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social neuroscience

This shows the outline of a digital head and a brain, and people networking.

·September 9, 2025·5 min read

AI Matches Human Social Perception

Researchers found that ChatGPT could assess social interactions in videos and images almost as accurately as humans. The AI’s evaluations of social features like cooperation, hostility, and body movements were even more consistent than those of a single person.

This shows the outline of a head and brain. Behind are two people fighting.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 8, 2025·2 min read

Aggression Is Contagious: Observing Violence Primes the Brain for Aggression

A new study shows that observing violence can make individuals more likely to act aggressively later, but the effect depends on familiarity. Male mice who watched familiar peers attack others became more violent afterward, driven by amygdala neurons that “prime” aggression.

This shows a person listening to music with the outline of other people in the background.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 30, 2025·6 min read

Music Sparks Social Imagination and Eases Loneliness

A large-scale study with 600 participants shows that music can genuinely evoke feelings of companionship by sparking social imagination. When participants listened to folk music, they imagined vivid social scenes such as being with friends, even when lyrics were removed.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 27, 2025·4 min read

Brain Map Reveals How Stress and Social Control Interconnect

A new study has identified a key brain hub in the medial prefrontal cortex that regulates stress responses and social behavior, offering critical insights into psychiatric conditions. Using advanced imaging and AI mapping in mice, scientists charted how these regions integrate sensory and bodily signals to control emotional stability.

This shows a glowing network of neurons.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 26, 2025·6 min read

Bimodularity Adds Direction to Social and Neural Network Maps

Researchers have developed a new tool, bimodularity, that adds directionality to community detection in networks. Unlike traditional methods that only cluster nodes, this approach groups edges, making it possible to distinguish senders from receivers and uncover bicommunities.

This shows a brain with glowing neurons and people surrounding it.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 26, 2025·4 min read

Tiny Neurons Shape Empathy and Social Memory

A new study shows that specific brain cells called PV interneurons play a crucial role in social decision-making and empathy. When researchers suppressed these neurons in mice, the animals stopped differentiating between familiar and unfamiliar peers and failed to show preference for distressed companions.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 11, 2025·10 min read

Friendship Chemistry: How Oxytocin Shapes Who We Bond With

New research on prairie voles shows that while oxytocin is not strictly necessary for friendship, it plays a vital role in quickly forming and maintaining strong social bonds. Voles lacking oxytocin receptors took up to a week to develop preferences for peers that normal voles formed in a day, and they often failed to prioritize known companions in group settings.

This shows two people with brain overlays.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 11, 2025·3 min read

Oxytocin’s Social Boost Depends on Motivation

A new study reveals that oxytocin’s ability to enhance social behavior depends heavily on the recipient’s motivation. In rhesus monkeys, the hormone boosted and sustained social decision-making only when the animals were already inclined toward social engagement.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 21, 2025·3 min read

Right-Sided Brain Pathway Linked to Social Dominance

A new study uncovers how brain anatomy relates to social dominance in primates. Researchers found that the uncinate fasciculus, a tract tied to emotion and memory, strongly correlated with dominance behaviors in squirrel monkeys. This link was especially pronounced in the right hemisphere, aligning with human findings on social aggression.

Autism Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 21, 2025·5 min read

Autism Masking Leaves a Mark on the Brain

Some autistic teens mask their traits to “pass” as non-autistic in social settings, but a new study reveals the hidden cognitive toll. Using EEG, researchers found these teens show faster automatic responses to faces and dampened emotional reactivity, suggesting their brains may adapt to cope with social demands.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 18, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Decodes Social Emotions and Anxiety

The anterior temporal lobe (ATL) plays a key role in interpreting social hierarchies and facial emotions, offering insight into anxiety and mood disorders. A research project used advanced imaging techniques to overcome past challenges in studying the ATL, revealing its strong activation during social and emotional decisions.

This shows two people, a dog, and a question mark.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 17, 2025·4 min read

Can Dogs Really Judge Character?

Many dog lovers believe dogs can sense who to trust, but research suggests the reality may be more complex. A study of 40 pet dogs tested whether they form reputations of humans by observing how those humans treated another dog.