Neural substrates of theory of mind in adults with autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study of the social animation task

Although the neural mechanisms of the theory of mind (ToM) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through fMRI using the social animation task have been investigated, little is known in adults with ASD. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the neural substrates of ToM in adults with ASD. Moreover, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between brain activation and behavior of social interaction in adults with ASD.Twenty-four healthy controls and 24 adults with the clinical diagnosis of ASD were recruited. Participants were asked to complete the social animation task in functional magnetic resonance imaging. The imaging analyses of within (whole brain analysis) and between (5 regions of interest) group comparisons were conducted to explore the process of ToM. The correlation analyses were further conducted to explore the relationship between neural activations associated with ToM and social interaction abilities assessed by ADI-R.The ASD group showed greater activation in the left precuneus and right superior temporal gyrus (STG) than the control group. For correlation analyses, greater right STG activation was positively correlated with autistic symptoms assessed by the ADI-R in the ASD group.ASD adults might spend a lot of effort on identification processing, thereby influencing social communication skills. Also, the neural deficits of ToM in ASD adults might be associated with their social interaction difficulties.