The “Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience” Section addresses foundational inquiries in cognitive processes, social perception, and emotion, alongside their practical applications across various levels of analysis, including behavior, neural circuits, cellular mechanisms, and genetics. Our overarching objective is to cultivate an integrative, interdisciplinary platform that combines psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, linguistics, computer science, and engineering. This platform highlights and propels new theories, innovative methodologies, and new techniques for examining cognitive, social, and affective processes, emphasizing their interconnections and reciprocal influences across normal development, age-related cognitive changes, neurocognitive disorders, and psychiatric conditions. For example, linguistic theories that traditionally compartmentalize language, emotion, and cognition as independent entities, often overlooking the socio-cultural context of linguistic behavior, may struggle to inform and guide research and practices in communication and social interaction, including in healthy and clinical populations.

This Section welcomes state-of-the-art basic, clinical, and translational investigations utilizing a spectrum of methodologies, including behavioral assessments, neuroimaging, computational modeling, pharmacological interventions, and neuromodulation techniques. Our aim is to advance our comprehension of brain–behavior relationships, primarily focusing on the foundations and interactions of cognitive, social, and affective processes across the lifespan of individuals. We encourage submissions of original research and reviews, theoretical treatises, meta-analyses, case studies, observational approaches, technical insights, computer simulations and models, statistical methodologies, perspectives, and commentaries.

As all of the articles published in our journal are of an open access format, you have free and unlimited access to the full texts. We invite you to read our most highly cited papers published in 2023 and 2024, which are listed below.

1. “Preventive Strategies for Cognitive Decline and Dementia: Benefits of Aerobic Physical Activity, Especially Open-Skill Exercise”
by Takao Yamasaki
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(3), 521; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13030521
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/3/521

2. “Attachment, Mentalizing and Trauma: Then (1992) and Now (2022)”
by Peter Fonagy, Chloe Campbell and Patrick Luyten
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(3), 459; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13030459
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/3/459

3. “Impact of Physical Exercise Alone or in Combination with Cognitive Remediation on Cognitive Functions in People with Schizophrenia: A Qualitative Critical Review”
by Giacomo Deste, Daniele Corbo, Gabriele Nibbio, Mauro Italia, Dario Dell'Ovo, Irene Calzavara-Pinton, Jacopo Lisoni, Stefano Barlati, Roberto Gasparotti and Antonio Vita
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(2), 320; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13020320
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/320

4. “The Impact of Motor-Cognitive Dual-Task Training on Physical and Cognitive Functions in Parkinson’s Disease”
by Yi Xiao, Tianmi Yang and Huifang Shang
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(3), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13030437
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/3/437

5. “Gastrodin Improves Cognitive Dysfunction in REM Sleep-Deprived Rats by Regulating TLR4/NF-κB and Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Pathways”
by Bo Liu, Fei Li, Yunyan Xu, Qin Wu and Jingshan Shi
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(2), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13020179
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/179

6. “Hyperscanning EEG Paradigm Applied to Remote vs. Face-To-Face Learning in Managerial Contexts: Which Is Better?”
by Michela Balconi, Laura Angioletti and Federico Cassioli
Brain Sci. 2024, 13(2), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13020356
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/13/2/356