Demystifying social cognition: a Hebbian perspective.
For humans and monkeys, understanding the actions of others is central to survival. Here we review the physiological properties of three cortical areas involved in this capacity: the STS, PF and F5. Based on the anatomical connections of these areas, and the Hebbian learning rule, we propose a simple but powerful account of how the monkey brain can learn to understand the actions of others by associating them with self-produced actions, at the same time discriminating its own actions from those of others. As this system appears also to exist in man, this network model can provide a framework for understanding human social perception.
Keysers
Christian
C
BCN Neuro-Imaging-Center, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 2, 9713AW Groningen, The Netherlands. c.keysers@med.rug.nl
Perrett
David I
DI
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D003071:Cognition; D000882:Haplorhini; D006801:Humans; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012938:Social Perception; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology