Topic: social decision-making

Human decisions are often made in a social context, thereby relying on the ability to anticipate and predict others’ behavior. In such contexts, gaze is an important communicative signal which can inform individuals about others’ intentions, goals and upcoming decisions. Gaze has been shown to affect various cognitive processes and states in human interactions. Nevertheless, the effect of gaze on social decision-making is still understudied. Here, we investigated the effect of mutual gaze exhibited by a humanoid agent in an interactive setup. Participants (N=40) played a strategic game against

Animals often display prosocial behaviours, actions that benefit others, which are essential for social bonding and cooperation. Most studies on prosociality come from the Primate Order and have highlighted how features of the social context influence the expression of prosocial behavior, contributing to intraspecific and interspecific variation. However, less effort has been devoted to the detailed investigation of the behaviours of subjects, which is necessary to determine the proximate mechanisms through which the social context influences prosociality, across different species. To address

By its very nature, incarceration restricts autonomy as it regulates all aspects of daily life. Prisons represent a unique social environment characterized by bullying, violence and reduced social interactions. Ample studies highlighted that incarceration has negative psychological and social effects on inmates, both in the short and long terms. Research is moving from a “criminal” brain to a “prison” brain perspective, showing that prison negatively impacts several cognitive processes, especially regarding recidivism.This project investigates the relationship between imprisonment and executiv

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted social life by forcing “social distancing”. This measure has not only severely disrupted daily social interactions but has also led to an increase in mental health problems. As a result, understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying pathogen threat-induced social avoidance (PTSA) has become increasingly important. Studies in rodents have proved valuable in the investigation of PTSA. Mice, for instance, innately avoid sick conspecifics, although little is known about the specific behavioral and circuit mechanisms underlying this response. We hypothesized