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1、1Introduction:Whatissocialcognitiveneuroscience(SCN)?NathanJ.EmeryandAlexanderEastonUnderstandingtheneuralmechanismsofcognitiveprocesses,suchasthought,perception,andlanguage,orcognitiveneuroscience,hasbeenarapidlyprogressingdisciplineforthelasttwodecades.Thisexpansionhasbeendrivenprima
2、rilybysignificantadvancesinthedevelopmentoftechnologytoobservetheactivityofthelivinghumanbraininaction.Revolutionarytech-niquessuchaspositronemissiontomography(PET),event-relatedpotentials(ERP),andfunctionalmagneticresonanceimaging(fMRI)havebeenattheheartofthisrevolution,andwenowknowmuc
3、habouthowthehumanbrainprocessessensoryinformation,plansandcontrolsmovement,perceivesandproducesspeech,andexperiencesemotions.Althoughweknowinfinitelymoreabouttheneuralbasisofhumanpsychologythanwedid20yearsago,theproblemsfacingusinthefutureareimmense.Wehighlighttwomainproblems.First,theq
4、uestionsthemselvesarehuge.Forexample,visualprocessingisarelativelyminorcomponentintheoverallstoryofhowthebrainfunctionstogiverisetocomplexhumancognitiveprocesses,but,initself,visionisahorrendouslycomplicatedprocessinvolvingover50corticalareas,andbillionsofneurons.Therefore,majoradvance
5、smustbemadebeforewecanevencontemplatesolvingrelatively“simple”processes,suchasperception.Second,notallaspectsoftraditionalpsychologycanbeeasilycombinedwiththetoolsofcognitiveneuroscience.Thissecondproblemappliesespeciallytosocialcognitiveneuroscience(SCN).SCNisthestudyoftheneuralmechan
6、ismsofsocialcognitionandsocialinteractionsinhumansandanimals,particularlynonhumanprimates.Itisalsoconcernedwithdeficitsofsociocognitiveprocessesinhumans,particu-larlythosewhichhaveadedicatedneuralbasis,suchasautism,schizophrenia,sociopathy,anddepression.Thisbranchofcognitiveneuroscience
7、isdirectedtowardsunderstandingcomplexaspectsofsocialbehaviour,suchasmental-izing(understandinganother’smentalstates),empathy,attractiveness,self-awareness,moralreasoning,intentionality,andimitation.Assuch,itisslightlydifferentfromsocialneuroscience,orthestudyoftheneurobiologyofsocialb
