Ventromedial prefrontal volume predicts understanding of others and social network size.

ABSTRACT: Cognitive abilities such as Theory of Mind (ToM), and more generally mentalizing competences, are central to human sociality. Neuroimaging has associated these abilities with specific brain regions including temporo-parietal junction, superior temporal sulcus, frontal pole, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Previous studies have shown both that mentalizing competence, indexed as the ability to correctly understand others' belief states, is associated with social network size and that social group size is correlated with frontal lobe volume across primate species (the social brain hypothesis). Given this, we predicted that both mentalizing competences and the number of social relationships a person can maintain simultaneously will be a function of gray matter volume in these regions assoc

SUBMITTER: Lewis PA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7614375 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature