ABSTRACT
In addition, imaging studies show activation in more posterior regions, especially the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), when participants perform mental state reasoning tasks. Furthermore, given that the TPJ also seems to be involved in processing socially meaningful cues such as gaze direction and goal-directed action, and that mental state reasoning tasks typically involve the processing of such socially meaningful cues, the precise cause of TPJ activation is unclear. Studies of brain-damaged patients can help resolve these issues. First, if damage to the TPJ causes specific impairment of mental state reasoning, then it would suggest that this region is necessary for such social-cognitive activity. Second, if such impairment cannot be explained by a deficit in processing social cues, it would suggest that this region is not only involved in low-level social perception but also in higher-level social reasoning. The patients were asked to perform a story-based and a video-based false-belief reasoning task.
