A viewer’s brain needs very few hints to take on the assumption that these characters are like us. As different as they are, these can all be the main characters in popular animated films and we have no difficulty in assigning intentions to them. Our social skills are deeply rooted in our neural circuitry - and understanding this circuitry is the basis of a young field of study called social neuroscience.Ĭonsider how different the following items are: bunnies, trains, monsters, airplanes and children’s toys.

All around us we see relationships forming and breaking, familial bonds and the compulsive building of alliances.Īll this social glue is generated by specific circuitry in the brain: sprawling networks that monitor other people, communicate with them, feel their pain, judge their intentions, and read their emotions. From our families, friends, co-workers and business partners, our societies are built on layers of complex social interactions. Our neurons require other people’s neurons to thrive and survive.īrains have traditionally been studied in isolation but that approach overlooks the fact that an enormous amount of brain circuitry has to do with other brains. Normal brain function depends on the social web around us. What does your brain need to function normally? Beyond the nutrients from the food you eat, beyond the oxygen you breathe, beyond the water you drink, there’s something else, something equally as important: it needs other people.

The brain the story of you book