Work

Temporo-parietal cortex involved in modeling one’s own and others’ attention

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: In a traditional view, in social cognition, attention is equated with gaze and people track attention by tracking other people’s gaze. Here we used fMRI to test whether the brain represents attention in a richer manner. People read stories describing an agent (either oneself or someone else) directing attention to an object in one of two ways: either internally directed (endogenous) or externally induced (exogenous). We used multivoxel pattern analysis to examine how brain areas within the theory-of-mind network encoded attention type and agent type. Brain activity patterns in the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) showed significant decoding of information about endogenous versus exogenous attention. The left TPJ, left superior temporal sulcus (STS), precuneus, and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) significantly decoded agent type (self versus other). These findings show that the brain constructs a rich model of one’s own and others’ attentional state, possibly aiding theory of mind. Impact statement This study used fMRI to show that the human brain encodes other people’s attention in enough richness to distinguish whether that attention was directed exogenously (stimulus-driven) or endogenously (internally driven).

Source: eLife

DOI: 10.7554/elife.63551

Authors: Arvid Guterstam, Branden J Bio, Andrew I Wilterson, Michael SA Graziano

Institutions: Princeton University, Karolinska Institutet

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,500