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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 newly remodeled research
space with the laboratories of two other Columbia faculty who use
functional imaging to ask questions about emotion and cognition. Those faculty are Tor Wager, director of the Cognitive and
Affective Control Lab, and Ed Smith, director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab.
Together, these three
labs comprise the Social/Cognitive/Affective/Neuroscience
Unit (SCAN-U). The integration
of these three 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
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
In May 2008 the third
stand-alone conference specifically focused on Social Cognitive and
Affective Neuroscience research was held in June in Boston.
The Social and
Affective Neuroscience conference (SAN) followed the 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, an organization that will sponsor 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.
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