Who is Rebecca Saxe and what is she doing?

Rebecca Saxe is a former philosophy student who turned to science to study ho the human brain processes the information received by the eyes and ears. In 2005, Saxe proved that a single, specific part of the brain is dedicated to thinking about others’ desires.

Utilizing, what she has named the Playlab, Saxe is studying babies and how they interact with other babies to determine when and how the brain starts to recognize people and interact socially. Saxe explains, "[The mind] makes us make systematic mistakes over and over again, as individuals but also as societies, in how we mete out punishment and who we value, and who we think is good and who we think is bad, and how we try to change behavior for better or for worse," she says. "Maybe we can prevent ourselves from making those same mistakes again and again and again. That would be success." http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/brilliant-10-class-2008

To begin this research project I found Saxe on the MIT website. Her faculty entry describers her position at the institute and presents a short abstract (not sure if that word does the paragraph justice) exemplifying Saxe’s scientific frame of mind and the goals of her ongoing research. MIT also provides a short bibliography of Saxe’s published works. It is through the mentioned works that someone could find a more complete description of Saxe’s research.

Uniquely Human Social Cognition Saxe R (2006) Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

The perception of Causality in Infancy. Saxe R, Carey S. (2006) Acta Psychologica

It's the thought that counts: Specific brain regions for one component of Theory of Mind. Saxe R, Powell L. (2006) Psychological Science

Divide and Conquer: a defense of functional localizers Saxe R, Brett M, Kanwisher N (2006) Neuroimage.

Why and how to study Theory of Mind with fMRI. Saxe, R. (2006) Brain Research .

Secret Agents: Inferences about hidden causes by 10- and 12-month-old infants. Saxe R, Tenenbaum J, Carey S (2005) Psychological Science 16(12) p 995 - 1001.

Five-month-old infants know humans are solid, like inanimate objects Saxe R, Tzelnic T, Carey S (2006) Cognition.

Against Simulation: the Argument from Error. Saxe, R. (2005) Trends in Cognitive Science 9(4):174-9.

Dissociation between emotion and personality judgments: Convergent evidence from functional neuroimaging. Heberlein A, Saxe, R. (2005) Neuroimage .

Making sense of another mind: the role of the right temporo-parietal junction. Saxe R, Wexler A. (2005) Neuropsychologia.

My body or yours? The effect of visual perspective on cortical body representation. Saxe R, Jamal N, Powell L (2005) Cerebral Cortex.

Understanding other minds: linking developmental psychology and functional neuroimaging. Saxe R, Carey S, Kanwisher N (2004) Annual Review of Psychology 55:87-124.

A region of right posterior superior temporal sulcus responds to observed intentional actions. Saxe R, Xiao DK, Kovacs G, Perrett DI, Kanwisher N (2004) Neuropsychologia 42(11):1435-46.

People thinking about thinking people: fMRI studies of Theory of Mind. Saxe R, Kanwisher N (2003)Neuroimage. 19(4):1835-42.

( http://web.mit.edu/bcs/people/saxe.shtml )

Simply ‘Googling’ “Rebecca Saxe” provides sites and articles from MIT (http://saxelab.mit.edu/ and http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/saxe-tt0514.html ) as well as articles from forums such as Boston Review (http://bostonreview.net/BR29.1/saxe.html ) to name only a few of the results.