This article is an editorial introduction to the Research Topic Perspective Taking: building a neurocognitive framework for integrating the “social” and the “spatial”. In part, this overview looks at some of the previous articles in this research topic (of which there are many) and partly it raises questions and directions for future research.

Several articles from the series are linked to below.

Full Citation: 
Hamilton AFC, Kessler K, and Creem-Regehr SH. (2014, Jun 11). Perspective taking: building a neurocognitive framework for integrating the “social” and the “spatial.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience; 8:403. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00403

Perspective taking: building a neurocognitive framework for integrating the “social” and the “spatial”

Antonia F. de C. Hamilton [1], Klaus Kessler [2] and Sarah H. Creem-Regehr [3]

1. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
2. Aston Brain Centre, School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham, UK
3. Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

From carrying a table to pointing at the moon, interacting with other people involves spatial awareness of one's own body and the other's body and viewpoint. In the past, social cognition has often focused on tasks like belief reasoning, which is abstracted away from spatial and bodily representations. There is also a strong tradition of work on spatial and object representation which does not consider social interactions. The 24 papers in this research topic represent the growing body of work which links the spatial and the social. The diversity of methods and approaches used here reveal that this is a vibrant and growing research area which can tell us more than the study of either topic in isolation.

Online mental transformations of spatial representations are often believed to rely on action simulation and other “embodied” processing and three papers in the current research topic provide new evidence for this process. Surtees and colleagues reveal that embodied egocentric transformations are used for visual as well as for spatial perspective taking, extending the generality of the embodied processing principle (Surtees et al., 2013). Braithwaite et al.'s contribution distinguishes between embodied and disembodied body-related hallucinations, showing that only the latter speeds up perspective taking (Braithwaite et al., 2013). Gardner and colleagues also highlight distinct processing routes towards perspective taking outcomes, where some individuals use embodied- while others use abstract (unembodied) calculation strategies (Gardner et al., 2013).

Several of the papers in this research topic have a focus on action systems in perspective taking. Creem-Regehr et al. analyze the literature on human judgments of other's affordances and how this relates to spatial perspective taking, concluding that these are complementary processes that work to inform understanding of another's behavior (Creem-Regehr et al., 2013). Maguinness et al. look at how observing another's action of lifting influences the discrimination of the weight of the objects lifted, and how this is modulated by age (Maguinness et al., 2013). Pezzulo et al. propose that that sensorimotor representations are recalibrated in social contexts to create shared action spaces serving joint action or more generally, social interaction (Pezzulo et al., 2013). Furlanetto et al. present a study examining the role of both gaze and action on perspective taking, finding the intriguing result that when gaze and action intention conflict, spontaneous perspective taking is increased (Furlanetto et al., 2013). Together, these papers suggest that perception, action and spatial processing all interact with and contribute to social cognition.

Direct interactions between spatial factors and social factors can be seen in a variety of domains, including emotional stimuli such as threat and pain. Takahashi et al. use virtual reality to show that potentially threatening objects are perceived as closer to the participant (Takahashi et al., 2013). Clements-Stephens et al. investigate the influence of the presence of an agent and the role of social skills on spatial perspective taking, finding a complex relationship among tasks, targets, and context (Clements-Stephens et al., 2013). Finally, the impact of perspective taking on observation of other's pain is examined by Canizales et al, finding both subjective evaluation and neural somatosensory responses are modulated by the perspective taken (Canizales et al., 2013).

The relevance of social and visuospatial perspective taking for successful communication is emphasized in five contributions in this research topic. Focusing on the integration of action- and spatial- perspective taking, Beveridge and Pickering propose that alignment of spatial perspectives may serve as a prerequisite for action language simulations (Beveridge and Pickering, 2013), in which language users adopt a particular action-perspective or frame-of-reference (FOR). Johannsen and De Ruiter show that priming of a relative FOR can dominate an a priori preference for an intrinsic FOR in communication, while communicative success is predicted by the amount to which interlocutors adapt to each other's strategies—whatever these are (Johannsen and Ruiter, 2013). De Boer and colleagues approach the question of communicative success from the angle of individual traits and report that motivational as well general-purpose cognitive abilities play a crucial role (De Boer et al., 2013). The flexibility of perspective taking in communication is further highlighted by Galati and Avraamides who show that people weigh multiple cues (including social ones) to consider the relative difficulty of perspective-taking for each partner, and adapt behavior to minimize collective effort (Galati and Avraamides, 2013). In this context cultural background could make a difference. Wu and colleagues report that Westerners and East-Asians differ in their strategies of controlling ego- vs. other-centred perspective taking outcomes but are similar in their immediate (egocentric) integration of communication context (Wu et al., 2013).

Developmental and neuroscientific approaches are also important in understanding perspective taking. New data from Hirai and colleagues shows that people with William syndrome find it hard to perform a level 2 visual perspective taking (VPT2) task, and this may be due to difficulties in spatial processing of body postures (Hirai et al., 2013). These data complement the review from Pearson et al. which shows that children with autism also find these VPT2 tasks hard (Pearson et al., 2013). Though Williams syndrome and autism are sometimes considered to have opposite effects on social cognition, here the intersection of spatial and social processing seems to be difficult for both populations. Moll et al. argue against the traditional view that VPT is simpler than cognitive perspective taking (theory of mind) and suggest that social coordination and communication occurs developmentally prior to full VPT abilities (Moll and Kadipasaoglu, 2013). This view contrasts with the paper from Wheatley and colleagues which suggests that in human evolution, brain systems for spatial processing have been repurposed for social cognition (Parkinson and Wheatley, 2013). Finally, Schurz and colleagues report a meta-analysis of fMRI data showing that perspective taking and theory of mind engage overlapping brain regions (Schurz et al., 2013). Together, these studies show clear links between spatial and social processing, and the question of which is “primary” may become an important debate in the future.

Finally, advances in our experimental data need to be interpreted in a solid theoretical framework. Several rival theories are available. Gross and Profitt make the claim that social connections can modulate participant's perception of space (Gross and Proffitt, 2013). Sun and Wang consider how both spatial and social problems can be conceptualized in terms of different frames of reference, and can be broken down to similar low-level components (Sun and Wang, 2014). May and Wendt evaluate theoretical accounts of perspective taking with a focus on two different tasks that require laterality judgments (May and Wendt, 2013). Limanowski and Blankenburg take a very different approach, providing an account of the experience of “self” in terms of the free energy principle that a brain functions to minimize surprise (Limanowski and Blankenburg, 2013).

Overall, the variety of papers in this research topic reflect the diversity and dynamism of the field. Recognition of the importance of studying spatial and social information processing in the same framework has come from many angles. Future studies can examine how these different types of task can scaffold each other and interact, possibly in an embodied fashion, to enable humans to cooperate and engage in a social space.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

• Beveridge, M. E. L., and Pickering, M. J. (2013). Perspective taking in language: integrating the spatial and action domains. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:577. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00577 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Braithwaite, J. J., James, K., Dewe, H., Medford, N., Takahashi, C., and Kessler, K. (2013). Fractionating the unitary notion of dissociation: disembodied but not embodied dissociative experiences are associated with exocentric perspective-taking. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:719. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00719  Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Canizales, D. L., Voisin, J. I. A., Michon, P.-E., Roy, M.-A., and Jackson, P. L. (2013). The influence of visual perspective on the somatosensory steady-state response during pain observation. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:849. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00849 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Clements-Stephens, A. M., Vasiljevic, K., Murray, A. J., and Shelton, A. L. (2013). The role of potential agents in making spatial perspective taking social. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:497. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00497 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Creem-Regehr, S. H., Gagnon, K. T., Geuss, M. N., and Stefanucci, J. K. (2013). Relating spatial perspective taking to the perception of other's affordances: providing a foundation for predicting the future behavior of others. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:596. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00596 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• De Boer, M., Toni, I., and Willems, R. M. (2013). What drives successful verbal communication? Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:622. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00622 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Furlanetto, T., Cavallo, A., Manera, V., Tversky, B., and Becchio, C. (2013). Through your eyes: incongruence of gaze and action increases spontaneous perspective taking. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:455. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00455 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Galati, A., and Avraamides, M. N. (2013). Flexible spatial perspective-taking: conversational partners weigh multiple cues in collaborative tasks. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:618. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00618 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Gardner, M. R., Brazier, M., Edmonds, C. J., and Gronholm, P. C. (2013). Strategy modulates spatial perspective-taking: evidence for dissociable disembodied and embodied routes. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:457. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00457 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Gross, E. B., and Proffitt, D. (2013). The economy of social resources and its influence on spatial perceptions. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:772. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00772 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Hirai, M., Muramatsu, Y., Mizuno, S., Kurahashi, N., Kurahashi, H., and Nakamura, M. (2013). Developmental changes in mental rotation ability and visual perspective-taking in children and adults with Williams syndrome. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:856. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00856 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Johannsen, K., and Ruiter, J. P. De. (2013). Reference frame selection in dialog: priming or preference? Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:667. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00667 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Limanowski, J., and Blankenburg, F. (2013). Minimal self-models and the free energy principle. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:547. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00547 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Maguinness, C., Setti, A., Roudaia, E., and Kenny, R. A. (2013). Does that look heavy to you? Perceived weight judgment in lifting actions in younger and older adults. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:795. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00795 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• May, M., and Wendt, M. (2013). Visual perspective taking and laterality decisions: Problems and possible solutions. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:549. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00549 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Moll, H., and Kadipasaoglu, D. (2013). The primacy of social over visual perspective-taking. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:558. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00558 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Parkinson, C., and Wheatley, T. (2013). Old cortex, new contexts: re-purposing spatial perception for social cognition. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:645. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00645 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Pearson, A., Ropar, D., and Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2013). A review of visual perspective taking in autism spectrum disorder. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:652. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00652 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Pezzulo, G., Iodice, P., Ferraina, S., and Kessler, K. (2013). Shared action spaces: a basis function framework for social re-calibration of sensorimotor representations supporting joint action. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:800. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00800 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Schurz, M., Aichhorn, M., Martin, A., and Perner, J. (2013). Common brain areas engaged in false belief reasoning and visual perspective taking: a meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:712. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00712 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Sun, Y., and Wang, H. (2014). Insight into others' minds: spatio-temporal representations by intrinsic frame of reference. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 8:58. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00058 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Surtees, A., Apperly, I., and Samson, D. (2013). The use of embodied self-rotation for visual and spatial perspective-taking. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:698. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00698 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Takahashi, K., Meilinger, T., Watanabe, K., and Bülthoff, H. H. (2013). Psychological influences on distance estimation in a virtual reality environment. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:580. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00580 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text
• Wu, S., Barr, D. J., Gann, T. M., and Keysar, B. (2013). How culture influences perspective taking: differences in correction, not integration. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 7:822. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00822 Pubmed Abstract | Pubmed Full Text | CrossRef Full Text

Here are several of the articles from this topic section, arranged by newest at the top (I think). There are two more pages worth of older articles here (scroll down).

Insight into others’ minds: spatio-temporal representations by intrinsic frame of reference

Yanlong Sun and Hongbin Wang

Hypothesis & TheoryRecent research has seen a growing interest in connections between domains of spatial and social cognition. Much evidence indicates that processes of representing space in distinct frames of reference (FOR) contribute to basic spatial abilities as ...
Published on 14 February 2014 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00058

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Developmental changes in mental rotation ability and visual perspective-taking in children and adults with Williams syndrome

Masahiro Hirai, Yukako Muramatsu, Seiji Mizuno, Naoko Kurahashi, Hirokazu Kurahashi and Miho Nakamura

Original ResearchWilliams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder caused by the partial deletion of chromosome 7. Individuals with WS have atypical cognitive abilities, such as hypersociability and compromised visuospatial cognition, although the mechanisms underlying ...
Published on 11 December 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00856

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The influence of visual perspective on the somatosensory steady-state response during pain observation

Dora Linsey Canizales, Julien IA Voisin, Pierre-Emmanuel Michon, Marc-André Roy and Philip L. Jackson

Original ResearchThe observation and evaluation of other's pain activate part of the neuronal network involved in the actual experience of pain, including those regions subserving the sensori-discriminative dimension of pain. This was largely interpreted as ...
Published on 09 December 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00849

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How culture influences perspective taking: differences in correction, not integration

Shali Wu, Dale J Barr, Timothy Matthew Gann and Boaz Keysar

Original ResearchIndividuals from East Asian (Chinese) backgrounds have been shown to exhibit greater sensitivity to a speaker's perspective than Western (US) participants when resolving referentially ambiguous expressions. We show that this cultural difference ...
Published on 02 December 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00822

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Shared action spaces: a basis function framework for social re-calibration of sensorimotor representations supporting joint action

Giovanni Pezzulo, Pierpaolo Iodice, Stefano Ferraina and Klaus Kessler

Hypothesis & TheoryThe article explores the possibilities of formalizing and explaining the mechanisms that support spatial and social perspective alignment sustained over the duration of a social interaction. The basic proposed principle is that in social contexts the ...
Published on 26 November 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00800

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Does that look heavy to you? Perceived weight judgment in lifting actions in younger and older adults

Corrina Maguinness, Annalisa Setti, Eugenie Roudaia and Rose Anne Kenny

Original ResearchWhen interpreting other people’s movements or actions, observers may not only rely on the visual cues available in the observed movement, but they may also be able to ‘put themselves in the other person’s shoes’ by engaging brain systems involved in ...
Published on 25 November 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00795

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The economy of social resources and its influence on spatial perceptions

Elizabeth Blair Gross and Dennis Proffitt

ReviewSurvival for any organism, including people, is a matter if resource management. To ensure survival, people necessarily budget their resources. Our spatial perceptions contribute to resource budgeting by scaling the environment to our available ...
Published on 19 November 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00772

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The use of embodied self-rotation for visual and spatial perspective-taking

Andrew David Ridley Surtees, Ian A Apperly and Dana Samson

Original ResearchPrevious research has shown that calculating if something is to someone’s left or right involves a simulative process recruiting representations of our own body in imagining ourselves in the position of the other person (Kessler & Rutherford, ...
Published on 05 November 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00698

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Common brain areas engaged in false belief reasoning and visual perspective taking: a meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies

Matthias Schurz, Markus Aichhorn, Anna Martin and Josef Perner

Original ResearchWe performed a quantitative meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies to identify brain areas which are commonly engaged in social and visuo-spatial perspective taking. Specifically, we compared brain activation found for visual-perspective ...
Published on 01 November 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00712

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Fractionating the unitary notion of dissociation: disembodied but not embodied dissociative experiences are associated with exocentric perspective-taking

Jason Braithwaite, Kelly James, Hayley Dewe, Nick Medford, Chie Takahashi and Klaus Kessler

Original ResearchIt has been argued that hallucinations which appear to involve shifts in egocentric perspective (i.e., the out-of-body experience: OBE) reflect specific biases in exocentric perspective-taking processes. Via a newly devised perspective-taking task, ...
Published on 30 October 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00719

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Reference frame selection in dialog: priming or preference?

Katrin Johannsen and Jan P. De Ruiter

Original ResearchWe investigate effects of priming and preference on frame of reference (FOR) selection in dialogue. In a first study, we determine FOR preferences for specific object configurations to establish a baseline. In a second study, we focus on the ...
Published on 16 October 2013 | Front. Hum. Neurosci. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00667