Mariët van Buuren

Abstract Human social interactions rely on the ability to reflect on one’s own and others’ internal states and traits—a process known as mentalizing. Impaired or altered mentalizing is a hallmark of multiple psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. Yet, replicable and easily testable brain markers of mentalizing have so far been lacking.

Abstract Human social interactions rely on the ability to reflect on one's own and others' internal states and traits, a psychological process known as mentalizing. Impaired or altered self- and other-related mentalizing is a hallmark of multiple psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions. Yet, replicable and easily testable brain markers of mentalizing have so far been lacking.

Introduction The ability to integrate social contextual information and behavioural feedback from others is necessary for successful social interactions (Ruz et al., 2011) and is an important foundation of trust in social relationships (Lewicki and Wiethoff, 2006). Individuals with a schizophrenia spectrum (SZ) diagnosis, hereafter referred to as patients, show a reduced ability in judging social signals (Penn et al., 2008). Previous research suggests two underlying mechanisms.