Uniquely human social cognition

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Recent data identify distinct components of social cognition associated with five brain regions. In posterior temporal cortex, the extrastriate body area is associated with perceiving the form of other human bodies. A nearby region in the posterior superior temporal sulcus is involved in interpreting the motions of a human body in terms of goals. A distinct region at the temporo-parietal junction supports the uniquely human ability to reason about the contents of mental states. Medial prefrontal cortex is divided into at least two subregions. Ventral medial prefrontal cortex is implicated in emotional empathy, whereas dorsal medial prefrontal cortex is implicated in the uniquely human representation of triadic relations between two minds and an object, supporting shared attention and collaborative goals.

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Introduction: two unique components

Preverbal infants, apes and monkeys share many of the foundational capacities of human social cognition: they recognize conspecifics, monitor others’ actions, and engage in contingent interactions. As adults, however, the structure and content of our reasoning about one another vastly surpass these foundations. Among other activities, we can accuse one another (and our selves) of wishful thinking, read and write stream-of-consciousness novels, and organize international scientific conferences.

Thoughts and the temporo-parietal junction

The developmental trajectory from attending to human faces and bodies (infants), to understanding goal-directed actions (toddlers), to the uniquely human representational theory of mind (preschoolers), is reflected in the functional profiles of three regions in lateral occipito-temporo-parietal cortex (Figure 1). These are the extrastriate body area for detecting the presence of a body (EBA [5]), the posterior superior temporal sulcus region for understanding action (pSTS-A [1]) and the

Triadic attention and the medial prefrontal cortices

On the basis of the first functional imaging investigations, many authors speculated that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) was the unique neural substrate of reasoning about representational mental states [27]. Recent research has dramatically changed this picture. No part of the MPFC is specifically recruited for reasoning about representational mental states; instead, subregions of MPFC are implicated in distinct components of social cognition. Ventral MPFC is implicated in emotional

Conclusions

An explosion of new neuroscientific evidence suggests that distinct components of social cognition are associated with at least five brain regions, three in posterior temporal cortex and two in medial prefrontal cortex. Each of these components deserves further investigation, especially the proposed link between dMPFC and representation of triadic relations. In addition, space constraints have prevented the discussion of other implicated regions, including medial parietal cortex and the

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the annual period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • • of special interest

  • •• of outstanding interest

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to A Jenkins for help with the manuscript and to the Editors for helpful comments and suggestions.

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