Chapter 13

Question 1

anatomy of social cognition

Answer 1

MPFC, ACC, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), TPJ, amygdala, and anterior insula

Question 2

social development

Answer 2

social isolation and lack of social play during childhood and adolescence have a negative impact on the neurodevelopment of areas that support social behavior

Question 3

self-reference effect (SRE)

Answer 3

enhanced memory for information processed in relation to the self

Question 4

self-reference processing

Answer 4

increases activity in the MPFC

Question 5

default mode network (DMN)

Answer 5

a collection of distributed brain regions that oscillate coherently at low frequency during a passive resting state when an individual is not focusing on external stimuli; associated with self-referential mental activity

Question 6

tri-network model

Answer 6

theorizes that everyday tasks require switching between self-related or interoceptive processing and externally directed or exteroceptive processing reliant on the DMN and the central executive network (CEN); switching regulated by salience network (SN)

Question 7

embodiment

Answer 7

feeling of body ownership and feeling of spatial unity between the ‘self’ and the body

Question 8

temporoparietal junction (TPJ)

Answer 8

involved in self-processing and integrating body-related information; key role in feeling of embodiment. Damage to TPJ has been known to affect moral decisions and produce out-of-body experience

Question 9

mental state attribution theory

Answer 9

we can use implicit knowledge to understand and predict other’s mental states and behaviors; third person perspective

Question 10

experience sharing theory

Answer 10

we simply observe someone else’s behavior, simulate it, and use our own mental state produced by that simulation to predict the mental states of the other; first person perspective

Question 11

Theory of Mind (ToM)

Answer 11

ability to understand and infer the mental states of others, including their beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions; innate and automatic

Question 12

Sally-Anne false-belief task

Answer 12

reliably pass around 4 years old; measure a person’s social cognitive ability in respect to false-beliefs about others

Question 13

experience sharing mirror neurons

Answer 13

neural basis of shared experience; understanding actions of others, understanding the intention and emotion of other individuals

Question 14

pain and empathy

Answer 14

insula and anterior cingulate are activated when one is experiencing physical pain in oneself, as well as during perception of physical pain in others

Question 15

superior temporal sulcus (STS)

Answer 15

important for inferring mental states from eye-gaze direction

Question 16

autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Answer 16

hyperconnectivity within the frontal cortex; atypical lateralization in the brain associated with weaker left-hemisphere and stronger right-hemisphere activity

Question 17

ToM and ASD

Answer 17

in people with ASD, Theory of Mind skills do not develop properly; show atypical patterns of eye gaze in face processing and misjudge the intensity of complex emotions

Question 18

DMN and ASD

Answer 18

abnormalities in the function of DMN; no change in activation between ‘rest’ and doing active task