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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 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 research space with the
laboratory of Ed Smith, director of the Cognitive
Neuroimaging Lab.
Close by in the
Department of Psychology are the labs of Hakwan Lau, Daphna Shohamy,
and Dean Mobbs. Together, these labs provide 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
Conferences
The next annual meeting
of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SAN) will take place in San Francisco, April
12-13, 2013 with Elliot Berkman as the organizer. This meeting will bring together
scientists from all over the world who study the brain mechanisms
underlying social and emotional behaviors.
Please visit the website of the Social and Affective
Neuroscience Society for more information about this year’s
conference, past meetings, and the society more generally.
In the past, the lab
was one the organizer of the 2012 SAN meeting in New York City, as well as 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.
Sample Media and
Scientific Articles about our Science
·
Study on the effects of Botox injections on emotional experience in USA
Today and various local papers, including the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette.
·
Emotion regulation work featured in Wired
article on fear by John Lutz of 30 Rock.
·
Work on the regulation of craving in smokers on CNN.com.
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Wall Street
Journal article and a video
that featuring our research on empathic accuracy.
·
Columbia record article on
our research on empathic accuracy.
·
Appearance on and blog posting for CNBC’s, The
Big Idea With Donny Deutsch.
·
Work on emotion regulation featured in the Wall Street
Journal.
·
Article about relationship of
our emotion regulation work to depression.
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Science article about a study on the deliberate
suppression of memories.
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Articles from TICS and the APA Monitor about
the early years of social cognitive neuroscience research.
·
NYAS
Imaging Emotions eBriefing (A web version of talk given at NYAS in Feb
2005. To access, click "audio/slides" to the right of ENTER icon).
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