Brain Tracks Complex Social Interactions: Study

London, 13 Mar (ONA) --- A new study led by University College London (UCL) revealed that our brains use fundamental "building blocks" of information to track social interactions.

Published in Nature, the research shows that instead of monitoring individual players, specific brain regions respond to patterns of interaction.

Using functional MRI, scientists from UCL and the University of Oxford analyzed the brain activity of 88 participants as they played a game involving a teammate and opponents.

The study found that the brain employs both "agent-centric" tracking, monitoring each player’s performance, and a "sequential" method, processing information in order.

The prefrontal cortex, crucial for decision-making and social behavior, showed distinct activity patterns linked to these interaction "building blocks."

For instance, one pattern encoded how a participant and their teammate performed relative to opponents. Greater differences in performance heightened brain activity in this area.

Lead researcher Dr. Wittmann suggests that as we develop social skills, our brains learn and store common interaction patterns, which are then reused in different situations.

These findings provide new insights into how humans navigate complex social environments.

---Ends/Thuraiya/AG