Social cognitive regions of human association cortex are selectively connected to the amygdala.

ABSTRACT: Reasoning about someone's thoughts and intentions - i.e., forming a theory of mind - is an important aspect of social cognition that relies on association areas of the brain that have expanded disproportionately in the human lineage. We recently showed that these association zones comprise parallel distributed networks that, despite occupying adjacent and interdigitated regions, serve dissociable functions. One network is selectively recruited by theory of mind processes. What circuit properties differentiate these parallel networks? Here, we show that social cognitive association areas are intrinsically and selectively connected to regions of the anterior medial temporal lobe that are implicated in emotional learning and social behaviors, including the amygdala at or near the basolateral

SUBMITTER: Edmonds D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10723387 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature