title: Neural evidence that three dimensions organize mental state representation: Rationality, social impact, and valence.
abstract: How do people understand the minds of others? Existing psychological theories have suggested a number of dimensions that perceivers could use to make sense of others' internal mental states. However, it remains unclear which of these dimensions, if any, the brain spontaneously uses when we think about others. The present study used multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of neuroimaging data to identify the primary organizing principles of social cognition. We derived four unique dimensions of mental state representation from existing psychological theories and used functional magnetic resonance imaging to test whether these dimensions organize the neural encoding of others' mental states. MVPA revealed that three such dimensions could predict neural patterns within the medial prefrontal and parietal cortices, temporoparietal junction, and anterior temporal lobes during social thought: rationality, social impact, and valence. These results suggest that these dimensions serve as organizing principles for our understanding of other people.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544;
authors.forename: Diana I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Tamir
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138; mthornton@fas.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.affiliation: White House Social and Behavioral Sciences Team, Washington, DC 20006.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
authors.forename: Jason P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mitchell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012938:Social Perception; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D013850:Thinking / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: functional magnetic resonance imaging; mentalizing; multivoxel pattern analysis; social cognition; theory of mind