Use our Theory of Mind Group Maps

Seven Theory of Mind (ToM) regions were identified from an RFX analysis of 462 neurotypical particpants (265 females) using our ToM Localizer. The regions identified were the right and left temporoparietal junction (RTPJ, LTPJ), the precuneus (PC), the dorsal, middle and ventral components of the medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC, MMPFC and VMPFC), and the right superior temporal sulcus (RSTS). Provided here are the thresholded maps and the t-maps using the false belief > false photograph contrast from this group analysis.

If you use these group maps, please ensure to credit Dufour et al., 2013.

fMRI Methods

Participants were scanned on a 3T Siemens scanner at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology beteen 2006 and 2013. Functional data were acquired using echo-planar-imaging with voxel size of 3.125 x 3.125 mm and TE = 30ms, flip angle=90° , TR = 2 s. Slice thickness varied from 3.1 mm to 4.8 mm. Participants were scanned on either a 12- or 32-channel recive coil, both Siemens products. Data were analyzed using SPM8 and in-house software. The data were realigned to account for motion, smoothed with a 5 mm Gaussian smoothing kernel and normalized to a standard template in Montreal Neurological Institute space.

Notes

RFX was done on the false belief > false photograph contrast and thresholded at t >= 3 with a minimum cluster size of 10. The results were extremely robust resulting in:

  • a contiguous cluster containing DMPFC, MMPFC, and VMPFC
  • a contiguous cluster containing RSTS and RTPJ
  • a contiguous cluster containg LSTS and LTPJ

To ameliorate this, the following boundaries were imposed:

  • RTPJ and RSTS were separated by the axial plane at z = 4 (RSTS assigned all voxels where z < 4.)
  • LTPJ and LSTS were separated by the axial plane at z = 7.
  • DMPFC assigned all voxels z > 20.
  • MMPFC assigned all voxels 20 >= z >= 0.
  • VMPFC assigned all voxels z < 0.

With the exception of these boundaries, the entirety of the cluster was taken as the ROI. Both thresholded and t-map images (.img / .hdr) are available.

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Thresholded Maps:

T-Value Maps: