Chapter 11 Summary

Social interactions engage a distributed set of brain regions involved in self-referential processing, perception of biologically relevant cues such as body stance and biological motion, social categorization, and emotion interpretation.
Whether social interactions are an emergent property of the cognitive functions described in other chapters or a core set of specialized brain structures and processes has been widely debated. A reasonable view is that both domain-specific and domain-general factors contribute to social cognition.
The ability to think reflexively about the self and our sense of embodiment depends on processing in the temporoparietal junction, medial parietal, and prefrontal cortical regions, as well as specialized sectors of the visual association cortex.
The perception of socially relevant cues arising from the faces and bodies of others depends on the fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, and orbitofrontal cortex.
The categorization of individuals as members of social groups is rapid and automatic, and it depends in part on evaluative processes in the amygdala. Automatic influences of social stereotypes engage conflict-monitoring and self-regulation functions of the anterior cingulate gyrus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
Theory-of-mind abilities, though present implicitly in great apes and young children, increase in complexity in late human development and depend on processing in the medial prefrontal cortex, temporal polar cortex, inferior parietal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and superior temporal sulcus, as well as areas that mediate symbolic representation more broadly.
Empathizing with the emotional state of others involves regions implicated in somatic and emotional state representation (including the insula), self-awareness, perspective taking, and emotion regulation.
Balancing the opposing forces of competition and cooperation is important for the stability and advancement of any social group. These forces affect the functioning of diverse physiological systems, including stress-related agents, hormonal markers of victory (testosterone) or defeat (cortisol), and agents related to social bonds (oxytocin/vasopressin).
Insights into the ways we perceive and make inferences from social cues have led to new treatments of autism spectrum disorders, as well as new developments in computer animation and human-machine interactions.