Social cognition and the cerebellum: A meta-analytic connectivity analysis

Abstract

This meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) study explores the functional connectivity of the cerebellum with the cerebrum in social cognitive processes. In a recent meta-analysis, Van Overwalle, Baetens, Mariën, and Vandekerckhove (2014) documented that the cerebellum is implicated in social processes of "body" reading (mirroring; e.g., understanding other persons' intentions from observing their movements) and "mind" reading (mentalizing, e.g., inferring other persons' beliefs, intentions or personality traits, reconstructing persons' past, future, or hypothetical events). In a recent functional connectivity study, Buckner et al. (2011) offered a novel parcellation of cerebellar topography that substantially overlaps with the cerebellar meta-analytic findings of Van Overwalle et al. (2014). This overlap suggests that the involvement of the cerebellum in social reasoning depends on its functional connectivity with the cerebrum. To test this hypothesis, we explored the meta-analytic co-activations as indices of functional connectivity between the cerebellum and the cerebrum during social cognition. The MACM results confirm substantial and distinct connectivity with respect to the functions of (a) action understanding ("body" reading) and (b) mentalizing ("mind" reading). The consistent and strong connectivity findings of this analysis suggest that cerebellar activity during social judgments reflects distinct mirroring and mentalizing functionality, and that these cerebellar functions are connected with corresponding functional networks in the cerebrum.

Keywords: cerebellum; functional connectivity; functional neuroimaging; meta-analysis; social cognition.

Figure 1

Parcellation of the cerebellum showing three distinct representations, labeled the primary, secondary, and tertiary representations. Each is a mirror‐image ordering of the adjacent map. Networks are color‐coded with their function as proposed by Bruckner et al. (2011, p. 2332). The networks refer to the 7‐network parcellation of the cerebrum shown in the bottom of the figure. The white lines demarcate estimated boundaries between the maps and do not have significance in relation to sulcal boundaries. R* refers to the red network, which can be seen in the x = −12 section. Adapted with permission from Figure 16 of Buckner R, Krienen F, Castellanos A, Diaz JC, Yeo BT, J Neurophysiol, 2011, 106:2322–2345, © Americal Physiological Society and from Figure 11 of Yeo BTT, Krienen FM, Sepulcre J, Sabuncu MR, Lashkari D, Hollinshead M, Buckner RL, J Neurophysiol, 2011, 106, 1125–1165, © Americal Physiological Society.

Figure 2

Functional connectivity in social mentalizing from the cerebellum to the cerebrum. All ALE clusters are significant at P < 0.05, FDR corrected, and with volume > 100 mm³. The bottom of the figure shows the 7‐network parcellation of the cerebrum (Yeo et al., 2011). Adapted with permission from Figure 11 of Yeo BTT, Krienen FM, Sepulcre J, Sabuncu MR, Lashkari D, Hollinshead M, Buckner RL, J Neurophysiol, 2011, 106, 1125–1165, © Americal Physiological Society

Figure 3

Functional connectivity in somatomotor/mirroring processes from the cerebellum to the cerebrum. All ALE clusters are significant at P < 0.05, FDR corrected, and with volume > 100 mm³. The bottom of the figure shows the 7‐network parcellation of the cerebrum (Yeo et al., 2011). Adapted with permission from Figure 11 of Yeo BTT, Krienen FM, Sepulcre J, Sabuncu MR, Lashkari D, Hollinshead M, Buckner RL, J Neurophysiol, 2011, 106, 1125–1165, © Americal Physiological Society.