week 4 - social brain Flashcards
(43 cards)
What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?
ToM is the cognitive ability to understand that others have their own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, which may differ from one’s own.
It helps us predict and interpret others’ actions based on their mental states.
At what age do children typically pass the False Belief Task?
Around age 4, children begin to understand false beliefs — they recognize that others can hold beliefs that are not true.
At age 3, most children fail this task.
What is the classic False Belief Task?
Sally places a marble in a basket and leaves.
Anne moves the marble to a box.
When asked where Sally will look for the marble:
3-year-olds often say box (where it really is).
4-year-olds say basket (where Sally thinks it is).
This shows development of ToM around age 4.
an toddlers show early signs of ToM?
Yes. Research shows that children under 4 may have some understanding of others’ intentions and goals.
Warneken & Tomasello (2006) found that 18-month-old infants help adults in simple tasks, indicating an understanding of others’ needs.
What does the Warneken & Tomasello (2006) study show?
Altruistic helping in human infants and young chimpanzees
18-month-old babies helped adults (e.g., picking up dropped objects).
Suggests early altruism and a basic ToM — infants understand others’ goals and act on them.
What is “Inferring Goal-Directed Behavior”?
It’s the ability to understand that others’ actions are purposeful and directed toward achieving goals.
Even infants can use context to decide whether a behavior is intentional or forced by circumstances.
What did Gergely, Bekkering & Király (2002) study show?
Study: Imitation in 14-month-olds
Finding: Babies copied strange actions (e.g., turning on a light with the head) more often when they seemed voluntary than when they were necessary.
Conclusion: Infants infer goals and intentions behind actions.
What was the “hands under blanket vs. hands free” experiment?
Hands Free: Adult used head to turn on a light, even though hands were free → Infants copied it (thought it was intentional).
Hands Occupied: Adult’s hands were under a blanket → infants understood this was necessary and didn’t copy.
Shows infants infer intention based on context.
How does experience influence goal understanding? (De Klerk et al., 2015)
Infants’ own motor experience influences how they interpret others’ actions.
More experience with a task = better ability to understand and imitate goal-directed behavior in others.
What is the “Social Brain”?
The network of brain regions involved in understanding, interpreting, and predicting social behavior, including others’ thoughts, intentions, and feelings.
(Reference: Kennedy & Adolphs, 2012)
What is the role of the medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC)?
mentalizing and self
Key functions:
Thinking about yourself
Thinking about others’ mental states
Understanding communicative intentions
Reflecting on what you know about someone else
What does the Temporal-Parietal Junction (TPJ) do?
“MENTALIZING”
Helps interpret behaviors in terms of:
Intentions
Needs
Desires
Beliefs
emotions
crucial for inferring what others are thinking
What is the function of the Posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (pSTS)?
Specializes in interpreting social gestures and signals
important for:
Perception of biological motion
Eye gaze interpretation (What can someone see? What do they want?)
Understanding if behavior is goal-directed
Possibly decoding complex social cues
What role does the Anterior Temporal Cortex (ATC) play?
IINTERPRETTING SOCIAL NARRATIVE nvolved in semantic social knowledge
Processes social scripts and narratives
Stores long-term memory about social situations
MIRROR NEURONS
Neurons that fire both when a person performs an action and when they observe someone else performing the same action.
Discovered via single-cell recordings in monkeys
How do Mirror Neurons support learning?
Understand intentions behind others’ actions
Learn by imitation
Empathize and socially connect
They may support early social cognition.
What is single-cell recording?
An invasive technique that measures action potentials (spikes per second) from individual neurons in response to a stimulus.
Used to discover mirror neurons.
Is social learning limited to mirror neurons?
No — while mirror neurons are important, social cognition involves multiple brain systems including those for mentalizing, attention, and emotion processing.
How is imitation useful in learning?
efficient way to acquire new skills
Helps infants and children quickly learn complex behaviors by copying others
It’s foundational in language and cultural learning
What is prediction error in social learning?
When observing others, we make predictions about what will happen.
If reality doesn’t match, we experience a prediction error — this helps us adjust expectations and learn from mistakes, even if they’re not our own.
What makes adolescence a special developmental period?
hormonal changes from puberty
Specialization of higher-order cognitive and social networks
Major changes in growth, sleep, metabolism, and social/school contexts
Period of increased risk-taking, status-seeking, and identity exploration
What are the learning-related changes in adolescence?
Shift to exploratory learning
More responsive to feedback
High sensitivity to social learning and peer evaluation
(Andrews, Ahmed & Blakemore, 2021; Dahl et al., 2019)
Is adolescence only about risks?
No — adolescence presents opportunities for:
Positive social change
Increased learning capacity
Developing independence and a sense of purpose
What happens to the social brain during adolescence?
(Mills et al., 2014)
Grey Matter Volume (GMV) peaks in late childhood or early adolescence, then declines (pruning)
Brain regions involved in social cognition undergo structural and functional changes
