| Watching cartoons activates the medial prefrontal cortex in children |
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| 作者姓名： | HAN ShiHui JIANG Yi Glyn W. HUMPHREYS |
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| 作者单位： | [1]Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China [2]Functional Imaging Center, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China [3]Behavioral Brain Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK |
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| 基金项目： | Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30630025)，the Medical Research Council (UK) |
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| 摘 要： | The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) of human adults is involved in attributing mental states to real human agents but not to virtual artificial characters. This study examined whether such differential MPFC activity can be observed in children who are more fascinated by cartoons than adults. We measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while 10-year-old children watched movie and cartoon clips, simulating real and virtual visual worlds, respectively. We showed neuroimaging evidence that, in contrast to adults, the MPFC of children was activated when perceiving both human agents and artificial characters in coherent visual events. Our findings suggest that, around the age of 10 years, the MPFC activity in children is different from that in adults in that it can be spontaneously activated by non-human agents in a virtual visual world.
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| 关 键 词： | fMRI MPFC 漫画 刺激 中间脑前额皮层 小孩 |
| 收稿时间： | 2007-03-16 |
| 修稿时间： | 2007-09-05 |
Watching cartoons activates the medial prefrontal cortex in children |
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| HAN ShiHui JIANG Yi Glyn W. HUMPHREYS.Watching cartoons activates the medial prefrontal cortex in children[J].Chinese Science Bulletin,2007,52(24):3371-3375. |
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| Authors: | ShiHui Han Yi Jiang Glyn W Humphreys |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China;(2) Functional Imaging Center, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China;(3) Behavioral Brain Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK |
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| Abstract: | The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) of human adults is involved in attributing mental states to real human agents but not to virtual artificial characters. This study examined whether such differential MPFC activity can be observed in children who are more fascinated by cartoons than adults. We measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while 10-year-old children watched movie and cartoon clips, simulating real and virtual visual worlds, respectively. We showed neuroimaging evidence that, in contrast to adults, the MPFC of children was activated when perceiving both human agents and artificial characters in coherent visual events. Our findings suggest that, around the age of 10 years, the MPFC activity in children is different from that in adults in that it can be spontaneously activated by non-human agents in a virtual visual world. |
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| Keywords: | fMRI theory-of-mind MPFC children cartoon |
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