Single neurons linked to social reasoning identified for first time
For the first time, scientists have identified the individual neurons critical to human social reasoning, a cognitive process that requires us to acknowledge and predict others’ hidden beliefs and thoughts.
A team of neuroscientists at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had a rare look at how individual neurons represent the beliefs of others by recording neuron activity in patients undergoing neurosurgery to alleviate symptoms of motor disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Their findings are published in Nature.
The researchers were studying a very complex social cognitive process called “theory of mind.” “When we interact, we must be able to form predictions about another person’s unstated intentions and thoughts,” says MGH neurosurgeon and the paper’s senior author Ziv Williams. “This ability requires us to paint a mental picture of someone’s beliefs, which involves acknowledging that those beliefs may be different from our own and assessing whether they are true or false.” A simple example of theory of mind: A friend appears to be sad on her birthday. I may infer she is sad because she didn’t get a present or she is upset at growing older.