Interaction matters: A perceived social partner alters the neural processing of human speech
Summary: "Mentalizing" is the term used for when we are thinking about what others are thinking and feeling. Taking into account the mental state of others as we process information activates specific areas of our brain. This study indicates that hearing a recording that we believe is a live real-time audio feed (as opposed to other recordings labeled as pre-recorded) activates these mentalizing areas - this means we're accommodating for others based on assumptions of how directly the information is presented, even when we're not explicitly asked to and the interaction isn't two sided.