Figure 1. The decision-making process as a dynamic feedback loop.

Illustration of the decision-making process of an agent in a non-social (A) vs. social (B) context. For simplicity, the social context is illustrated here for the case of a two-agent situation. The agent makes choices based on a sensorimotor transformation that maps an input space to specific behavioral outputs. In the non-social context, the agent uses feedback from the environment which is relatively stable and predictable. In contrast, the social context couples the agent directly to another agent whose internal state (e.g. goals, beliefs, etc.) are hidden. Behavior and behavioral responses from the interacting partner are highly unpredictable, creating a more complex decision-making processes that engages mentalization, dynamic prediction, and other cognitive processes.