ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines what is meant by the social brain. This is the area of the brain that understands other people and develops skills necessary for social interaction. All the elements of cognitive development play a part in the growth of social skills. Having looked at the development of cognitive skills, we can now consider how these underpin social skills. The changes that take place during these years include the following: the recognition of emotion, perspective-taking and social evaluation. Perspective-taking is an important social skill. Research has highlighted three key findings concerning the recognition of emotion. The first is that there is a specific area in the brain dedicated to facial recognition. The second finding is that the recognition of emotion becomes progressively more sophisticated. The third finding is that, in young people, the amygdala plays a key role in emotion recognition.
