The Science of Mind-Reading

The problem of other minds and how individuals interpret or evaluate the thoughts and feelings of other minds is the topic of this Rebecca Saxe speech. The extremely accomplished graduate student from MIT explores the part of the brain that is able to, based on just one photograph, draw conclusions about what that the subject or how he or she is feeling.

The RTPJ -- the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction -- is the region of brain used to determine what someone else is feeling or thinking. After discussing the ways in which this part of the brain develops throughout one's childhood and adulthood, she explains how different people can interpret a set of feelings, words or actions differently. Her speech demonstrates how the human mind is able to evaluate the data it collects -- from someone's actions or spoken words -- to infer what exactly is going on in another person's mind.