(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study on social cognition has clarified a
key role for the medial frontal region of the cerebral cortex in
differentiating between the actions of oneself and the actions
of others. A new study on social cognition conducted by Masaki
Isoda at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
Promotion Corporation (OIST) and the Japan Science and
Technology Agency, in collaboration with Kyoko Yoshida and
Nobuhito Saito at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of
Medicine and Atsushi Iriki at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute,
has clarified a key role for the medial frontal region of the
cerebral cortex in differentiating between the actions of
oneself and the actions of others. Published in Current Biology,
this study opens up new avenues for research into the neuronal
basis of social cognition in health and disease. Controversy
surrounds the way in which actions of other individuals are
represented in the brain. The prevailing theory is that the so-
called mirror neurons play a pivotal ro