The mechanism people use to infer and reason about another person’s states of mind is called a ‘Theory of Mind’ . One of the most striking discoveries of recent human cognitive neuroscience is that there is a group of brain regions in human cortex that selectively and specifically underlie this mechanism.

In this Ted Talk, cognitive neuroscientist, Rebecca Saxe shares fascinating lab work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ thoughts — and judges their actions.

Our lab studies these brain regions for Theory of Mind, as a case study in the deeper and broader question: how does the brain – an electrical and biological machine – construct abstract thoughts?