Human social behaviour crucially depends on our ability to reason about others. This capacity for theory of mind has a vital role in social cognition because it enables us not only to form a detailed understanding of the hidden thoughts and beliefs of other individuals but also to understand that they may differ from our own. Although a number of areas in the human brain have been linked to social reasoning and its disruption across a variety of psychosocial disorders, the basic cellular mechanisms that underlie human theory of mind remain undefined. Here, using recordings from single cells in the human dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, we identify neurons that reliably encode information about others' beliefs across richly varying scenarios and that distinguish self- from other-belief-related representations. By further following their encoding dynamics, we show how these cells represent the contents of the others' beliefs and accurately predict whether they are true or false. We also show how they track inferred beliefs from another's specific perspective and how their activities relate to behavioural performance. Together, these findings reveal a detailed cellular process in the human dorsomedial prefrontal cortex for representing another's beliefs and identify candidate neurons that could support theory of mind.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7990696 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03184-0 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
'Suffering for the Sins of Others': Lucius D. Bulkley, , and Disease Destigmatisation in the Progressive Era United States.
Med Hist
January 2025
Independent Scholar.
Historical research on efforts to reduce the stigma associated with venereal disease (VD) generally dates these campaigns back to the 1930s. Within the United States, one of the earliest attempts to detach VD from its traditional association with sexual immorality occurred during the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century, when the New York City dermatologist Lucius Bulkley coined the term ('syphilis of the innocent') in the hopes of demonstrating that many of those who contracted this disease did so through non-sexual contact. Gaining widespread acceptance within the medical community, Bulkley's ideas served as the intellectual foundation for a discursive assault on the prevailing belief that syphilis constituted the 'wages of sin'-one designed to destigmatise the disease and to promote more scientific responses to it.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAutonomic features of craniofacial neuralgias: a systematic review with meta-analysis.
J Oral Facial Pain Headache
September 2024
Light Dental Studios, Puyallup, WA 98371, USA.
The aim of the study is to describe the severity, temporal characteristics, and types of autonomic features as they relate to the characteristics of pain of the neuralgias. Also, to describe, based on literature, how these autonomic features can affect the treatment outcomes of patients with craniofacial neuralgias. We carried out a literature search using five databases, PubMed, Embase, OVID, Scopus and Web of Science.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnalysis of Chemical Components of Penicillium chrysogenum Crude Extract Using Liquid Chromatography Coupled With Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry Combined With GNPS Molecular Networking.
Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom
April 2025
School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin, Tianjin, China.
A Chinese isolate of the fungus Penicillium chrysogenum was analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled with Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometry combined with Global Natural Products Social Networking (GNPS) on culture condition leading to the rapid identification of 20 secondary metabolites. Among them are eight polyketones, two phthalides, six diketopiperazine alkaloids, and others. A meleagrine network was examined and proposed as a promising candidate for new natural products.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDesign and implementation of an action plan for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Clinical Genome Resource.
Am J Hum Genet
January 2025
National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA.
How might members of a large, multi-institutional research and resource consortium foster justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion as central to its mission, goals, governance, and culture? These four principles, often referred to as JEDI, can be aspirational-but to be operationalized, they must be supported by concrete actions, investments, and a persistent long-term commitment to the principles themselves, which often requires self-reflection and course correction. We present here the iterative design process implemented across the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) that led to the development of an action plan to operationalize JEDI principles across three major domains, with specific deliverables and commitments dedicated to each. Active involvement of consortium leadership, buy-in from its members at all levels, and support from NIH program staff at pivotal stages were essential to the success of this effort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImagining Coat-Hangers and Pills: A Qualitative Exploration of Abortion Beliefs and Attitudes in Hostile Policy Contexts in the United States.
Perspect Sex Reprod Health
January 2025
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
Objective: We explored awareness of and attitudes about the safety of various methods people use to attempt to end a pregnancy without medical assistance, which we refer to in this study collectively as self-managed abortion (SMA).
Methods: In 2020, we invited individuals living in eight United States (US) states considered "hostile" to abortion rights or with a history of criminalizing abortions performed outside the formal healthcare system to participate in semi-structured telephone interviews regarding their attitudes toward these practices. We analyzed coded transcripts for content and themes.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!