title: Avatars and arrows in the brain.
abstract: In this Commentary article we critically assess the claims made by Schurz, Kronbichler, Weissengrubler, Surtees, Samson and Perner (2015) relating to the neural processes underlying theory of mind and visual perspective taking. They attempt to integrate research findings in these two areas of social neuroscience using a perspective taking task contrasting mentalistic agents ('avatars'), with non-mentalistic control stimuli ('arrows'), during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. We support this endeavour whole-heartedly, agreeing that the integration of findings in these areas has been neglected in research on the social brain. However, we cannot find among the behavioural or neuroimaging data presented by Schurz et al. evidence supporting their claim of 'implicit mentalizing'-the automatic ascription of mental states to another representing what they can see. Indeed, we suggest that neuroimaging methods may be ill-suited to address the existence of implicit mentalizing, and suggest that approaches utilizing neurostimulation methods are likely to be more successful.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK; Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, SE1 1UL, UK. Electronic address: caroline.catmur@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catmur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK. Electronic address: is405@cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Idalmis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Santiesteban
authors.affiliation: MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, SE5 8AF, UK. Electronic address: jane_rebecca.conway@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jane R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Conway
authors.affiliation: All Souls College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4AL, UK. Electronic address: cecilia.heyes@all-souls.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Heyes
authors.affiliation: MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, SE5 8AF, UK; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK. Electronic address: geoff.bird@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bird
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: Attentional orienting; Domain-general; Implicit mentalizing; Theory of mind; Visual perspective taking