Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus
Abstract Humans effortlessly transform dynamic social signals into inferences about other people’s internal states. Here we investigate the neural basis of this process by collecting fMRI data from 100 participants as they rate the emotional intensity of people (targets) describing significant life...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59931-8 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849764252048424960 |
|---|---|
| author | Marianne C. Reddan Desmond C. Ong Tor D. Wager Sonny Mattek Isabella Kahhale Jamil Zaki |
| author_facet | Marianne C. Reddan Desmond C. Ong Tor D. Wager Sonny Mattek Isabella Kahhale Jamil Zaki |
| author_sort | Marianne C. Reddan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Humans effortlessly transform dynamic social signals into inferences about other people’s internal states. Here we investigate the neural basis of this process by collecting fMRI data from 100 participants as they rate the emotional intensity of people (targets) describing significant life events. Targets provide self-ratings on the same scale. We then train and validate two unique multivariate models of observer brain activity. The first predicts the target’s self-ratings (i.e., intent), and the second predicts observer inferences. Correspondence between the intent and inference models’ predictions on novel test data increases when observers are more empathically accurate. However, even when observers make inaccurate inferences, the target’s intent can still be predicted from observer brain activity. These findings suggest that an observer’s brain contains latent representations of other people’s socioemotional intensity, and that fMRI models of intent and inference can be combined to predict empathic accuracy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b7397cfb80bd47dd9ac2a459a97ee4ad |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-b7397cfb80bd47dd9ac2a459a97ee4ad2025-08-20T03:05:10ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111410.1038/s41467-025-59931-8Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensusMarianne C. Reddan0Desmond C. Ong1Tor D. Wager2Sonny Mattek3Isabella Kahhale4Jamil Zaki5Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of MedicineDepartment of Psychology, University of Texas at AustinDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth CollegeDepartment of Psychology, Stanford UniversityDepartment of Psychology, University of PittsburghDepartment of Psychology, Stanford UniversityAbstract Humans effortlessly transform dynamic social signals into inferences about other people’s internal states. Here we investigate the neural basis of this process by collecting fMRI data from 100 participants as they rate the emotional intensity of people (targets) describing significant life events. Targets provide self-ratings on the same scale. We then train and validate two unique multivariate models of observer brain activity. The first predicts the target’s self-ratings (i.e., intent), and the second predicts observer inferences. Correspondence between the intent and inference models’ predictions on novel test data increases when observers are more empathically accurate. However, even when observers make inaccurate inferences, the target’s intent can still be predicted from observer brain activity. These findings suggest that an observer’s brain contains latent representations of other people’s socioemotional intensity, and that fMRI models of intent and inference can be combined to predict empathic accuracy.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59931-8 |
| spellingShingle | Marianne C. Reddan Desmond C. Ong Tor D. Wager Sonny Mattek Isabella Kahhale Jamil Zaki Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus Nature Communications |
| title | Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus |
| title_full | Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus |
| title_fullStr | Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus |
| title_short | Neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus |
| title_sort | neural signatures of emotional intent and inference align during social consensus |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59931-8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mariannecreddan neuralsignaturesofemotionalintentandinferencealignduringsocialconsensus AT desmondcong neuralsignaturesofemotionalintentandinferencealignduringsocialconsensus AT tordwager neuralsignaturesofemotionalintentandinferencealignduringsocialconsensus AT sonnymattek neuralsignaturesofemotionalintentandinferencealignduringsocialconsensus AT isabellakahhale neuralsignaturesofemotionalintentandinferencealignduringsocialconsensus AT jamilzaki neuralsignaturesofemotionalintentandinferencealignduringsocialconsensus |