Mapping out the social network

Written by: Vasiliki Maria Loukaki

The modern human world is the result of a series of advancements, which have allowed us to communicate, consolidate, and cohabitate to a higher standard compared to what would be permitted solely by our innate capabilities. One of these advancements is mapping, which has broadened our horizons (in the literal and metaphorical sense) by enabling long-distance navigation and thereby trade, transport, and travel. Yet, what if mapping is innate to humans, after all? In fact, what if this capability not only predates the invention of cartography but also transcends the traditional, geographical definition of what a map even is?

In the traditional definition, a map is a graphical representation of the relative distances and directions between spatial landmarks that facilitates navigation in the physical space. Neuroscientists such as Tolman (1948) and O’Keefe & Nadel (1978) were amongst the first to propose that human navigation relies upon a mental representation of the physical space, which they referred to as a cognitive map. A cognitive map is similar to a traditional map, being able to encode for relative distance and direction, with the main difference being that it only exists in one’s mind. Notably, since its inception, cognitive mapping has been viewed as a kind of “general coding mechanism” that can be applied to a breadth of abstract contexts “covering any domain” (Whittington et al., 2022). Therefore, scientists have attempted to use cognitive mapping to decipher abstract skills that humans possess, but are poorly understood. Examples of such abstract skills include language, musicality, and sociality; the latter being the focus of this article. 

In the hopes of uncovering the neural underpinnings of human sociality, Tavares et al. (2015) designed a first-person, role-playing game in which participants assumed they had just relocated to a new town and had to secure housing and employment by interacting with various non-player characters (NPCs). Throughout the game, participants could decide whether or not to obey a demand made by an NPC, thus increasing or decreasing said NPC’s power over them. Additionally, they could decide whether or not to make personal conversation with an NPC, thus increasing or decreasing said NPC’s affiliation to them. Based on their decisions, participants could modulate these two variables to create a custom set of coordinates for each NPC they interacted with. Thus, similar to how a spatial cognitive map uses the dimensions of latitude and longitude to denote the location of an object within physical space, a social cognitive map could use the dimensions of power and affiliation to denote the location of a person within social space. Therefore, the social cognitive map is acting as a guide to social interaction, helping the user navigate through the intricacies and nuances of the social network.

To determine whether the human brain can monitor changes in power and affiliation, participants were placed in an fMRI scanner to visualise their brain activity throughout the game. They discovered that specific levels of activity in the hippocampus (i.e., the region of the brain associated with cognitive mapping) correlated with specific sets of coordinates within the social space. Indeed, participants could keep track of the decisions they were making throughout the game and the impact of said decisions on their relationships with the NPCs. As a result, they could mentally position each NPC within the social space, according to said NPC’s power and affiliation relative to them. In other words, they could construct a social cognitive map to help them monitor their social relationships across time. Additionally, participants who were better at monitoring changes in power and affiliation were also less socially avoidant, less neurotic, and more conscientious according to personality questionnaires that they filled out after completing the game. This suggests that social mapping aptitude translates to social skills.

Perhaps the most interesting implication of the study of social skills through the lens of cognitive mapping is that it provides a seemingly convincing explanation for how these skills evolved in the first place. It tells a story, whereby cognitive mapping initially evolved to accommodate the universally fundamental skill of navigation (critical to all species) and was subsequently adapted to also accommodate the skill of sociality (particularly critical to species living in large groups). 

Although the philosophical framework of cognitive mapping has been thoroughly contemplated for decades, the precise neural mechanics remain unknown. The idea that the abstract skills characterising the human species could be boiled down to a standardised mental model for arranging information in the likeness of a map is temptingly plausible. Theoretically, any abstract concept could be defined in dimensional variables and thus operate within its own abstract space. As defined by Tavares et al. (2015), the existence of a social space merits further exploration. Furthermore, the implementation of first-person, role-playing games is exemplary and should be commonplace in cognitive neuroscience research. What remains to be seen is whether further research and technological advancements will help pinpoint the neural underpinnings of the human cognitive map.

References:

O’Keefe, J., & Nadel, L. (1978). The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Oxford Clarendon.

Tavares, R., Mendelsohn, A., Grossman, Y., Williams, C., Shapiro, M., Trope, Y., & Schiller, D. (2015). A Map for Social Navigation in the Human Brain. Neuron, 87(1), 231–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.06.011

Tolman, E. C. (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological Review, 55(4), 189–208. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061626

Whittington, J. C. R., McCaffary, D., Bakermans, J. J. W., & Behrens, T. E. J. (2022). How to build a cognitive map. Nature Neuroscience, 25(10), 1257–1272. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01153-y