Summary: Male and female mice usually prefer female companions but switch to preferring males under survival stress, a new study reveals. This behavioral shift is driven by distinct brain circuits…
Tag: social neuroscience
Social Connections Key to Borderline Personality Disorder Therapy
Summary: Loneliness plays a central role in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and often persists even when clinical symptoms subside. Current treatments, such as dialectical behavior therapy, fail to fully address…
Oxytocin Influences Social Behavior and Emotional Response
Summary: New research reveals how oxytocin profoundly influences social behavior and emotional responses in the brain. Animal models have shown how this hormone impacts social fear and how chronic stress…
Mapping the Brain’s Response to Social Rejection
Summary: A new study explores how the brain processes social acceptance and rejection, revealing how these experiences shape relationships and influence mental health. Using behavioral experiments and MRI imaging, researchers…
Animal Characters in Children’s Books Boost Theory of Mind
Summary: Animal characters in children’s books can significantly boost their theory of mind skills, which are essential for understanding social cues. The research showed that children exposed to animal characters…
How AI Could Shape Human Evolution in Subtle Yet Profound Ways
Summary: Artificial intelligence is becoming a pivotal force in human lives, prompting questions about its evolutionary effects. A new study explores how AI may influence human evolution through everyday interactions,…
Why Human Culture Never Stops Evolving
Summary: A new study proposes that human culture’s unique power lies not in its ability to accumulate knowledge, as once thought, but in its “open-endedness.” Unlike animal cultures that reach…
Cooperative Care Influences Brain Development in Humans and Marmosets
Summary: Cooperative breeding influences brain development in common marmosets and humans, allowing longer periods for social learning. Marmoset brains, like human brains, develop socio-cognitive regions slowly, maturing in early adulthood.…
Social Media Verification Drives Polarization and Echo Chambers
Summary: A new study shows that X’s verification system, which gives verified users priority in algorithms, can increase polarization and trigger the formation of echo chambers. Researchers used computational modeling…
Parent-Child Play Shapes Social Skills for Interacting with Peers
Summary: How parents and toddlers play together can predict children’s future social interactions. By observing over 120 mother-child pairs, researchers found that responsive and assertive behaviors during play were linked…
