Unpacking mentalising through its denial: Integrating the roles of perceptual and contextual cues

Mentalising – the ability to attribute mental states to others – is essential to human social life. Starting from what we know about dehumanisation, we analyse the process of mentalising, how it is impacted by both perceptual and contextual cues, and how they unfold and integrate over time. A meta-analysis of four EEG studies tests a two-phase model that charts the dynamic progression of mentalising: An early mind detection stage (N170), where mindful human and mindless doll-like faces are differentiated for the first time; and a later mind attribution stage (P300), where perceptual and contextual information is integrated and ERP indices start correlating with an implicit, behavioural measure of mind attribution. The studies reviewed in this article provide preliminary evidence on the structure and functioning of mentalising, enabling us to formulate specific hypotheses for future research and establishing meaningful connections with related fields, such as empathy, person perception and anthropomorphism.