Neuroscience of Social Interaction - 9780198529262

Much of the work that has been done in neuroscience has involved people being considered as isolated units, but a key problem facing neuroscience is uncovering the neural mechanisms of social communication, according to Frith and Wolpert (both of the Institute of Neurology, U. College London, UK). They present 14 papers that concentrate on two-person interactions in which one tries to "read" the mental state of the other in nonverbal interactions. Papers include considerations of mechanical and human recognition and interpretation of biological motion, "mirror neurons" and their role in the imitation of behavior, and studies that "close the communications loop" by studying the reception of imitation behavior by the original transmitter of the imitated behavior. This book was originally published as an issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B (2003). Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)