Michael Gilead - The Neural Basis of Mentalizing

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This book, The Neural Basis of Mentalizing, comes out 20 years after the publication of Chris Frith and Uta Friths (1999) groundbreaking Science paper Interacting MindsA Biological Basis, which described the first major efforts to understand the neural bases of humans ability to mentalize, namely, to reflect on the mental states of the self and of others.

In the 20 years that have passed, the study of mentalizing has continued to mature and has become a central topic in the world of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Moreover, mentalizing research plays a crucial role in such diverse fields as social and developmental psychology, emotion research, clinical psychology, linguistics, game theory, artificial intelligence, philosophy of mind, and primatology. The current book provides a comprehensive collection of perspectives on the topic and brings together researchers from these diverse fields.

We hope and believe that the publication of this volume will give rise to further progress in the study of the vital human capacity to understand themselves and others.

We wish to thank all of the numerous contributors to this book, Springer-Nature, and the production team for all of their hard work.

This book comes out 20 years after the publication of Frith and Friths () influential paper describing the first major efforts to understand the neural bases of the mentalizing capacity. The main findings of these initial studies were that a network of temporo-parietal, anterior temporal, posterior medial parietal, and medial prefrontal regions subserve humans mentalizing ability. Twenty years later, these findings have been replicated numerous times. Celebrating the 20 years anniversary of this paper, the current volume begins with a special chapter by Frith and Frith, providing a historical perspective on the emergence of mentalizing research, an overview of current research, and an outline of future directions.