Null results of oxytocin and vasopressin administration on mentalizing in a large fMRI sample: evidence from a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although potential links between oxytocin (OT), vasopressin (AVP), and social cognition are well-grounded theoretically, most studies have included all male samples, and few have demonstrated consistent effects of either neuropeptide on mentalizing (i.e. understanding the mental states of others).

Electrocorticographic evidence of a common neurocognitive sequence for mentalizing about the self and others.

Neuroimaging studies of mentalizing (i.e., theory of mind) consistently implicate the default mode network (DMN).

Posttraumatic stress disorder and the social brain: Affect-related disruption of the default and mirror networks.

Background: Social cognitive impairments, specifically in mentalizing and emotion recognition, are common and debilitating symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite this, little is known about the neurobiology of these impairments, as there are currently no published neuroimaging investigations of social inference in PTSD.

Methods: Trauma-exposed veterans with and without PTSD (n = 20 each) performed the Why/How social inference task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Social, self, (situational), and affective processes in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC): Causal, multivariate, and reverse inference evidence.

The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) has been posited to serve a variety of social, affective, and cognitive functions. These conclusions have largely been driven by forward inference analyses (e.g.