• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, August 25, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

How the brain ‘mentalizes’ cooperation

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 26, 2019
in Health
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: Abe M. O. et al., Neural correlates of online cooperation during joint force production, NeuroImage, February 7, 2019.)

Researchers identify a part of the brain that helps execute cooperative tasks.

What parts of your brain are involved in gauging a friend’s actions and adjusting your own; for example, when you both carry a couch up a flight of stairs?

Researchers in Japan have found that part of the right side of the brain, called the temporoparietal junction, is significantly activated when two people cooperate together to achieve a common goal.

Previous studies suggest two parts of the brain are involved in social cognition: the mirror neuron system, a circuit of nerve cells that turn on during social interaction, and that can be defective in conditions such as autism; and the mentalizing system, several brain regions involved in understanding other people’s intentions.

Masaki O. Abe of Hokkaido University and colleagues in Japan were interested in finding out what parts of the brain were specifically involved in facilitating cooperative tasks. They designed an experiment to find out, which was recently described in the journal NeuroImage.

In the cooperative task in the experiment, two people were placed inside separate functional MRI (fMRI) machines to have their brains scanned while they tightened their grip around a sensor device. The device was connected to a monitor inside the fMRI machine that showed two cursors, one for each person, moving along a line. The two people were told to align the cursor on the screen by adjusting their grip on the sensor device and matching their average grip strength, or force, to a target. The way the experiment was designed meant that each person had to predict the grip force exerted by the other person and to adjust their grip accordingly.

In addition to the cooperative experiment, participants were asked to individually perform a similar task in which they were told to exert the force necessary to move their cursor to the target location, and also to simply observe a pre-recorded performance of the task without exerting any force. This revealed the brain regions activated during individual versus cooperative tasks, as well as tasks involving engagement versus only watching.

The team found that the cooperative task activated brain regions related to the mentalizing system. In addition, they found that specific activation of the anterior part of the right temporoparietal junction, located where the temporal and parietal lobes of the brain meet, significantly and positively correlated with the degree of cooperation during the joint task. The anterior part was also found to fire off information to its posterior part.

The results suggest, together with those of previous studies, that the right temporoparietal junction is involved in controlling the flow of information about cooperative tasks to the mentalizing system, the researchers conclude.

###

Media Contact
Tyler Tannert
 @hokkaidouni

011-706-2186

Original Source

https://www.global.hokudai.ac.jp/blog/how-the-brain-mentalizes-cooperation/

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.003

Tags: BehaviorBiologyneurobiologyNeurochemistrySocial/Behavioral Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare4

Related Posts

Nurses’ Views on Online Learning: Effects on Performance

Nurses’ Views on Online Learning: Effects on Performance

August 25, 2025
blank

Carotid Calcifications and Pulp Stones: Diabetes Warning?

August 25, 2025

Link Between Type 2 Diabetes and Heart Failure Uncovered

August 24, 2025

Nature’s Remedies: Green Chemistry for Prostate Health

August 24, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    141 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    134 shares
    Share 54 Tweet 34
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    115 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Assessing Runting Causes and Impacts in Poultry Hatcheries

Post-Fire Growth Insights of Cyathea Mexiae in Brazil

Pollinators Use Sight and Smell for Flower Identification

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.