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. 2014 Sep;9(9):1276-80.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nst109. Epub 2013 Jul 24.

Individual differences in anthropomorphic attributions and human brain structure

Harriet Cullen  1 , Ryota Kanai  2 , Bahador Bahrami  2 , Geraint Rees  3
Affiliations

Individual differences in anthropomorphic attributions and human brain structure

Harriet Cullen et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to animals, non-living things or natural phenomena. It is pervasive among humans, yet nonetheless exhibits a high degree of inter-individual variability. We hypothesized that brain areas associated with anthropomorphic thinking might be similar to those engaged in the attribution of mental states to other humans, the so-called 'theory of mind' or mentalizing network. To test this hypothesis, we related brain structure measured using magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 83 healthy young adults to a simple, self-report questionnaire that measured the extent to which our participants made anthropomorphic attributions about non-human animals and non-animal stimuli. We found that individual differences in anthropomorphism for non-human animals correlated with the grey matter volume of the left temporoparietal junction, a brain area involved in mentalizing. Our data support previous work indicating a link between areas of the brain involved in attributing mental states to other humans and those involved in anthropomorphism.

Keywords: anthropomorphism; mentalizing and VBM; temporoparietal junction.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The region where grey matter volume showed a correlation with anthropomorphism of non-human animals is shown overlaid on a T1-weighted MRI anatomical image in the stereotactic space of the MNI template. Cross-sectional cuts are: top-left sagittal, top-right coronal and bottom left axial, respectively. The cross hair identifies the cluster at the left temporoparietal junction (−45,−54, 27, MNI co-ordinates) showing a statistically significant (P < 0.05 FWE-corrected for volume examined) positive correlation with anthropomorphism of non-human animals as measured by the animal IDAQ. The threshold is set to P < 0.001 uncorrected, extent threshold = 10, for illustrative purposes, cluster size = 230 mm3 (81 mm3 at P < 0.05 FWE-corrected for volume examined). The colour scale indicates the t-value for the data.
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