Neural Correlates of Theory of Mind in Patients with Euthymic Bipolar Disorder : Comparison with Normal Subjects

Euthymic bipolar patients show impaired cognitive functioning and emotional regulation. However, few studies have examined the theory of mind including the inferring process from connversation in virtual reality in bipolar euthymic patients. This study investigated the cognitive processes with emotional loading and its underlying neural mechanisms in euthymic bipolar patients. Fourteen euthymic bipolar patients and 14 healthy comparison subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while listening to and inferring from the ambiguous(test) or simple(control) speech task conversed by virtual avatars with happy, neutral or angry emotion. We assessed brain responses associated with the listening and inference of different tasks and also the impact of emotional loading on the task inference. Euthymic bipolar patients showed decreased activity in the right middle frontal gyrus(BA9) during the listening process, as well as in the right inferior/middle frontal gyri(BA45/6) and the right insular lobe during the inferring process when contrasting between the emotional ambiguous and nonemotional control tasks. In contrast, bipolar patients exhibited no activity change during the listening and inferring processes when comparing nonemotional ambiguous to control tasks. Reduced activity of right inferior/middle frontal gyri and insular lobe in euthymic bipolar patients as compared to healthy subjects is suggestive of cognitive processing deficits during the inferring process under the influence of emotional loading and probable right hemisphere dysfunction in euthymic bipolar disorder.

Author dc:creator

• 조, 현상

Contributors dc:contributor

• 정, 영기
• 대학원 의학과
• 199824488

• 양극성 장애
• 마음추론
• 신경 활성
• 정서
• 가상현실
• Bipolar Disorder
• Neural Activity
• Theory of Mind
• Emotion
• Virtual Reality

Language dc:language

ko

Identifier

http://dcoll.ajou.ac.kr:9080/dcollection/jsp/common/DcLoOrgPer.jsp?sItemId=000000005878
000000005878

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.ajou.ac.kr:201003/1845