The concept of "social brain" is one of the challenging and advanced concepts of the modern neuropsychology. In addition, the "social brain", as a concept, forms a completely new approach to the study of social psychology and brain pathologies. Research and development of this concept contributes to the discovery of the social and psychological development of a person. The thematic justification of this study is important because it allows tracing the relationship between the social cognition and social behavior of a person, which is basic in the context of psychology, sociology, and neuropsychology. The development and use of the "social brain" raises issues associated with the various mental and psychological disorders that occur in early childhood and even at the genetic level. The study of this concept is crucial today, since the level of socialization of every individual determines the level of his or her overall development. The first attempt to define the concept and introduce it into the science was made about 25 years ago; now, there are many serious studies that allow for a fresh look at the human brain and mind. A more detailed study of the social brain contributes to the importance of its development for the sciences such as sociology and neuropsychology.
The Importance of the Study of the "Social Brain"
The concept of "social brain" was originally introduced in neuropsychology for the purpose of a more detailed study of various disorders associated with emotional response and social adaptation, as well as the "skill learning" perspective (Johnson, 2007, p. 3). About 25 years ago, this concept affected only the scope of disorders associated with various psychiatric and neurological disorders. Over time, the researches on this concept have transformed it into an original approach to the study of social learning, adaptability, and interpersonal problems. Therefore, neuropsychologists used this term in a broader context to describe the processing of social information and the processes associated with it (Johnson, 2007, p. 3). Mind arises together with the emergence of living beings as a subjective reflection of the outside world in the process of active interaction with it. This is an active adaption to the changing environment, which distinguishes a living being from an inanimate nature (Dunbar, 2003, p. 163). However, if the same adaptive activity cannot reach its goal without a subjective reflection, the complexity and perfection of the physiological mechanisms of behavior are largely determined by the level of mental reflection and development. Thus, activity is the link between the mental and physiological levels of existence of the subject. Mental reflection, which is generated in the process of activity, its structure, and properties are largely dependent on the physiological mechanisms that implement activities (Dunbar, 2003, p. 167).
The essence of the concept of the "social brain" is related to physiology in many ways. If psychology studies the problem of consciousness based on the analysis of behavioral responses, the use of such concept as "social brain" allows looking at the problems of psychology and psychiatry in more detail. For example, according to Sandi and Haller (2015), children aged five-to-six age group with typical development experience some difficulties with the holistic perception of visual objects, which are caused by the immaturity of neural networks in the visual associative and frontal cortical areas. It is interesting to note that similar differences were found in studies of the long-term neural consequences of social and non-social stressors administered to juveniles (p. 292). The similar results can be traced by studying the effects of certain brain damage or psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 1). It has long been proved that most of the causes of mental illness have more biological rather than physiological character. The importance of this topic is largely due to its focus on the interaction of neuropsychology and physiology. Such interaction broadens the scope of any investigation. The modern neuroscience has accumulated many facts that state that information, which is used by a person in his or her interaction with other people, is processed by the specialized brain systems (Johnson, 2007, p. 3). The aspect of interpersonal interaction between people is of particular importance here. Social brain includes the study of interpersonal experiences and, thus, is able to form a more important research that will be useful even in the treatment and correction of mental disorders. According to Dunbar (2009), the modern neurophysiological data confirm the legitimacy of the cultural-historical approach to the development of mind and thus demonstrate the efficiency of the study of psychic phenomena on the neurophysiological level (p. 569). However, the understanding of the laws of mental development in the context of social interaction acts as a more important aspect of the neurophysiological studies of the "social brain", as these studies are then related to "the evolution of social group size, language, and culture within the hominid lineage" (Dunbar, 2003, p. 163). This concept includes the study of the formation of the motivational aspects of their brain mechanisms. Social analysis of the brain allows to understand that this approach is underdeveloped today. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure, the social brain has a great theoretical and practical potential, which makes it extremely important approach in neuropsychology and neurophysiology.
Research Methods
Undoubtedly, new technologies that achieve the most accurate results in the shortest possible time play a crucial role in the methodology of social research on brain. To date, computerized tomography, i.e. the positron emission tomography (PET) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have become the major research methods. Based on the resources of the modern high-tech equipment and software, computer tomography allows to study the functioning of human brain without interfering and with minimal injuries procedure. Mathematical modeling techniques used in computer science, which has already been established as a separate division of information sciences, allows real-time visualization of the functioning of the brain operation in solving all sorts of problems, including the problems with the use of social incentives (Dunbar, 2009, p. 563). The methodical support of research in the framework of the model of the "theory of mind" varies from experimental playing of difficult situations up to the use of special techniques, based on different models: understanding of lies, metaphors, irony and jokes, unspoken rules of communication, and impolicy (Dunbar, 2009, pp. 565-566). Pictures, stories, even animation can become the material for such studies. The research technology gradually improves both in terms of tests and through the allocation of different strategies in the understanding of other persons, types of mistakes, and development of models describing the disruption of the social brain in various forms of psychopathology. In addition, the authors of the study point out the methods such as psychological assessment, data acquisition, voxel-based-morphometry analysis, statistical analysis, and involvement of participants (Radeloff, et al., 2014, pp. 2-3). Using such techniques, or rather their combination, contributed to the accuracy of the study.
Results
According to neurocognitive research, the effectiveness of the cognitive activity of infants increases significantly if an adult attracts a child's attention to different objects or phenomena with the help of the gestures or eye contact; moreover, these gestures can influence "the extent to which early life stress affects behavior and emotionality in adulthood" (Sandi & Haller, 2015, p. 300). The areas of the brain responsible for stimulating activities and recognition are present in every adult; however, their functions are not fully studied (Dumontheil, 2015, p. 118). In addition, the question of how they have been developed and programmed remains unsolved as well. Therefore, it is important to pay special attention to the study of a child's brain, as the most important principles of its development are laid in the early days. The behavior of primates was the first experimental model in the works of the researchers; this study yielded evidence of significant changes in the social behavior of apes, resulting in the destruction of certain parts of the brain (Dunbar. 2009, p. 170). Dunbar (2009) has examined the primate brain within the evolutionary process that basically refers to the fact that "increases in brain size were triggered by the cognitive demands of pairbonds" (p. 570). These works have proven the involvement of such brain areas as the orbital frontal cortex, amygdala, and several others in the "social brain" (pp. 166-167). The animal studies are still going on, but the real breakthrough in the study of the brain was caused by the introduction of the new scanning techniques to investigate areas of the cerebral cortex and the area involved in the implementation of the processes of social cognition and behavior without a further damage (Johnson, 2007, p. 1).
In addition, the studies in cognitive processes play a crucial role in the modern psychology, as they evidently prove the need for new models for understanding the functions such as "memory, planning, attention", thinking, regulation, and control (Johnson, 2007, p. 118). However, the analysis of the diverse researches allows one to note that in most of them physical objects are used as the stimulus material, which is not suitable for comparison with the extremely complex objects of the social world. The early studies in primates have shown that the perception of the "face" expressions in primates involved in lateral occipital-temporal gyrus and fusiform (fusiform gyrus) (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 1). The similar results were obtained later for a human being, as the indicated brain region most clearly responds to incentives in the form of other people's faces. The results are already confirmed by many studies, during which the interesting facts have been revealed. Thus, it has been discovered that the ability of a human infant to respond to different faces changes as it grows (Johnson, 2007, p. 3). Even social psychologists took interest in these findings, using them as the foundation for the study of racial prejudice (Dunbar, 2003, p. 172). Therefore, it is empirically confirmed that the short-term exposure of persons of black Americans to the representatives of middle-class whites reviled the activation of the amygdala region that has been interpreted as the amygdala part in relation to the unconsciously formed emotional evaluation of an object (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 2). Animal studies have shown that amygdala is a part of the system, which evaluates the significance of the stimulus associated with fear (Dunbar, 2003, p. 167).
The overall conclusion of many works is that the amygdala is involved in the perception of the value of individual objects or class of object and is actively involved in the process of social cognition. The perception of the so-called "biological motion", or the movement of biological objects, is another subject of research in the framework of the hypothesis of the "social brain" (Sandi & Haller, 2015, p. 291). The data indicate that human infant acquires the ability to distinguish the motions of these different types very early – at the age of 3 months (Sandi & Haller, 2015, p. 291). In addition, the theory of mind is an important concept in the study of the social brain, which explains many functions of interpersonal interaction (Dunbar, 2009, p. 565). Such ability as the simultaneous representation in the minds of different opinions is necessary for the successful understanding of other people's needs, so violations of "the theory of mind" sometimes occur as part of a general defect of thinking. The theory of "simulation" is another model that implies an ability to take the place of another person; it is closely related to traditional notions about the mechanism of empathy and also finds empirical confirmation (Sandi & Haller, 2015, p. 300). In particular, it was discovered that schizophrenic patients had a compromised ability to see the situation from the viewpoint of another person in dealing with a variety of intellectual tasks (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 6). However, the authors pointed to the fact that the basis of these disorders consisted in a decrease of social orientation of thinking; moreover, they did not associate these disorders directly with the brain changes. In contrast to traditional ideas, the approach associated with social brain takes into account the physiological aspects of brain, which increases the likelihood of obtaining more accurate data.
Hence, the orbitofrontal area of the prefrontal cortex is the first developed vital social instrument (Sandi & Haller, 2015, p. 297). It begins to mature by 10 months of age, when an infant starts to develop walking, and orbitofrontal zone begins to build links to other sites, despite the fact that this process is fully completed only by 18 months of age. This development comes at a key moment, when brain develops the ability to maintain the visual images (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 2). There are specialized neurons that are responsible for the face recognition in the orbitofrontal zone, while another part of the brain, which matures at the same time, starts to process the visual side of individuals. First, these images are similar to a "flash", but they become the three-dimensional visual images, which are loaded with emotions during the repetition of situations involving other people over and over again. This is an important moment in the emotional life of a human, as it is the first outline of the inner life – i.e. "the internal library of images" that can be accessed over and over again, the complexity and fullness of associations and thoughts will grow as a child grows (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 3). Apparently, these emotionally loaded images are quite close to the psychoanalytical idea of the internal object. The social brain can also define the integral intellectual ability, which determines the success of communication and social adaptation. According to Sandi and Haller (2015), the social brain integrates and controls the cognitive processes associated with the reflection of social facilities (p. 298). It includes the processes such as the social perception, social memory, and social thinking. Sometimes, the social brain is identified with one of the processes, e.g. social thinking and social perception. This is due to the tradition of separate study of these phenomena in the framework of the general and social psychology and neuropsychology. The social brain provides insight into the behavior and actions of people, the understanding human speech production, as well as the non-verbal reactions in the form of facial expressions, postures, and gestures. It is a cognitive component of the individual communication skills and professional qualities in the professions such as "a man – a man", as well as some professions such as "a man - an artistic image" (Dumontheil, 2015, p. 121). It can be assumed that the better developed social human brain is, the more a person is adaptive and social. And here, any violation of any of the brain regions is responsible for the functioning of social activities, which leads to serious diseases that can affect the whole human activity.
Discussion / Conclusion
The belief that the brain has evolved in humans in the course of evolution in order to handle the factual information, analyze incoming information, and make the right decisions, has has been generally accepted in the scientific community almost since the time of Darwin and still remains to this day in the unscientific community. However, in the 90's of the last century, a group of evolutionary scientists put forward an alternative statement known as the "social brain hypothesis", according to which the brain evolved during the evolution so that primates could support a greater number of social ties and, as a result, create more complex groups (Dunbar, 2003, pp. 162-163). The development of social abilities in children is well studied. First, the understanding of attention is the most important prerequisite of "the theory of mind": a child aged 7-9 month is able to understand that an adult's attention is directed to some external object (Sandi & Haller, 2015, p. 291). The understanding of the difference between accidental and intentional actions of other people is the second most important prerequisite – i.e. this ability develops at the two-to-three age. Primates also have these two abilities. Moreover, the ability to realize the fact that the representation of the other person may be obviously false, apparently, is laid genetically (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 1). Children with autism are unable to pass most of the tests aimed at determining the level of knowledge. Moreover, the failure to complete the development of consciousness does not correlate with the level of IQ - children with Down syndrome undergo this test well (Radeloff, et al., 2014, p. 2). Autistics with a high IQ are capable to memorize the right responses to the typical social situations.
The above analysis of the literature published in the last few years mainly gives very strong evidence of a certain specificity of the cognitive processes involved in perception of social stimuli and the construction of social behavior. In the context of this topic, it is important to consider a study aimed at finding brain bases of social cognition, which is carried out in several ways. One possible way is a search of areas, regions of brain that clearly distinguish the human brain from the brain of apes. In this case, researchers agree on the extraordinary value of prefrontal cortical (prefrontal cortex), the role of the temporal cortex (temporal cortices), as well as the frontal cortex as the basis of the "theory of mind". In addition, it is very important to consider "the social brain" not only as a special psychological concept, but also as an individual brainstorming education. The study of the subject has a very high importance in the study of the work of human brain. In the future, this concept can help find a solution to the many problems of psychological and social problems. Most mental disorders are largely dependent on new discoveries in the field of neuropsychology, and the concept of the social brain includes the crucial aspects of this science. The research in the field of social brain will help to overcome many social problems. This is due to the fact that the main areas of brain and their functions begin to form early in life, so this study will allow to correct the formation of all possible deviations.
Limitations
Each neuropsychological test has the cultural restrictions and the specificity of the analysis: some indicators may indicate disease or underdevelopment of brain structures in some circumstances, while others indicate a low level of education or a lack of skills. To date, there are the necessary facilities for the most detailed studies, but still, the researches require an additional time in order to get more accurate data. For example, the data obtained in the comparison between ASD and SCZ were fairly accurate, but at the same time, not all the important parts of brain have been investigated. The diagnosis of certain areas of brain requires more precise chemical analysis; therefore, researchers need to carry out more experiments.
References
Dumontheil, I. (2015). Development of the social brain during adolescence. Psicologia Educativa, 21(2), 117-124. doi:10.1016/j.pse.2015.08.001
Dunbar, R. M. (2009). The social brain hypothesis and its implications for social evolution. Annals Of Human Biology, 36(5), 562-572. doi:10.1080/03014460902960289
Dunbar, R. M. (2003). The Social Brain: Mind, Language, and Society in Evolutionary Perspective. Annual Review Of Anthropology, 32(1), 163-181.
Johnson, M. H. (2007). Developing a social brain. Acta Paediatrica, 96(1), 3-5. doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2006.00037.x
Radeloff, D., Ciaramidaro, A., Siniatchkin, M., Hainz, D., Schlitt, S., Weber, B., & Freitag, C. M. (2014). Structural Alterations of the Social Brain: A Comparison between Schizophrenia and Autism. Plos ONE, 9(9), 1-9. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106539
Sandi, C., & Haller, J. (2015). Stress and the social brain: behavioural effects and neurobiological mechanisms. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(5), 290-304. doi:10.1038/nrn3918
