The recent pandemic, which required social isolation for prolonged periods, has had a substantial impact on the social behavior and mental well-being of individuals that has extended far beyond the duration of societal lockdowns. While many of the effects of social isolation in institutional and other settings have been studied, the pandemic has attracted new attention to the consequences of social isolation and loneliness on both cognitive and emotional processing in a broader context. This spans aspects such as neonatal and juvenile brain development, emotional regulation in the adult brain, perception and prediction of sensory and social events, learning and memory, as well as clinical states such as anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment in aging.
In this Research Topic we welcome submissions that address the impact of loneliness and social isolation in humans and animals on cognitive and emotional processing encompassing, but not exclusively limited to, the following themes:
• Anatomical structures related to emotion, learning, memory, and cognition
• Neuromodulation
• Cortical and synaptic plasticity
• Cellular mechanisms
• Limbic system
• Behavioral state and state-dependent learning, memory, and cognition
• Synaptic transmission, neuronal networks, and information processing
• Future thinking, prospective thinking
• Sensory perception and sensory information processing
• Impact on cognition and emotion of group housing and social enrichment, or isolation in animals
• Positive and negative effects of social media during isolation
• COVID-related loneliness and isolation
• Maintenance and loss of social and emotional skills during isolation
• Isolation in institutional contexts
• Effects of isolation on aggressive and anti-social behaviors
Keywords:
loneliness, social isolation, emotions, learning, memory, cognition, plasticity, behavior
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The recent pandemic, which required social isolation for prolonged periods, has had a substantial impact on the social behavior and mental well-being of individuals that has extended far beyond the duration of societal lockdowns. While many of the effects of social isolation in institutional and other settings have been studied, the pandemic has attracted new attention to the consequences of social isolation and loneliness on both cognitive and emotional processing in a broader context. This spans aspects such as neonatal and juvenile brain development, emotional regulation in the adult brain, perception and prediction of sensory and social events, learning and memory, as well as clinical states such as anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment in aging.
In this Research Topic we welcome submissions that address the impact of loneliness and social isolation in humans and animals on cognitive and emotional processing encompassing, but not exclusively limited to, the following themes:
• Anatomical structures related to emotion, learning, memory, and cognition
• Neuromodulation
• Cortical and synaptic plasticity
• Cellular mechanisms
• Limbic system
• Behavioral state and state-dependent learning, memory, and cognition
• Synaptic transmission, neuronal networks, and information processing
• Future thinking, prospective thinking
• Sensory perception and sensory information processing
• Impact on cognition and emotion of group housing and social enrichment, or isolation in animals
• Positive and negative effects of social media during isolation
• COVID-related loneliness and isolation
• Maintenance and loss of social and emotional skills during isolation
• Isolation in institutional contexts
• Effects of isolation on aggressive and anti-social behaviors
Keywords:
loneliness, social isolation, emotions, learning, memory, cognition, plasticity, behavior
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.