Neurodevelopmental and evolutionary origins of processing social interactions

Published on January 29, 2024

In their recent article in TiCS [1], McMahon and Isik present evidence to argue that the core of third-party social interaction perception is visual in nature, selectively relying upon a specialized region in superior temporal sulcus (STS). This view is presented in contrast to the prevalent notion that third-party social interaction perception is part of higher level social cognitive processes, supporting the attribution and interpretation of mental states. While the behavioral, computational, and neural evidence put forward to support McMahon and Isik’s claims [1] is compelling and may well account for human adult brain function, critical research examining the neurodevelopmental and evolutionary origins of processing third-party social interactions has been overlooked and needs to be integrated to arrive at a more complete picture of how processing social interaction is achieved in the human brain.

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