Experience of interpersonal trauma and violence alters self-other distinction and mentalising abilities (also known as theory of mind, or ToM), yet little is known about their neural correlates. This fMRI study assessed temporoparietal junction (TPJ) activation, an area strongly implicated in interpersonal processing, during spontaneous mentalising in 35 adult women with histories of childhood physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse (childhood abuse; CA) and 31 women without such experiences (unaffected comparisons; UC). Participants watched movies during which an agent formed true or false beliefs about the location of a ball, while participants always knew the true location of the ball. As hypothesised, right TPJ activation was greater for UCs compared to CAs for false vs true belief conditions. In addition, CAs showed increased functional connectivity relative to UCs between the rTPJ and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Finally, the agent's belief about the presence of the ball influenced participants' responses (ToM index), but without group differences. These findings highlight that experiencing early interpersonal trauma can alter brain areas involved in the neural processing of ToM and perspective-taking during adulthood.

中文翻译：

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早期的人际创伤会降低自发心智化过程中的颞顶交界区活动。


人际创伤和暴力的经历会改变自我与他人的区别和心智化能力（也称为心理理论，ToM），但人们对它们的神经相关性知之甚少。这项功能磁共振成像研究评估了 35 名有童年身体、性和/或情感虐待（童年虐待；CA）历史的成年女性和 31 名没有此类历史的女性在自发心智化过程中颞顶交界处（TPJ）的激活情况，该区域与人际处理密切相关。经验（不受影响的比较；UC）。参与者观看电影，在电影中特工对球的位置形成正确或错误的信念，而参与者始终知道球的真实位置。正如假设的，在错误信念和真实信念条件下，与 CA 相比，UC 的右侧 TPJ 激活程度更高。此外，相对于 UC，CA 表现出 rTPJ 和背内侧前额叶皮层之间功能连接性的增强。最后，智能体对球存在的信念影响了参与者的反应（ToM 指数），但没有群体差异。这些发现强调，经历早期的人际创伤可能会改变成年期参与思维导图神经处理和观点采择的大脑区域。