Data from: A dedicated network for social interaction processing in the primate brain

Primate cognition requires interaction processing. Interactions can reveal
otherwise hidden properties of intentional agents, such as thoughts and
feelings, and of inanimate objects, such as mass and material. Where and
how interaction analyses are implemented in the brain is unknown. Using
whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging in macaque monkeys, we
discovered a network centered in the medial and ventrolateral prefrontal
cortex that is exclusively engaged in social interaction analysis.
Exclusivity of specialization was found for no other function anywhere in
the brain. Two additional networks, a parieto-premotor and a temporal one,
exhibited both social and physical interaction preference, which, in the
temporal lobe, mapped onto a fine-grain pattern of object, body, and face
selectivity. Extent and location of a dedicated system for social
interaction analysis suggest that this function is an evolutionary
forerunner of human mind-reading capabilities.