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social neuroscience

This shows two macaques, one has a glowing golden brain overlaid.

·March 4, 2026·8 min read

Brain Size Predicts Friendliness in Macaque Societies

New research reveals that social tolerance in primates is linked to a larger amygdala, a brain region that helps manage complex social networks.

This shows people in a circle all holding hands.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·March 3, 2026·6 min read

Why Our Bodies Synchronize During Social Interaction

A new review reveals that our hearts and bodies literally "align" during social interactions, providing a biological foundation for empathy, teamwork, and trust.

This illustration shows two people chatting. Above them is the oxytocin molecular structure.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 19, 2026·8 min read

The Oxytocin Switch That Controls Your Social Vibe

It’s the brain’s social thermostat. Scientists have discovered the protein that controls the slow, steady drip of oxytocin that works alongside serotonin to prime us for human connection.

This shows the outline of a head bathed in warm colors.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 15, 2026·7 min read

Brain Stimulation Boosts Altruistic Behavior

Kindness might be a matter of timing. New research shows that when two specific brain regions fire in perfect sync, we become more likely to help others at a cost to ourselves.

This shows faces expressing different emotions.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 22, 2025·9 min read

Smiling Faces Trigger Mimicry, and Make Us Trust Them More

People instinctively mimic others’ facial expressions, but new research shows we do this far more with joyful faces than with sadness or anger—and that the intensity of mimicry predicts how much we trust someone. Across three experiments using EMG and behavioral tasks, participants copied smiles more readily and rated smiling individuals as more attractive, confident, and trustworthy.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 10, 2025·6 min read

Positive Imagining Changes the Brain in Seconds

Vividly imagining a positive interaction with someone can increase how much you like them — and even alter how your brain stores information about that person. During imagined encounters, participants developed stronger preferences, and brain scans revealed activity patterns similar to those seen when people learn from real rewarding experiences.

This shows the outline of people and speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 13, 2025·6 min read

Why Sharing Good Deeds Feels Bad

New research shows that people often feel worse when telling others about their good deeds than when keeping them private or discussing personal achievements. Across five studies, participants predicted more shame and embarrassment when sharing altruistic acts, partly because they feared appearing motivated by social credit.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·November 12, 2025·5 min read

Low Income, Vision Loss, and Isolation Drive Dementia Risk

A new study reveals that people with lower incomes and those from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups carry a higher burden of modifiable dementia risk factors. Vision loss and social isolation were among the most significant contributors for those living below the poverty line, suggesting that better access to healthcare and community support could have major protective effects.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 11, 2025·6 min read

AI Models Form Theory-of-Mind Beliefs

Researchers showed that large language models use a small, specialized subset of parameters to perform Theory-of-Mind reasoning, despite activating their full network for every task. This sparse internal circuitry depends heavily on positional encoding, especially rotary positional encoding, which shapes how the model tracks beliefs and perspectives.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 9, 2025·8 min read

Shyness May Originate in the Cerebellum

New research reveals that trait shyness is linked to reduced spontaneous neural activity in the cerebellum, a brain region traditionally associated with motor control but increasingly recognized for its role in emotion and social cognition. Using resting-state fMRI and ReHo analysis, researchers found that shy individuals exhibited lower synchrony in the cerebellar Crus I region.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·October 16, 2025·5 min read

Where You Live Could Shape Your Brain and Dementia Risk

New research shows that neighborhood conditions — from pollution and housing to economic opportunity — may directly affect brain health and dementia risk. Analyzing brain scans and biomarkers from 679 adults, scientists found that people living in areas with higher social and environmental disadvantages showed signs of reduced brain thickness, altered blood flow, and white matter changes.

This shows a person walking away from an oversized face.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 14, 2025·5 min read

Moving Away Makes Faces Seem Angrier

New research shows that our own physical movements can alter how we perceive emotions on others’ faces. In a virtual reality experiment, participants were more likely to judge a face as angry when they actively moved away from it, compared to when the face moved away from them.