The brain and social interactions: from paradigms of social emotion recognition to hyperscanning

Social cognition refers to processes ranging from perception to decision-making, underlying the ability to decode others' behavior and intentions. The complexity of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying social cognition skills reflects their importance for adaptive behaviors and their implications for different disorders in which such mechanisms are impaired.

While much of the research has traditionally focused on understanding the emotions, mental states, and actions of a single individual, it is essential to recognize that many everyday situations involve analyzing an individual's behavior in relation to other persons, rather than in isolation. Consequently, a growing number of studies have explored the neural processing of social interactions. These investigations examine a spectrum of phenomena, including social emotions, social exchanges, and social concepts, demonstrating that social interactions represent qualitatively distinct stimuli. Social interactions engage specific dynamics on moral considerations and activate specific brain networks that differ from those engaged during single-individual processing. Following this line of research, the latest frontier in social neuroscience is hyperscanning, which allows for simultaneously studying two or more brains during social exchanges.

The neurological mechanisms supporting comprehension and engagement in social interaction have yet to be entirely decoded.

The present research topic aims to collect studies exploring the brain dynamics underlying social interaction. This research topic will allow us to explore the uniqueness of social interaction in relation to brain functions, considering both healthy individuals (from infants to elderly individuals) and neuro-psychiatric patients.

In general, knowledge of the neural bases of social interaction and its modulation in several neuropsychiatric conditions would foster the comprehension of the social brain and the evaluation and training for patients with social difficulties.

Specific topics of interest:

• Studies exploring the neural representation of social interaction stimuli (e.g., social emotions, social concepts), using both neuroimaging, electrophysiological and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques
• Studies exploring the neural mechanisms involved in online social interaction
• Hyperscanning studies
• Studies exploring social interaction dynamics in neurological or psychiatric patients
• Studies presenting new methods to study and evaluate social interaction abilities in the neuropsychological setting
• Studies exploring training on social interaction skills in neurological patients

Researchers investigating one or more of the topics described above are welcome to submit their studies to this Research Topic.

We are interested in a variety of manuscript types, including:

• Original Research articles providing novel empirical data
• Review articles synthesizing previous studies on the brain mechanics involved in social interaction
• Hypothesis and Theory articles proposing new perspectives on the study of social interaction
• Perspective articles offering unique viewpoints
• Methods articles detailing novel tools for the assessment of social interaction skills

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: social interaction, hyperscanning, neuroimaging, brain stimulation, social emotions, social concepts

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.