Neuroimaging research has demonstrated that mentalizing about false beliefs held by other people recruits the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). However, earlier work was limited to a single agent that held a false belief. We investigated the effect of two agents that held similar or mixed false and/or true beliefs. Participants saw animated stories with two smurfs holding true or false beliefs (Story phase). At the end of each trial, they were requested to take the perspective of the self or one of the smurfs (Question phase). We predicted that an increasing number of smurfs holding a false belief would increase activation in the TPJ when participants have to report the belief of the smurf, because the incongruent belief should have a stronger influence if it is held by two compared with one agent. This prediction was confirmed as activation in the TPJ during the Story and Question phase increased when more smurfs held a false belief. Taking the perspective of the self led to stronger activation of the TPJ in the two conditions that involved a true belief and weakest activation in the condition of two false beliefs. These data suggest that activation in TPJ depends on the perspective participants take, and that the number of agents holding a false belief influences activation in the TPJ only when taking the agent's perspective.

中文翻译：

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由两个主体持有的精神信念的神经表示。

神经影像学研究表明，对其他人的错误信念进行心理思考会招募颞顶交界处（TPJ）。但是，早期的工作仅限于持有错误信念的单一代理人。我们调查了持有相似或混合的错误和/或真实信念的两种媒介的影响。参与者看到了带有两个抱着正确或错误信念的蓝精灵的动画故事（故事阶段）。在每次试验结束时，要求他们采取自我或蓝精灵之一的观点（问题阶段）。我们预测，当参与者不得不报告蓝精灵的信念时，持有错误信念的蓝精灵数量会增加TPJ的激活，因为与两个代理人相比，如果两个人持有非一致的信念，其影响力会更大。当更多蓝精灵抱有错误信念时，故事和问题阶段中TPJ的激活增加证实了这一预测。从自我的角度出发，在涉及真实信念的两种情况下，TPJ的激活更强，而在两种错误信念的情况下，TPJ的激活最弱。这些数据表明TPJ中的激活取决于参与者所采取的观点，并且持有错误信念的特工人数仅在采用特工的观点时才影响TPJ中的激活。