Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30373474›Full record

ArticleSocial neuroscience2019

Normal sexual dimorphism in theory of mind circuitry is reversed in Schizophrenia.

Julie Walsh-Messinger, Christine Stepanek, Julia Wiedemann, Deborah Goetz, Raymond R Goetz, Dolores Malaspina

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social neuroscience, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 84% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Olfactory processing in gifted and non-gifted children: assessing the sniffin' sticks olfactory test for threshold, discrimination, and identification abilities.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Julie Walsh-Messingera Department of Psychology, University of Dayton , Dayton , OH , USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7641-9321
Christine Stepanekc Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Genetics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York , NY , USA.
Julia Wiedemanna Department of Psychology, University of Dayton , Dayton , OH , USA.
Deborah Goetzc Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Genetics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York , NY , USA.
Raymond R Goetzd New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center , New York , NY , USA.
Dolores Malaspinac Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Genetics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , New York , NY , USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5599-5151
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · USUniversity of Dayton · USColumbia University Irving Medical Center · US

Funding

Hippocampal Inflammation as a Pathophysiology for PsychosisR01MH110418 · NIMH · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · PI MALASPINA, DOLORES · 2017 to 2021
$3.8M
Olfactory and Social Function in SchizophreniaR01MH066428 · NIMH · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · PI MALASPINA, DOLORES · 2004 to 2007
$1.8M
Mentoring Translational Schizophrenia ResearchersK24MH001699 · NIMH · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · PI MALASPINA, DOLORES · 2000 to 2009
$1.3M
NIMH NIH HHS K24 MH001699NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH066428NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH110418
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The ability to mentalize, or theory of mind (ToM), is sexually dimorphic in humans and impaired in schizophrenia. This sex-stratified study probed cognitive (indexed by intelligence) and affective (indexed by olfactory tasks) contributions to ToM performance in 37 individuals with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls. The schizophrenia group showed impairments in mental state identification and inferring intentions compared to controls. Higher intelligence was correlated with mental state identification and inferring intentions in healthy females, whereas better smell identification was associated with mental state identification in healthy males. Conversely, higher intelligence was associated with mental state identification and inferring intentions in schizophrenia males, while better smell identification was correlated with mental state identification in schizophrenia females. These findings suggest that for ToM circuitry, the cognitive influences in healthy females and affective influences in healthy males are reversed in schizophrenia and may be displaced to lower circuitries by disease pathology. Symptom associations with emotion and cognition are also dimorphic, plausibly due to similar pathology superimposed on normal sex-specific circuitries. Males appear to rely on limbic processing for ToM, and disruption to this circuitry may contribute to development of negative symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of utilizing sex-stratified designs in schizophrenia research.

Indexed as

Sex CharacteristicsAdultFemaleHumansIntelligenceMaleSchizophreniaSmellTheory of MindcognitionolfactionSchizophreniasex differencestheory of mind

Identifiers

PMID30373474
PMCPMC6488446
OpenAlexW2899030344

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.