Our mental picture of another person produces unique
patterns of brain activation that can be detected using advanced imaging
techniques, report Cornell neuroscientist Nathan Spreng and his colleagues in a
study published online in Cerebral Cortex.
"When we looked at our data, we were shocked that we
could successfully decode who our participants were thinking about based on
their brain activity," said Spreng, the study's lead author, with Demis
Hassabis of University College London, and an assistant professor of human
development and the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty
Fellow in Cornell's College of Human Ecology.
"Our findings shed light on how the brain formulates
models of people's personality in order to anticipate their behavior -- a
faculty critical for success in the social world," Spreng added.
For their study, the researchers asked 19 young adults to
learn about the personalities of four people who differed on key personality
traits. Participants were given different scenarios (i.e., sitting on a bus
when an elderly person gets on, and there are no seats) and asked to imagine
how a specified person would respond. During the task, their brains were
scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which measures
brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow.