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Psychiatric disorders and the social brain: Distinguishing mentalizing and empathizing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2008

Alfonso Troisi
Alfonso Troisi
Affiliation:
Department of Neuroscience, University of Rome, Tor Vergata, 00161 Rome, Italy. alfonso.troisi@uniroma2.it
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Abstract

Social cognition is a broad term, incorporating all aspects of social functioning from perceiving emotional stimuli to attributional style and theory of mind. Not distinguishing between these different capacities may confound the interpretation of the data deriving from studies of the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social brain. The distinction between cognitive and affective components of social cognition is clearly exemplified by the abnormalities observed in psychopathy and Williams syndrome.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , June 2008 , pp. 279 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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