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What is Social Cognitive Neuroscience?

Social cognitive neuroscience (SCN) is an interdisciplinary field that asks questions about topics traditionally of interest to social psychologists (such as emotion regulation, attitude change, or stereotyping) using methods traditionally employed by cognitive neuroscientists (such as functional brain imaging and neuropsychological patient analysis). By integrating the theories and methods of its parent disciplines, SCN seeks to understand socioemotional phenomena in terms of interactions between the social (socioemotional cues, contexts, experiences, and behaviors), cognitive (information processing mechanisms), and neural (brain bases) levels of analysis (for discussion see Ochsner & Lieberman, 2001 or Ochsner, 2007). By contrast, social psychology emphasizes only the first and second, and cognitive neuroscience emphasizes only the second and third, of these three levels. 

Spring 2006 saw the inception of a new Journal, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN), dedicated to publishing Social Cognitive Neuroscience research as well as work in allied areas such as Affective Neuroscience and Neuroeconomics.

Social Cognitive Neuroscience at Columbia University

The Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab is located in Columbia University's Department of Psychology (map), which is located in the Morningside Heights Neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper West Side  The lab shares remodeled research space with the laboratory of another Columbia faculty member who uses functional imaging to ask questions about emotion and cognition, Ed Smith, who is the director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab.

The two labs are part of the Social/Cognitive/Affective/Neuroscience Unit (SCAN-U), which also is comprised of the adjacent labs of Hakwan Lau and Daphna Shohamy, also in the Department of Psychology.  The integration of these four laboratories provides a unique research and training environment for researchers interested in studying the neural bases of social, cognitive and affective processes.

Functional imaging resources are available at the fMRI Research Center housed in the Neurological Institute of New York (upper left on map) on the campus of Columbia University 's medical school. Facilities for conducting TMS experiments are also available at the Center.

Lab News

Oct 2009: SESP debate btw Matthew Lieberman and Piotr Winkielman on so-called “Voodoo correlations” in Social Neurocience.
Sept. 2009: Wall Street Journal article that mentions, and a video that features, our research on empathic accuracy.
Mar 2009: Columbia record article on our research on empathic accuracy.
Feb 2009: Prof. Ochsner wins Columbia University Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award
Nov 2008: Jamil Zaki awarded Autism Speaks Fellowship
July 2008:
Appearance on CNBC’s, The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch.
July, 2008:  Work in the lab featured in the Wall Street Journal.
April 2008: Kevin Ochsner received Young Investigator Award from The Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Spring 2008: Kevin Ochsner named most cited Assistant Professor in Social Psychology by SPSP’s Diologue.
June/July of 2007: Summer Institutes focusing on Social Neuroscience, Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Affective Neuroscience were sponsored both within Cognitive Neuroscience and Social Psychology. From June 23-July 5th The Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience was held at UCSB.  Featured topics were Social Neuroscience and Affect & Decision-Making. Then from July 16-27th The Summer Institute in Social Psychology took place in Austin, TX.  At this institute one of the courses was on Social Neuroscience.

Social Cognitive Neuroscience Conferences

The next annual meeting of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SAN) will take place in New York City, October 9-11.  In May 2008 the meeting was held in June in Boston.  The Boston meeting followed and gave a new name to the Neural Systems of Social Behavior conference held at the University of Texas at Austin in May 2007, which in turn followed the initial Social Cognitive Neuroscience conference at UCLA in 2001.  By registering for the the SAN 2008 meeting, attendees became inaugural members of the SAN Society, which sponsors the 2009 and all future SAN meetings.

In the past, the lab was one of the co-organizers of the annual Social Cognitive Neuroscience Preconferences that preceded annual meetings of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in January and annual meetings of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in April. The preconferences brought together leading researchers conducting social cognitive neuroscience research investigating the neural systems supporting self perception, self-regulation, and person perception.

 

 

 


Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
Department of Psychology
Columbia University

1190 Amsterdam Avenue
New York City, NY 10027