Social Neuroscience

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project will establish a transdisciplinary working group, and ultimately, a Center on Social Neuroscience at The University of Chicago. This working group, guided by the PI and a nine member steering committee, will involve faculty from several departments in the Biological Sciences, the Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences Graduate Divisions of the University. A wide range of levels of analysis and a diverse array of methodologies will be represented, including functional magnetic resonance imaging, surface event-related brain potential morphological and topographical analyses, indwelling (within the brain) event-related brain potential analyses, coregistration and source localization, computational neuroscience (including nonlinear dynamical analyses), neuropsychology and behavioral neurology, psychopharmacology, autonomic psychophysiology, surface electromyography and startle blink modulation, kinematic analyses, behavioral and social endocrinology, cognitive psychology, social cognition, and experimental social psychology. In the first year, a series of internal and external speakers and meetings will be held to develop a common scientific language, grounded in the structure and function of the brain, and to examine the strengths and limitations of each of the available methodologies. In the second year, the focus of the meetings, formal presentations, and workshops will build on this base to include theories of and experimental paradigms for studying problems confronting our society such as learning, stereotyping and prejudice. Pilot research will be conducted to test specific hypotheses about the neural substrates of the component processes underlying stereotyping and prejudice.