Abstract Details

Title Affective and Cognitive Theory of Mind Networks in Young Healthy Individuals

Topic Aging, Dementia, and Behavioral Neurology

Presentation(s) P2 - Poster Session 2 (11:45 AM-12:45 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 9-007

Objective To identify core regions specifically and differentially involved in the two networks mediating cognitive and affective Theory of Mind (ToM) in young healthy individuals.

Background ToM refers to the ability to infer others’ beliefs (cognitive ToM) and to understand others’ emotions (affective ToM). Despite the identification of several brain areas related to these skills, no definitive consensus has been reached as regards the underlying brain networks, and only a few neuroimaging studies investigated functional connectivity (FC) in non-clinical settings, especially in healthy adults at a young age, when brain circuits are still not affected by aging.

Design/Methods 50 healthy subjects (23 females; age: 25±3) underwent resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) and a neuropsychological evaluation. Based on a recent metanalysis on healthy middle-aged adults, two regions of interest were created as main nodes for affective and cognitive ToM, respectively: left medial prefrontal cortex (lmPFC) and right supramarginal gyrus (rSMG). A seed-based RS-FC analysis was performed between the two nodes, separately, and the rest of the brain.

Results We observed that the lmPFC FC included an anterior and ventral network encompassing left supplementary motor area, left temporal pole, and, bilaterally, precentral gyrus and insula. On the other hand, the rSMG FC encompassed a more posterior and dorsolateral network including right precuneus, left inferior parietal gyrus and middle occipital gyrus, bilateral angular gyrus, and cerebellum crus I and II. Overlapping brain areas shared by both networks were inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, temporoparietal junction, and anterior cingulate cortex bilaterally.

Conclusions

In line with existing literature, seed-based RS-FC analysis revealed two distinct, but interdependent ToM systems. These findings provide a model to evaluate the integrity of such networks also in a clinical scenario and may serve to compare network deterioration across different neurodegenerative diseases, preferentially in the Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Spectrum of disorders.

Authors/Disclosures
Edoardo G. Spinelli, MD PRESENTER	Dr. Spinelli has nothing to disclose.
Elisa Canu (Ospedale San Raffaele)	The institution of Elisa Canu has received research support from Italian Ministry of Health .
Chiara Tripodi	No disclosure on file
Anna Marangon	No disclosure on file
Veronica Castelnovo, MSc (San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University)	Dr. Castelnovo has nothing to disclose.
Silvia Basaia	Silvia Basaia has nothing to disclose.
Federica Agosta (San Raffaele Scientific Institute)	Federica Agosta has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Speakers Bureau for Philips. Federica Agosta has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Elsevier INC.
Massimo Filippi, MD, FAAN (Ospedale San Raffaele, Neuroimaging Research Unit)	Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as a Consultant for Alexion, Almirall, Biogen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi. Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Alexion, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Sanofi-Aventis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Takeda. Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Speakers Bureau for Bayer, Biogen, Celgene, Chiesi Italia SpA, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Janssen, Merck-Serono, Neopharmed Gentili, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Sanofi, Takeda, and TEVA. Dr. Filippi has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Springer Nature. The institution of Dr. Filippi has received research support from Biogen Idec, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, the Italian Ministry of Health, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, and Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla.

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