Frith, U.;
Frith, C.;
(2010)
The social brain: allowing humans to boldly go where no other species has been.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
, 365
(1537)
pp. 165-176.
10.1098/rstb.2009.0160.
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Abstract
The biological basis of complex human social interaction and communication has been illuminated through a coming together of various methods and disciplines. Among these are comparative studies of other species, studies of disorders of social cognition and developmental psychology. The use of neuroimaging and computational models has given weight to speculations about the evolution of social behaviour and culture in human societies. We highlight some networks of the social brain relevant to two-person interactions and consider the social signals between interacting partners that activate these networks.Wemake a case for distinguishing between signals that automatically trigger interaction and cooperation and ostensive signals that are used deliberately.We suggest that this ostensive signalling is needed for ‘closing the loop’ in two-person interactions, where the partners each know that they have the intention to communicate. The use of deliberate social signals can serve to increase reputation and trust and facilitates teaching. This is likely to be a critical factor in the steep cultural ascent ofmankind.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | The social brain: allowing humans to boldly go where no other species has been |
Identifier: | PMID:20008394 |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1098/rstb.2009.0160 |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2009.0160 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Article published by The Royal Society under EXiS Open Choice scheme, reproduced here under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons 2.5 license please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ |
Keywords: | Theory of mind, mirror system, economic games, prediction error, mutual influence |
UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/19605 |
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