88-355 Social Brains: Neural Bases of Social Perception and Cognition
9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
By some accounts, the large expansion of the human brain evolved due to the complex demands of dealing with social otherscompeting or cooperating with them, deceiving or empathizing with them, understanding or misjudging them. This discussionbased seminar surveys the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience and its multilevel approach to understanding the brain in its social context. We will review current theories and methods guiding the field and recent research examining the neural bases of social processes, including theory of mind, empathy, emotion, morality, among others. We will also discuss broader questions that apply to the specific topics that the course covers, including What are appropriate levels of description for the target phenomena How can different disciplines in neuroscience and the social sciences contribute to social neuroscience research What can we learn from animals behavior about human social cognition Do neural systems exist that are specialized for social cognition, or do the systems that participate in social cognition have more general cognitive functions
Prerequisites: 85-310 or 88-251 or 85-355 or 85-340
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