Medial Prefrontal Cortex: An Early Developing Hub for Social Interaction?

Novel neuroimaging findings reveal that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is functionally engaged during social interactions from infancy. Infant mPFC flexibly and proactively supports neural processing of both direct (first-person) and observed (third-person) social interactions, critically predicting emerging social preferences and behaviors, thus highlighting its foundational role in human social development.