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Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary: Neural Fingerprints of Adaptive Mentalization
- Main Discovery: Researchers identified a distributed neural network governing adaptive mentalization, establishing a neural fingerprint that accurately predicts how flexibly an individual assesses and reacts to the intentions of others during social interactions.
- Methodology: Scientists analyzed the behavior of over 550 participants playing repeated rock-paper-scissors games against human or artificial opponents, combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a novel computational model to quantify and formalize underlying strategic thought processes.
- Key Data: The computational model successfully predicted the degree of social adaptation in almost 90% of the study participants, maintaining this predictive accuracy even for individuals whose brain data had not been initially incorporated into the model.
- Significance: The findings demonstrate that social mentalization is a continuous, dynamic adaptation process governed by specific brain regions like the temporoparietal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, providing an objective metric for evaluating human social cognition.
- Future Application: The identified neural markers provide a foundation to objectively assess social cognitive abilities and to develop highly targeted therapeutic interventions for neurological disorders that hamper social interactions, such as autism spectrum disorder and borderline personality disorder.
- Branch of Science: Neuroeconomics, Decision Neuroscience, and Cognitive Psychology.
Humans often adapt their behavior to that of other people with lightning speed. A new study by the University of Zurich reveals what brain networks govern social mentalization and adaptation, making it possible to predict how flexibly one person reacts to others. The findings of the study could provide new approaches to gaining a better understanding of social disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder or borderline personality disorder.
How quickly do we perceive whether a person we are interacting with is clever or predictable? Be it in a game, a conversation or a negotiation, we constantly infer what others are thinking and size up their intentions, and we adjust our behavior accordingly in a process that scientists call “adaptive mentalization.” A new study by the University of Zurich now reveals how our brains govern this adaptation.
A team of researchers led by Christian Ruff, a professor of neuroeconomics and decision neuroscience at the University of Zurich, examined the behavior of over 550 people in different game situations. The study participants played a repeated rock-paper-scissors game against human or artificial opponents. With the aid of a novel computational model that formalizes the underlying thought processes, the researchers quantified how strategically the participants sized up their respective opponents and how much they adapted their estimation of them after each round. The study found that most of the participants reacted flexibly when the opponent’s behavior changed, but there was a wide range of reaction flexibility between the participants in the study. “Some can do that very quickly – they are often good at recognizing what strategy their opponents are employing. Others take much longer to correctly infer their opponent’s behavior,” says Niklas Bürgi, co-first author of the study, formerly at the University of Zurich and now at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers were able to identify a distributed network encompassing several regions of the brain that shows increased activity whenever participants rethink their estimation of their opponent. The temporoparietal cortex, which plays a vital role in contemplating the thoughts and intentions of others, is particularly important here, as is the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which is involved in appraising social information. The anterior insula and adjacent areas of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex also exhibit a spike in activity, particularly when expectations turn out wrong, and a reassessment becomes necessary. “In these moments, activity in those areas of the brain measurably changes,” explains Gökhan Aydogan, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich’s Department of Economics.
What matters is that these activity patterns make it possible to predict how much a person adapts their estimation. “This prediction worked even with participants whose brain data had not yet been added to the model,” Ruff says. The researchers thus speak of a neural fingerprint of adaptive mentalization. Prediction was successful with almost 90% of the study participants.
Previous research examined social cognition mostly through static tasks such as short stories or single decisions. The new study, in contrast, utilized dynamic interactions that are more similar to those in everyday life. The study shows that mentalization is not a static state, but rather an ongoing adaptation process. “Our findings may help to apprehend social cognition abilities more objectively in the future,” Ruff says. This is particularly pertinent for neurological disorders such as autism or borderline personality disorder that hamper social interactions. “Neural markers of this kind may also help in the long run to evaluate and further develop therapies in a more targeted manner,” Ruff adds.
Published in journal: Nature Neuroscience
Title: A neural signature of adaptive mentalization
Authors: Niklas Buergi, Gökhan Aydogan, Arkady Konovalov, and Christian C. Ruff
Source/Credit: University of Zurich
Reference Number: ns030926_02