In young adults, mentalizing about known others engages the default network, with differential brain response modulated by social closeness. While the functional integrity of the default network changes with age, few studies have investigated how these changes impact the representation of known others, across levels of closeness. Young (N = 29, 16 females) and older (N = 27, 12 females) adults underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while making trait judgments for social others varying in closeness. Multivariate analyses (partial least squares) identified default network activation for trait judgments across both age cohorts. For young adults, romantic partner and self-judgments differed from other levels of social closeness and were associated with activity in default and salience networks. In contrast, default network interactivity was not modulated by social closeness for older adults. In two functional connectivity analyses, both age groups demonstrated connectivity between dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex and other default network regions during trait judgments. However older, but not young, adults also showed increased functional coupling between medial and lateral prefrontal brain regions that did not vary by category of known other. Mentalizing about others engages default and frontal brain regions in older adulthood, and this coupling is poorly modulated by social closeness.

中文翻译：

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心理认识已知他人期间的默认网络交互性受年龄和社会亲密度的影响。

在年轻人中，对已知他人进行心理思考会参与默认网络，社交差异会影响大脑的差异反应。尽管默认网络的功能完整性会随着年龄的增长而变化，但很少有研究调查这些变化如何影响紧密度之间已知其他人的表示。年轻（N  = 29，女16）和年龄更大（N = 27位女性中，有12位女性）成年人接受了功能磁共振成像（fMRI）扫描，同时对亲密程度各异的社交他人做出了性格判断。多变量分析（偏最小二乘）确定了针对两个年龄组的性状判断的默认网络激活。对于年轻人来说，浪漫的伴侣和自我判断不同于其他级别的社交亲密感，并且与默认和显着网络中的活动有关。相比之下，老年人的默认社交互动不受社交关系的调节。在两项功能连通性分析中，两个年龄组均在特征判断期间证明了背侧和腹侧内侧前额叶皮层以及其他默认网络区域之间的连通性。不管年龄多大，但都不年轻，成人还显示内侧和外侧前额脑区域之间的功能耦合增加，但未因其他已知类别而变化。对他人的心理困扰会使成年后的默认和额叶大脑区域参与进来，而这种社交关系很难被这种耦合调节。