Abstract
The way we think is strongly influenced by the way we are brought up and also by the manner in which we learn. The nature versus nurture debate is particularly prominent in this context. Is our brain neuron circuitry influenced by the way we think, or is it the other way around? The interaction between brain and cognition thus becomes incredibly important. The introduction to this book defines social cognition as the processes that subserve behaviour in relating to specifics. The differences between human social cognition and other cognitive processes and those from other species are to do with shifting conscious experiences in flexible ways. Moral values are linked with social cognition, and the recent debate in the UK and elsewhere where politicians seem to fall back on the moral compass, whether it is to criticize bankers, journalists or the population at large. The explanations for this ‘moral downfall’ always come down to a lack of religion and rise of materialism, but few politicians look at changes in family structures and child development.
The book is divided into three parts. The first focuses on empathy and its neural basis. The second part deals with moral (cognition) neuroscience and emotions. The most interesting part for me is the third section, which deals with genes and decision making. The first chapter provides a succinct and helpful summary of each section, but more importantly defines various terms. The role of mirror neurones in feeling empathy is of great interest, not only to researchers but to clinicians as well. We know that emotional signals are often not very conscious, and psychoanalysts got there with their notions of conscious and unconscious somatic markers in the neurological basis of decision making, which depends upon neural systems to process emotions. As the authors point out in the chapter on decision making, emotions are a major factor in interactions between decision making and environmental factors. Thus we know that we can make wrong decisions when anxious or tired, or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and this approach provides a useful insight. Combining neuro-anatomy and neurological basis, the volume is well illustrated with figures and scans and provides an invaluable introduction to the interaction of biology and cognition.