Social Cognition, Autism and the Human Brain

We regularly infer the mental states and traits of others simply by watching them, an ability that may distinguish our cognition from that of other animals. This ability also manifests differently from person to person, such as those with autism spectrum disorder. How should psychology and neuroscience study this vast topic?

In this Presidential Lecture, Ralph Adolphs will discuss research that uses eye tracking, neuroimaging and direct brain recordings — some from the same participants. Adolphs will show how brain networks involving the amygdala play a key role in how we make social judgments from faces. This work is based on studies of rare patients with selective amygdala lesions and unique single-neuron recordings from the amygdala in neurosurgical patients — including some with autism. Understanding the social brain will require integrating data from very different levels, with utmost attention to the reliability and generalizability of the findings.