Functional Organization of Social Perception and Cognition in the Superior Temporal Sulcus

The superior temporal sulcus (STS) is considered a hub for social perception and cognition, including theperceptionof faces and humanmotion, as well as understanding others ’ actions, mental states, and language. However, the functional organization of the STS remains debated: Is this broad region composed of multiple functionally distinct modules, each specialized for a different process, or are STS subregionsmultifunctional, contributing tomultiple processes? Is the STS spatially organized, and if so,what are the dominant features of this organization?Weaddress these questions bymeasuring STS responses to a range of social and linguistic stimuli in the same set of humanparticipants, using fMRI.Wefind anumberof STS subregions that respond selectively to certain types of social input, organized along a posterior-to-anterior axis. We also identify regions of overlapping response to multiple contrasts, including regions responsive to both language and theory of mind, faces and voices, and faces and biological motion. Thus, the human STS contains both relatively domain-specific areas, and regions that respond to multiple types of social information. Key words: social cognition, social perception, superior temporal sulcu