Humans

Shared neural circuits for mentalizing about the self and others

Although many examples exist for shared neural representations of self and other, it is unknown how such shared representations interact with the rest of the brain. Furthermore, do high-level inference-based shared mentalizing representations …

Atypical neural self-representation in autism

The 'self' is a complex multidimensional construct deeply embedded and in many ways defined by our relations with the social world. Individuals with autism are impaired in both self-referential and other-referential social cognitive processing. …

Organizational effects of fetal testosterone on human corpus callosum size and asymmetry

Previous theory and research in animals has identified the critical role that fetal testosterone (FT) plays in organizing sexually dimorphic brain development. However, to date there are no studies in humans directly testing the organizational …

Moral dilemmas film task: A study of spontaneous narratives by individuals with autism spectrum conditions

People with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulties with mentalizing, empathy, and narrative comprehension. A new test of social and narrative cognition, the Moral Dilemmas Film Task, was developed to probe individuals' spontaneous …

The amygdala in autism: not adapting to faces?

The Quadruple Process model approach to examining the neural underpinnings of prejudice

In order to investigate the systems underlying the automatic and controlled processes that support social attitudes, we conducted an fMRI study that combined an implicit measure of race attitudes with the Quadruple Process model (Quad model). A …

Covariance-based subdivision of the human striatum using T1-weighted MRI

The striatum plays a key role in many cognitive and emotional processes, and displays an intricate pattern of connectivity with cortical and subcortical structures. Invasive tracing work in rats and non-human primates demonstrates that the striatum …

Self-referential cognition and empathy in autism

BACKGROUND: Individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have profound impairments in the interpersonal social domain, but it is unclear if individuals with ASC also have impairments in the intrapersonal self-referential domain. We aimed to …