Brain Mapping with MRI: Revisiting Social Interaction Data from Rauchbauer et al. (2019)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measures blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) changes, enabling non-invasive mapping of brain activity. This re-analysis of Rauchbauer et al. (2019) investigated neural activation during human-to-human and human-to-robot interaction. The study partially replicated previous findings, confirming activation in the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) during human interaction. However, activation in the hypothalamus and amygdala, associated with social motivation, was not replicated. No significant contrast in activation was observed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), consistent with the original results.Re-analysis is crucial for validation, as differences in preprocessing methods, including alignment, motion correction, normalization, and statistical mapping, can influence outcomes. The findings highlight the need for further research to understand the factors affecting hypothalamus and amygdala activity in social interaction. OpenNeuro provides accessible datasets supporting reproducibility and transparency, while statistical parametric mapping (SPM) in MATLAB enables rigorous fMRI data analysis. By reinforcing knowledge on mentalizing regions and revealing inconsistencies in social motivation networks, this study contributes to advancing functional neuroimaging research.