Social interactions require integrating information across multiple timescales, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We review evidence suggesting that intrinsic neural timescales (INTs) may be a key mechanism enabling this integration, with the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) serving as a critical hub during social interactions. INTs form a cortical hierarchy for multiscale temporal processing, and differences in this hierarchy are linked to social impairments across neuropsychiatric conditions. The rTPJ dynamically integrates fast mirroring and slow mentalizing processes; interbrain synchrony there predicts success in social interactions, while mismatched timescales between individuals cause communication breakdowns. We propose that this INT and rTPJ framework unifies dual-process theories within a single neurophysiological mechanism, providing a novel, testable account of social interactions and their impairments.

Keywords

dual-process theory; interbrain synchrony; intrinsic neural timescales; social interaction; temporal integration; temporoparietal junction.