Processes in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience to Social Understanding and Interaction: An Integrative Framework

Abstract

This review aims to provide an integrating framework of the basic processes studied by the Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience that are involved in the ability of people to understand and interact with others. For this, are reviewed the main findings about cognitive, social and emotional processes, by indicating the brain areas where they are located, and are analyzed according if are automatic or controlled processes, if they focus on internal or external characteristics of individuals, and if they are simple or complex processes. This article proposes a functional-anatomic distribution where automatic and controlled processes are located on ventral and dorsal areas respectively, externally and internally focused processes in lateral and medial areas, respectively, and simple and complex processes in the caudal and rostral areas respectively. Finally, limitations and future directions of research are discussed.

Keywords

• Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
• Theory of mind
• Empathy
• Social attitudes
• Neural bases.