社会认知的神经基础

人类的社会技能高于其它任何动物，能够形成对社会环境的高级表征，并能利用这些表征进行十分灵活的推理判断。但是社会认知的神经基础目前仍不十分明了。来自于人类和其它灵长类动物的研究已经发现有一些脑结构（如杏仁核、前额叶、颞上沟、扣带前回等）在社会认知中起着特殊重要的作用。此外，越来越多的研究表明其它一些脑区结构（如右侧躯体体感区、岛叶、基底节、白质等）也共同参与社会认知加工过程。文章对近年来关于社会认知的神经基础研究做了较为详细的综述。

Neural Basis of Social Cognition

There is no doubt that humans differ from other animals in their social skills, in that they are able to form higher-order representations of the social environment, and to manipulate those representations in reasoning that can be quite flexible. But the neural underpinnings of social cognition are not understood yet. Studies in humans and other primates have been focused on several structures, such as the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, the superior temporal sulcus, the anterior cingulate cortex and some other brain areas that lay a key role in guiding social behaviors. In this review, we summarize recent work that has illuminated the neural basis of complex social cognition and behavior in humans.