Systematic Comparison of Brain Imaging Meta-Analyses of ToM with vPT

Table 3

Examples for each task-group from the theory of mind meta-analysis by Schurz et al. [14].

Author	Img.	Experimental task	Control task
		False belief
Saxe [49]	fMRI	Read a short vignette involving a person holding a false belief. Answer a question about her belief. For example, “John told Emily that he had a Porsche. Actually, his car is a Ford. Emily doesn’t know anything about cars so she believed John. When Emily sees John’s car, she thinks it is a …?” (Porsche or Ford).	Read a false-photograph vignette. Answer a question concerning the outdated content in the photo. For example, “A photograph was taken of an apple hanging on a tree branch. The film took half an hour to develop. In the meantime, a strong wind blew the apple to the ground. The developed photograph shows the apple on the…? (tree or ground).”
		Trait judgments
Mitchell [50]	fMRI	Read an adjective. Indicate whether it can be true for a hypothetical person. For example, “ ‘nervous’…can it be true for ‘David?’?”	Read an adjective. Indicate whether it can be true for an object. For example, “ ‘sundried’…can it be true for ‘grape’?”
		Strategic games
Assaf [51]	fMRI	Play a “domino game” with a human opponent (you get feedback about her moves). You and your opponent hold some domino chips in your hands (undisclosed). On each turn, you must play out a domino chip with a particular number to get a game point. You play out your chips face-down (undisclosed), so you can pretend having the required number even if you have not. After you played out a chip, your opponent can decide whether or not to check the number on it (simplified description).	Play a “domino game” with a computer.
		Social animation
Castelli [52]	PET	Watch a video animation of two interacting triangles (e.g., mother and child are playing). Explain verbally what was happening (after fMRI).	Watch video animation of two randomly moving triangles.; Explain verbally what was happening (after fMRI).
		Mind in the eyes
Baron-Cohen [53]	fMRI	View photographs of eyes. Indicate which of two words (e.g., concerned versus unconcerned) describes the mental state of that person.	View photographs of eyes. Indicate if the person is male or female. See Baron-Cohen 1999.
		Rational action
Brunet [54]	fMRI	View a cartoon story and predict what will happen based on intentions of a character (no false belief). Choose a logical story ending from several options shown in pictures. For example, a prisoner is in his cell. First, he breaks the bars of his prison window. Then he walks to his bed. Participants must indicate what will happen next…the prisoner ties a rope from the sheets on his bed/the prisoner shouts out loud.	View a cartoon story and predict what will happen based on physical causality. Choose a logical story ending from several options shown in pictures. For example, a person is standing in front of a slide. A large ball is coming down this slide, heading towards the person standing there. Participants must indicate what will happen next…the ball is knocking over the person/the ball is resting on the ground and the person is standing next to it.