NEW YORK, June 22 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've discovered two brain systems are primarily responsible for allowing humans to accurately predict the emotions of others.
Columbia University psychology Professors Kevin Ochsner and Niall Bolger, along with graduate student Jamil Zaki and research assistant Jochen Weber, used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the parts of the brain that people use when correctly discerning how others are feeling.
"Prior work has only shown us what goes on in the brain when you're reacting to or thinking about another person's emotions," said Ochsner. "Until now, we haven't known whether and how these parts of the brain really make you accurate.
"There's the potential of using this to study social function in everyday life,"Ochsner added. "This paradigm could help us figure out why some people are good at interacting with others and have lots of strong, healthy relationships and why others don't."
The research appears in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
