Fig. 2. The mentalizing network in social interaction:

a| Key regions of the mentalizing network (based on meta-analyses of theory of mind studies in adults¹) are depicted in the schematic. b| The right panel depicts a typical pattern of activation in studies of mentalizing in a third person context (that is, in which the participant is an observer (or listener) rather than interactive participant). Specifically, regions of the mentalizing network show greater activation during mental state reasoning (that is, when a participant is asked to make predictions about a social partner based on their mental states, such as their beliefs, desires, or knowledge) than during non-mental state reasoning (that is, when they are asked to make predictions based on information about the person that does not involve mental states)¹. However, in second-person studies (in which participants are engaged in social interaction) regions in the mentalizing network respond similarly during social interaction with or without explicit task demands to engage in mental state reasoning²⁸. This comparison of mentalizing network activation in second-compared to third-person contexts highlights the importance of studying social processes within social interaction because it suggests how the brain responds differs when in interaction compared to observation. TPJ: Temporoparietal junction. IFG: Inferior frontal gyrus. aTL: anterior Temporal lobe. dMPFC: dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. vMPFC: ventral medial prefrontal cortex. PCC: Posterior Cingulate Cortex.