Biology,  Mentalizing,  Video

Mentalization and understanding the minds of others

I spoken about mentalization on this site before. Since I’ve lately been on a TED talk kick, mainly watching TED talks about neuroscience, I wanted to post this one from Rebecca Saxe which is called “How we read each other’s minds”. It is basically describing the process of mentalizing and how a certain part of the brain, the Right Temporo-Parietal Junction, is highly specialized for seeking to understand the motivations of others, the essence of mentalization. What is fascinating about this talk is her use of the pirate/cheese sandwich story with children of various ages. She demonstrates how the process of mentalization develops over time. I talked about another mentalization test (which is based on the same principles) in this post. I’d encourage all of my readers to watch this video. Although she doesn’t use the words mentalizing or mentalization, that is what she is describing. Additionally, I suppose that when someone with BPD experiences a “failure to mentalize”, that part of the brain is most likely dimmed.

 

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