Brain-imaging experiments show how bargaining games could provide insights into psychiatric disorders. The ability to infer another person's state of mind—including his or her perception of you—is an integral component of human interaction. To make business deals, maintain good relationships, and to play a winning hand of poker, we must be able to surmise to some extent what a client, spouse, or friend is thinking. But that skill can go awry in a number of psychiatric disorders, including autism and borderline personality disorder.
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