A coordinate-based meta-analysis and feature-based network analysis of how the brain represents social cognition

Over the past three decades, neuroimaging research has increasingly focused on the processes that allow us to perceive, understand, and respond to others’ emotions, intentions, and beliefs—collectively referred to as social cognition. Despite extensive research, the term remains inconsistently defined, encompassing a broad range of constructs and tasks. This conceptual heterogeneity hampers theoretical integration, cross-disciplinary communication, and the synthesis of empirical findings. Recent conceptual and data-driven efforts have aimed to delineate core components of social cognition, yet a unified framework is still lacking. This project adopts a data-driven, network neuroscientific approach combining feature-based network analysis and coordinate-based meta-analysis to (a) identify the component processes that constitute social cognition, (b) determine their distinct and shared task features, and (c) examine how these components interact within the broader social cognitive network.