The social brain: how social cues guide our behaviors

Harvard FAS

Living in a social world requires more than perceiving our physical surroundings. We must identify others, learn from their actions, and infer their intentions. These capacities make up our social cognition and allow humans and many animals to both cooperate and compete. In this tutorial, we will examine the neural mechanisms that support social cognition across species, including mice, rats, monkeys, bats, and humans, progressing from social perception (how we identify and remember others)…