemented a family history approach to address this question for a key process of social cognition: theory of mind (ToM). Thirty healthy adults with a family history of AUD (FH+) and 30 healthy adults with a negative family history of AUD (FH-), matched for age, sex, and education level, underwent an fMRI cartoon-vignette paradigm assessing cognitive and affective ToM. Participants also completed questionnaires evaluating anxiety, depressive symptoms, childhood trauma, and alexithymia.

RESULTS

Results indicated that FH+ individuals differed from FH- individuals on affective but not cognitive ToM processing, at both the behavioral and neural levels. At the behavioral level, the FH+ group had lower response accuracy for affective ToM compared with the FH- group. At the neural level, the FH+ group had higher brain activations in the left insula and inferior frontal cortex during affective ToM processing. These activations remained significant when controlling for depressive symptoms, anxiety, and childhood trauma.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight difficulties during affective ToM processing among first-degree relatives of AUD patients, supporting the idea that some of the impairments exhibited by these patients may already be present before the onset of AUD and may be considered a marker of vulnerability.