Novel Insights into the Social Functions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex during Infancy

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is thought to play a central role in human social perception, cognition, and behavior. In adults, the mPFC is involved in representing and interpreting the mental states in self and others. Developmental research using neuroimaging techniques like functional near-infrared spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging has begun to extend these findings into infancy. Novel evidence reviewed in this opinion demonstrates that infant mPFC (1) plays a specialized, proactive, and evaluative role in social perception, (2) is involved in connecting with other minds while interacting and when watching other minds interact, and (3) predicts overt social behavior beyond infancy. These findings suggest that, from early in human ontogeny, the mPFC plays a multifaceted role in social perception, cognition, and behavior.