title: A Map for Social Navigation in the Human Brain.
abstract: Deciphering the neural mechanisms of social behavior has propelled the growth of social neuroscience. The exact computations of the social brain, however, remain elusive. Here we investigated how the human brain tracks ongoing changes in social relationships using functional neuroimaging. Participants were lead characters in a role-playing game in which they were to find a new home and a job through interactions with virtual cartoon characters. We found that a two-dimensional geometric model of social relationships, a "social space" framed by power and affiliation, predicted hippocampal activity. Moreover, participants who reported better social skills showed stronger covariance between hippocampal activity and "movement" through "social space." The results suggest that the hippocampus is crucial for social cognition, and imply that beyond framing physical locations, the hippocampus computes a more general, inclusive, abstract, and multidimensional cognitive map consistent with its role in episodic memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Rita Morais
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.affiliation: Sagol Department of Neurobiology, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mendelsohn
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Grossman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Christian Hamilton
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA; Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10016, USA.
authors.forename: Yaacov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Trope
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA; Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA. Electronic address: daniela.schiller@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schiller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D066107:Social Skills; D055815:Young Adult