This challenges a strict division-of-labor story for the social brain. Both "social perception" and "mentalizing" regions carry out a combination of relational bottom-up and higher-order inferential computations!
26.02.2026 22:09 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0This challenges a strict division-of-labor story for the social brain. Both "social perception" and "mentalizing" regions carry out a combination of relational bottom-up and higher-order inferential computations!
26.02.2026 22:09 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
We compared both models to fMRI responses while participants watched animated social interactions
Surprising result: BOTH models explained neural responses in BOTH pSTS and TPJ, even after controlling for the variance explained by the other model.
⇒Computations not strictly segregated by region.
Previous work suggests a *functional hierarchy*: pSTS extracts coarse interaction structure, TPJ performs higher-order mental state inferences.
This suggests a computational-neural mapping:
pSTS ➡ 🔵 bottom-up relational computations
TPJ ➡ 🔴 inverse-planning computations
Behavioral work showed both models uniquely explain human social judgments - suggesting people use both strategies. But how are these computations organized in the brain?
26.02.2026 22:09 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
To study this, we recently developed two computational models:
🔵 A bottom-up GNN that makes social inferences by relationally structuring visual input
🔴 A generative inverse-planning model that infers agents' goals, beliefs, and relationships by simulating what rational agents would do
In everyday life, we can effortlessly tell if people are interacting - and whether they're being friendly or fighting. We know “social perception” and “mentalizing” regions are involved (like pSTS and TPJ respectively), but what computations are they actually performing?
26.02.2026 22:09 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Excited to share new work on how the brain makes social inferences from visual input! 🧠👯♂️
(With @lisik.bsky.social , @shariliu.bsky.social, @tianminshu.bsky.social , and Minjae Kim!) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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