1. Hemispheric Specialization
Lateralization means the cerebral hemispheres are specialized for different functions.
Hemispheres are strongly connected, masking some features of specialization.
Split-brain individuals have disconnected hemispheres.
Lateralization is widespread among all vertebrates
Activity of the right hemisphere
response to novelty
expression of intense emotions, such as aggression, escape behavior, and fear
Activity of the left hemisphere
involves use of learned templates or rules
categorizes stimuli and responds to features that are invariant and repeated
process species-typical vocalizations in some mammals and birds

2. Testing a Split-Brain Individual
Split-brain individuals have disconnected hemispheres.
Studies of split-brain individuals tested language function in each hemisphere.
Words presented to either visual field showed language ability only in the left hemisphere.
The right hemisphere is mainly for spatial processing.
Split brain patients show more specialization because hemispheres usually are strongly connected which masking some features of specialization.

3. Proposed Cognitive Modes of the Two Cerebral Hemispheres in Humans
Lateralization–cerebral hemispheres are specialized for different functions
The left hemisphere provides analytical processing and the right provides a more general analysis.
Specialization allows for separate cognitive modes that are incompatible.

4. Hemispheric Specialization
Handedness is differential use of the limbs
This did not originate in humans because other primates also show right hand preference
More elaborated in humans because of use of hands
Handedness correlates with language lateralization
Left-handed people make up about 10-15% of the population.
Powerful throwing, as in hunting usually involved the right hand.
Left-hemisphere circuits for motor control
Specialized for throwing
Changed into circuits to control language.
In 95% of right handers the left hemisphere is dominant for speech
In 70% of left handers the left hemisphere is dominant for speech
15 % are right dominant
15% have no dominant side

5. Social Cognition
An approach that has its roots in Social Psychology and borrows heavily from Cognitive Psychology procedures and theory
Studies how individuals process social information
Person perception
Attribution
Attitudes
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Judgment of others behavior
Memory of social stimuli
Studies effects of social and affective factors on information processing
Not just cognitive psychology in a social context because “people are not things”

6. Evolution of Social Cognition
Dogs but not other canines
Track body movements
Track eye gaze
Follow pointing gestures
Non human primates
Non verbal communication
Cooperation in small social groups
Transmission of Culture within the group
Evolution of large brains in primates
computational demands of living in large, complex societies
particular demands of the more intense forms of pair bonding
Role of language
Gossip is the most important use of language

7. Social Cognitive Neuroscience
Frontal lobes injury can adversely affect social judgments
Example of Phineas Gage
Many other examples from Neurology
Psychological processes that promote social behavior
Non-verbal communication
Verbal communication
Face recognition
Body shape preferences
Moral judgment and Fair play
Cooperation
Keeping track of social relationships
Mind Reading “theory of mind”
Specialized circuits for social cognition?
are cognitive processes for perception, language, memory and attention sufficient to explain social competence?
are there specific processes that are special to social interaction?

8. Social Cognitive Neuroscience
Brain Imaging has shown important relationships between social cognitive function and brain regions
Perception of other human bodies activates posterior temporal cortex, the extrastriate body area
Interpreting the motions of a human body in terms of goals involves the posterior superior temporal sulcus
Thinking about the mental states of others involves the temporo-parietal junction
Emotional empathy in ventral medial prefrontal cortex
Representation of triadic relations between two minds and an object supporting shared attention and collaborative goals in dorsal medial prefrontal cortex

9. Processes and brain structures that are involved in social cognition It is much more then just activation of cortical areas
Figure 1 | Processes and brain structures that are involved in social cognition. It is
possible to assign sets of neural structures to various stages of information processing, as I argue
in this review. However, the flow of social information defies any simple scheme for at least two
reasons: it is multidirectional and it is recursive. A single process is implemented by a flexible set
of structures, and a single structure participates in several processes, often during distinct
windows of time. Processing routes differ in terms of their automaticity, cognitive penetrability,
detail of the representations they involve and processing speed. The structures outlined in this
figure share some core features of a social information processing system: selectivity (they make
distinctions between different kinds of information), categorization and generalization, and the
incorporation of past experience. Several of the components of social cognition (inside the grey
shaded region) contribute to social knowledge. Reappraisal and self-regulation are particular
modes of feedback modulation whereby evaluation and emotional response to social stimuli can
be volitionally influenced.
Adolphs Fig. 1 NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 4 | MARCH 2003 |

10. Empathy as an example
Empathy is the capacity to recognize feelings that are being experienced by another
Has evolutionary, neurological, and biochemical underpinnings
Related to other aspects of social behavior such as
social attachment, parental care, and motivation to help
Part of affective communication
bottom-up affective arousal
emotional understanding
top-down emotion regulation
Processed in many brain circuits including
orbitofrontal cortex
limbic system: amygdala, insula, anterior cingulate cortex,
hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis with autonomic nervous system and endocrine output such as oxytocin

11. Figure 1. Empathy is implemented by a complex network of distributed, often recursively connected, interacting neural regions, as well as autonomic and neuroendocrine processes implicated in social behaviors and emotional states. Cacioppo & Decety (2011)

12. Perception of social signals
Social visual signals
Perception of faces
Facial Expressions
Eye movement; direction of gaze
Mouth movement
Body posture
Body movement
Fusiform Face Area for static properties of faces used as indicators of personal identity
Superior temporal gyrus and sulcus for processing changes in
facial expressions
eye movement
mouth movements

13. Visual stimuli for investigating social cognition
Figure 2 | Visual stimuli for investigating social cognition. These range from a | point-light walkers and b | dynamic geometric
figures, to c | actual human social interactions. Facial expressions have been one of the most commonly used stimuli. d | They can
be morphed from, say, fear to sadness and e | their eye region can signal specific social information, such as guilt, fear or
flirtatiousness. Stimuli are from sets developed by: F. Heider (b), P. Ekman (d) and S. Baron-Cohen (e).
Adolphs Fig. 2 NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 4 | MARCH 2003 |

14. Perception of Human Movement
Blake Annu. Rev. Psychol :47–73

15. Thinking about other people
Theory of mind “mentalizing”
attribute mental states to other people
representing what might be going on in other people’s minds
emerge at about four years of age and may be unique to humans
Ability to see the world from another’s perspective
tracking eye-movement and using their visual perspective
posterior end of the superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and the adjacent temporo-parietal junction (TPJ)
Thinking about mental states
activates medial prefrontal cortex and adjacent paracingulate cortex
anticipating what a person is going to think and feel
predict what they are going to do
based on past experience of interacting with others
based on personal experience in similar situations

16. Investigating theory of mind
Figure 5 | Investigating theory of mind. a | Sally-Ann task.
Schematic of the scenario that is shown to infants and children
to assess theory-of-mind abilities, specifically the capacity to
attribute false beliefs. Sally has a pram and Ann has a box.
Sally puts a toy into her pram, and then she goes out for a walk.
While she is outside, Ann takes the toy from the pram and puts
it into her own box. When Sally comes back, where will she look
for the toy? Normal children of four years of age and older
answer that Sally will look inside her pram, because that is
where she (falsely) believes the toy is. b | Theory-of-mind from
cartoons. Assessing theory of mind in adults without ceiling
effects is more difficult and various tasks have been used.
This figure shows examples of cartoon stimuli in which
understanding the joke depends on the ability to attribute
mental states to others (left) or does not (right). Contrasting
these two kinds of cartoons results in brain activation that
reflects engagement of theory-of-mind processes, specifically
an activation in medial prefrontal cortex (c). Panel c reproduced,
with permission from REF. 71 © (2000) Elsevier Science.
Adolphs Fig. 5 NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 4 | MARCH 2003 |

17. Social reasoning, decision making and dilemmas
Damage to orbitofrontal cortex impairs
ability to figure out that other people are being deceptive
performance in reasoning about social exchange using the Wason Selection Task
Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortices impairs
ability to decide when making a risky choice in gambling
relies on Somantic Markers (Emotional states)
Moral dilemmas such as the “trolley dilemma”
Activates Superior Temporal Sulcus, and the cingulate and medial prefrontal cortices
Social cooperation engages a similar set of structures

18. Trolley Dilemma Example
Version one: pulling the switch will kill one person but save five others
Version two: Pushing the man off the bridge will kill one person but save five others