Uta Frith
b. 1941 · Germany/UKAutism & ToM
Pioneered cognitive accounts of autism and mentalising.
Eight voices who shaped mentalising, empathy and the social brain — from developmental classics to affective neuroscience.
Portraits resolve via Wikimedia when licences allow.
People
Chris Frith
b. 1942 · UKSocial brain
Mapped mentalising networks and agency in social interaction.
Simon Baron-Cohen
b. 1958 · UKMindblindness
Influential (and debated) theory-of-mind framing in autism.
Ralph Adolphs
b. 1963 · USASocial neuroscience
Lesion and imaging work on the social brain.
Tania Singer
b. 1969 · GermanyEmpathy
Dissociated empathy and mentalising in neuroimaging.
Michael Tomasello
b. 1950 · USAShared intentionality
Comparative and developmental work on joint goals.
Nancy Eisenberg
b. 1950 · USAProsocial development
Mapped empathy-related responding across childhood.
Leslie Brothers
20th c. · USASocial brain phrase
Early synthesis popularising a “social brain” systems view.
Read primary papers before popular mirror-neuron summaries.
Sources & research
- Social cognition in humansConcise map of human social-cognitive processes.DOI
- The social brain: neural basis of social knowledgeSystems overview of the social brain.DOI
- Does the autistic child have a "theory of mind"?Landmark false-belief study in autism research.DOI
Keep exploring
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Research 74 💓Emotion
Affective circuits linking body states, appraisal and social meaning.
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Awareness, reportability and the hard problem still facing science.
Research 89 📚Learning
How practice, prediction and reward reshape circuits over time.
Research 90 👁️Perception
Building a usable world from noisy sensors and prior expectations.
Research 77 🔥Pain
A protective percept built from nociception, context and prediction.
Research 74 ⏳Brain Aging
Lifelong change in structure, networks and cognitive reserve.
Research 57 ✨Belief, Expectation & Becoming
Where self-help, manifestation metaphors and religious hope meet expectancy, attention and prediction — and where they overclaim.
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Meditation, prayer and liturgy as trained attention and regulation — evidence, limits and cultural context.
Research 82 🧭Executive Function
Working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility — the control system that steers thought and action toward goals.
Research 88 🏃Motor Control
From intention to muscle — cortico-basal ganglia-cerebellar loops that select, time and correct movement.
Research 90