Abstract: There is no doubt that humans differ from other animals in their social skills, in that they are able to form higher-order representations of the social environment, and to manipulate those representations in reasoning that can be quite flexible. But the neural underpinnings of social cognition are not understood yet. Studies in humans and other primates have been focused on several structures, such as the amygdala, the prefrontal cortex, the superior temporal sulcus, the anterior cingulate cortex and some other brain areas that lay a key role in guiding social behaviors. In this review, we summarize recent work that has illuminated the neural basis of complex social cognition and behavior in humans.

Key words: social cognition, emotion, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, superior temporal sulcus