Open AccessSocial cognition and the cerebellum: A meta‐analytic connectivity analysis
Author(s) -
Van Overwalle Frank,
D'aes Tine,
Mariën Peter
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.23002
Subject(s) - mirroring , psychology , cerebellum , mentalization , neuroscience , cerebrum , reading (process) , cognition , social cognition , cognitive psychology , functional connectivity , communication , political science , law , central nervous system
This meta‐analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) study explores the functional connectivity of the cerebellum with the cerebrum in social cognitive processes. In a recent meta‐analysis, Van Overwalle, Baetens, Mariën, and Vandekerckhove ([Van Overwalle F, 2014]) documented that the cerebellum is implicated in social processes of “body” reading (mirroring; e.g., understanding other persons' intentions from observing their movements) and “mind” reading (mentalizing, e.g., inferring other persons' beliefs, intentions or personality traits, reconstructing persons' past, future, or hypothetical events). In a recent functional connectivity study, Buckner et al. ([Buckner R, 2011]) offered a novel parcellation of cerebellar topography that substantially overlaps with the cerebellar meta‐analytic findings of Van Overwalle et al. ([Van Overwalle F, 2014]). This overlap suggests that the involvement of the cerebellum in social reasoning depends on its functional connectivity with the cerebrum. To test this hypothesis, we explored the meta‐analytic co‐activations as indices of functional connectivity between the cerebellum and the cerebrum during social cognition. The MACM results confirm substantial and distinct connectivity with respect to the functions of (a) action understanding (“body” reading) and (b) mentalizing (“mind” reading). The consistent and strong connectivity findings of this analysis suggest that cerebellar activity during social judgments reflects distinct mirroring and mentalizing functionality, and that these cerebellar functions are connected with corresponding functional networks in the cerebrum. Hum Brain Mapp 36:5137–5154, 2015 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.