Social perception

Processing Social and Emotional Information from Faces and Bodies

Non-verbal signals, such as facial expressions and body movements, are an important way for others to communicate their goals, intentions, and emotions. Studies in the CSNG have examined the neural processes involved in the perception of such non-verbal signals. In particular, we have demonstrated the role of lateral temporal cortex in processing the movements of faces and whole bodies. We have shown how extrastriate regions such as the extrastriate body area (EBA) and human MT/MST processing bodies and movement, respectively, and then send information to the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) to integrate these cues. While the processing of biological motion in pSTS is rapid, our work has shown that it is still highly modulated by attention. We have also demonstrated that the processing by pSTS of social stimuli, such as biological motion, is linked to real-world social network complexity.

More recently, work in the CSNG has shown that the encoding social relationships between individuals is reflected in very early modulation of the neural response to faces of those individuals. We propose that rather than representing social the social relationships of an individual in abstract, amodal representations, links are made between the sensory representations of an individual and the people that she knows.

Recent Publications:

Thompson JC, Clarke M, Stewart T, Puce A. (2005). Configural processing of biological movement in human superior temporal sulcus. Journal of Neuroscience. 25, 9059-66.

Hardee, J.E., Thompson, J.C., Puce, A. (2008). The left amygdala knows fear: laterality in the amygdala response to fearful eyes. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 3, 47-54.

Safford AS, Hussey EA, Parasuraman R, Thompson JC. (2010). Object-based attentional modulation of biological motion processing: Spatiotemporal dynamics using fMRI and EEG. Journal of Neuroscience. 30, 9064-73.

Dziura S, Thompson, JC. (2014). Social-network complexity in humans is associated with the neural response to social information. Psychological Science. 25, 2095-2101.

Rice K, Anderson LC, Velnoskey K, Thompson JC, Redcay E. (2016). Biological motion perception links diverse facets of theory of mind in middle childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 146, 238-246.

Basil, R., Westwater, M.L., Wiener, M., Thompson, JC. (2017). A causal role for the right pSTS in discriminating emotions from body movements. Open Mind 1 (3), 148-158.

Dziura SL, Thompson JC (2020). Temporal Dynamics of the Neural Representation of Social Relationships. Journal of Neuroscience. 40, 9078-9087.