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Reading other people's mind: Insights from neuropsychology
Author(s) -
Samson Dana
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of neuropsychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.85
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1748-6653
pISSN - 1748-6645
DOI - 10.1348/174866408x377883
Subject(s) - psychology , reading (process) , neuropsychology , cognitive neuropsychology , cognitive psychology , cognition , theory of mind , cognitive science , executive functions , cognitive neuroscience , neuroscience , linguistics , philosophy
When trying to make sense of other people's behaviour we usually invoke their mental states, such as their intentions, beliefs or emotions. This mind reading ability has been traditionally investigated in developmental psychology and comparative psychology but is now receiving increasing attention from the cognitive neurosciences. I will show the important role that neuropsychology plays in unravelling the cognitive and neural basis of our mind reading abilities. I will illustrate this by showing how cases of adults with acquired brain lesions can help us tease apart the different mechanisms that underlie mind reading abilities and can help us understand the nature of these mechanisms, especially their relation to language and executive function.