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 p
Nature, open new avenues of study into disorders that affect social behavior, according to the authors.
In the study, a team of Harvard Medical School investigators based at Massachusetts General Hospital and colleagues from MIT took a rare look at how individual neurons represent the beliefs of others. They did so by recording neuron activity in patients undergoing neurosurgery to alleviate symptoms of motor disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
The researchers focused on a complex social cognitive process called “theory of mind.” To illustrate this, let’s say a friend appears to be sad on her birthday. One may infer she is sad because she didn’t get a present or she is upset at growing older.