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      Intentional Minds: A Philosophical Analysis of Intention Tested through fMRI Experiments Involving People with Schizophrenia, People with Autism, and Healthy Individuals

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          Abstract

          In this paper we show how we empirically tested one of the most relevant topics in philosophy of mind through a series of fMRI experiments: the classification of different types of intention. To this aim, firstly we trace a theoretical distinction among private, prospective, and communicative intentions. Second, we propose a set of predictions concerning the recognition of these three types of intention in healthy individuals, and we report the experimental results corroborating our theoretical model of intention. Third, we derive from our model predictions relevant for the domain of psychopathological functioning. In particular, we treat the cases of both hyper-intentionality (as in paranoid schizophrenia) and hypo-intentionality (as in autistic spectrum disorders). Our conclusion is that the theoretical model of intention we propose contributes to enlarge our knowledge on the neurobiological bases of intention processing, in both healthy people and in people with impairments to the neurocognitive system that underlies intention recognition.

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          Most cited references48

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          The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit: interpretations and misinterpretations.

          The parieto-frontal cortical circuit that is active during action observation is the circuit with mirror properties that has been most extensively studied. Yet, there remains controversy on its role in social cognition and its contribution to understanding the actions and intentions of other individuals. Recent studies in monkeys and humans have shed light on what the parieto-frontal cortical circuit encodes and its possible functional relevance for cognition. We conclude that, although there are several mechanisms through which one can understand the behaviour of other individuals, the parieto-frontal mechanism is the only one that allows an individual to understand the action of others 'from the inside' and gives the observer a first-person grasp of the motor goals and intentions of other individuals.
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            People thinking about thinking people. The role of the temporo-parietal junction in "theory of mind".

            Humans powerfully and flexibly interpret the behaviour of other people based on an understanding of their minds: that is, we use a "theory of mind." In this study we distinguish theory of mind, which represents another person's mental states, from a representation of the simple presence of another person per se. The studies reported here establish for the first time that a region in the human temporo-parietal junction (here called the TPJ-M) is involved specifically in reasoning about the contents of another person's mind. First, the TPJ-M was doubly dissociated from the nearby extrastriate body area (EBA; Downing et al., 2001). Second, the TPJ-M does not respond to false representations in non-social control stories. Third, the BOLD response in the TPJ-M bilaterally was higher when subjects read stories about a character's mental states, compared with stories that described people in physical detail, which did not differ from stories about nonhuman objects. Thus, the role of the TPJ-M in understanding other people appears to be specific to reasoning about the content of mental states.
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              Functional imaging of 'theory of mind'

              Our ability to explain and predict other people's behaviour by attributing to them independent mental states, such as beliefs and desires, is known as having a 'theory of mind'. Interest in this very human ability has engendered a growing body of evidence concerning its evolution and development and the biological basis of the mechanisms underpinning it. Functional imaging has played a key role in seeking to isolate brain regions specific to this ability. Three areas are consistently activated in association with theory of mind. These are the anterior paracingulate cortex, the superior temporal sulci and the temporal poles bilaterally. This review discusses the functional significance of each of these areas within a social cognitive network.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Front Hum Neurosci
                Front. Hum. Neurosci.
                Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
                Frontiers Research Foundation
                1662-5161
                02 February 2011
                2011
                : 5
                : 7
                Affiliations
                [1] 1simpleDepartment of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin Turin, Italy
                [2] 2simpleNeuroscience Institute of Turin, University of Turin Turin, Italy
                [3] 3simpleDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany
                Author notes

                Edited by: Ivan Toni, Radboud University, Netherlands

                Reviewed by: Ivan Toni, Radboud University, Netherlands; Roel M. Willems, University of California Berkeley, USA

                *Correspondence: Bruno G. Bara, Department of Psychology, Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, via Po 14, 10123 Turin, Italy. e-mail: bruno.bara@ 123456unito.it
                Article
                10.3389/fnhum.2011.00007
                3034216
                21344005
                07e7be45-23e0-43b7-8c88-58101d07a214
                Copyright © 2011 Bara, Ciaramidaro, Walter and Adenzato.

                This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

                History
                : 20 July 2010
                : 10 January 2011
                Page count
                Figures: 8, Tables: 0, Equations: 0, References: 83, Pages: 11, Words: 9524
                Categories
                Neuroscience
                Review Article

                Neurosciences
                medial prefrontal cortex,autism,theory of mind,communicative intention,social cognition,schizophrenia,fmri,prior intention

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