Mitchell, J. P. (2008)

Social Cognition How the mind operates in social contexts

Why is Social Cognition an Important Area of Research? Studies the mechanisms that support the complex ability of one person to understand another person’s internal mental states

Why is Social Cognition an Important Area of Research? Studies the mechanisms that support the complex ability of one person to understand another person’s internal mental states One of the central goals of research is to study how we mentalize each other

Mentalization Cognitive processes which permit one person to make accurate and rapid inferences about the internal states of another person

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC)

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) Temporo-parietal junction

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) Temporo-parietal junction Precuneus/posterior cingulate

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) Temporo-parietal junction Precuneus/posterior cingulate These are the main 3

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) Temporo-parietal junction Precuneus/posterior cingulate Amygdala

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) Temporo-parietal junction Precuneus/posterior cingulate Amygdala Superior temporal sulcus

What parts of the brain are involved in Mentalization? Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) Temporo-parietal junction Precuneus/posterior cingulate Amygdala Superior temporal sulcus Temporal poles

How do we know any of this? Positron emission tomography (PET) Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

There is controversy in using these techniques A few questions asked by critics: -Has neuroscience actually told us anything we could not have figured out with more established measures?

There is controversy in using these techniques A few questions asked by critics: -Has neuroscience actually told us anything we could not have figured out with more established measures? -Are the expenses and complications of neuroimaging techniques justified when they have only produced what appear to be novel observations?

Do social and nonsocial cognition draw on distinct or overlapping processes? Fletcher et al. (1995) The MPFC activated when reading stories involving social cognition

Do social and nonsocial cognition draw on distinct or overlapping processes? Fletcher et al. (1995) The MPFC activated when reading stories involving social cognition Mitchell, Macrae, and Banaji (2004) Social situations encode better because we use distinct mental processes for social cognition MPFC again

BUT, WAIT!

Saxe and colleagues (e.g., Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003) Stories involving someone’s erroneous beliefs (social) and stories involving erroneous physical representations (nonsocial) both activate the right temporo-parietal junction

BUT, WAIT! Saxe and colleagues (e.g., Saxe and Kanwisher, 2003) Stories involving someone’s erroneous beliefs (social) and stories involving erroneous physical representations (nonsocial) both activate the right temporo-parietal junction So, there seems to be some overlap.

How do we mentalize? Self-referencing model Using our own mental states to inform our own opinion of another person’s mental states

How do we mentalize? Self-referencing model Using our own mental states to inform our own opinion of another person’s mental states Rule-based model Using a set of social rules to make inferences about another person’s mental states

ME

Self-referencing model

Singer et al. (2004) The anterior cingulate cortex activates for the person experiencing pain and the person watching

Self-referencing model Singer et al. (2004) The anterior cingulate cortex activates for the person experiencing pain and the person watching Wicker et al. (2003) The subregions of the anterior insula are activated in the person smelling the foul odor and the person watching the person smelling the foul odor

Primacy of social cognition

Parts of the brain related to social cognition seem to be discriminated for in the brain MPFC, temporo-parietal junction, and the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex

Primacy of social cognition Parts of the brain related to social cognition seem to be discriminated for in the brain MPFC, temporo-parietal junction, and the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex When we engage in nonsocial tasks, the brain has to actively dampen these areas.

We have VERY social brains

Social cognitive functions seem to be a default mental state