From Early Mechanisms to Social Understanding: Pathways of Social Cognition in Typical and Atypical Development

Social cognition refers to the cognitive and affective processes that enable individuals to perceive, interpret, and act within the social world. It involves both foundational mechanisms, such as motor resonance, joint attention, and emotion processing, and higher-order competences like perspective-taking and mentalization. Early-developing, low-level processes scaffold more complex social abilities, and disruptions at these levels can compromise later functioning, highlighting the interdependence of social cognition.Children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders often show social difficulties arising not only from high-level impairments but also from deficits in basic perceptual and motor processes. These challenges, though frequently under-recognized, can strongly affect daily functioning and quality of life. Understanding social cognition across its full spectrum, from basic mechanisms to advanced reasoning about others, is crucial to improving clinical characterization and designing interventions that promote social competences in both typical and atypical development.The present Research Topic aims to integrate contributions that examine social cognition across its full spectrum, from basic perceptual and motor mechanisms to higher-order reasoning about others’ beliefs and intentions, in both typical and atypical development. We also welcome studies addressing the psychobiological underpinnings of social cognition – for example, insights from epigenetics, metabolomics, or stress physiology – as well as work highlighting the influence of social context, ranging from parent–child interactions to broader environmental and cultural settings. Advancing knowledge of the neural, biological, behavioral, and contextual dimensions of social cognition across development will enrich our understanding of the “social brain” and guide the creation of interventions aimed at strengthening social abilities.This Research Topic welcomes studies examining social cognition across development, integrating behavioral, neural, and psychobiological perspectives in both typical and atypical populations.Specific topics of interest include:● Social competences across development, addressing both low-level and high-level processes;● Neural substrates of social cognition investigated through neuroimaging, electrophysiological, or non-invasive stimulation methods;● Psychobiological foundations of social cognition, including genetics, epigenetics, metabolomics, and physiology;● The influence of social context, from dyadic interactions (e.g., parent‒child) to cultural environments;● Methodological innovations introducing new paradigms, tasks, or assessment tools for pediatric populations;● Intervention and training studies promoting social competences in typically developing children and those with neurodevelopmental disorders.We welcome Original Research, Review, Hypothesis and Theory, Perspective, and Methods articles contributing to a multi-level understanding of the developing social brain. Topic editors: Viola Oldrati, Niccolò Butti, Valentina Cazzato Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77330/from-early-mechanisms-to-social-understanding-pathways-of-social-cognition-in-typical-and-atypical-development