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Brain Sciences
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Neural Mechanisms Underlying Social Cognition and Emotional Processing
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Neural Mechanisms Underlying Social Cognition and Emotional Processing

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Cognitive, Social and Affective Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 January 2026 | Viewed by 1440

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Atiqah Azhari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Humanities and Behavioural Sciences, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore 599494, Singapore
Interests: social behavioral neuroscience; brain synchrony; interpersonal psychology; social psychology; parent–child relationships; spouses; families

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social cognition and emotional processing are integral to human interactions, facilitating our ability to interpret, empathize, and effectively respond to others’ emotions and social signals. Recent advances in neuroscience have significantly expanded our understanding of the neural mechanisms underpinning these processes. However, notable research gaps remain. Important areas for further exploration include investigating the neural mechanisms underlying empathy, perspective taking and emotional regulation, examining the influence of social contexts on emotional neural processes, determining neural predictors of social behaviors in naturalistic settings, and advancing methods for accurately measuring neural correlations of social interactions. Further investigation employing innovative neuroimaging techniques, multimodal methodologies, and ecologically valid paradigms is essential to address these questions.

The submission of original research, reviews, and perspectives is welcome. Topics of interest include the following:

  • Neural dynamics underlying social cognition, empathy, perspective taking, and social decision making.
  • Brain mechanisms involved in emotion recognition, processing, and regulation.
  • Impact of social context on the neural mechanisms of emotional processing.
  • Neural predictors of social behavior in real-world settings.
  • Methodological advancements in measuring neural correlations of social behavior.

We look forward to your valuable contributions.

Dr. Atiqah Azhari
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social cognition
  • emotional processing
  • social neuroscience
  • developmental neuroscience

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 620 KB  
Article
Prejudice Formation in Childhood: How Parental Bonding Can Affect Social Dominance Orientation
by Serenella Tolomeo, Shannen Koh and Gianluca Esposito
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(11), 1147; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15111147 - 25 Oct 2025
Viewed by 245
Abstract
Background: How individuals develop and form perspectives of those around them differs from person to person. Factors such as childhood parental bonding styles can affect how prejudice forms. Social dominance in adulthood may also be affected by childhood experiences through the bonding received. [...] Read more.
Background: How individuals develop and form perspectives of those around them differs from person to person. Factors such as childhood parental bonding styles can affect how prejudice forms. Social dominance in adulthood may also be affected by childhood experiences through the bonding received. Not many studies examine how an individual’s Social Dominance Orientationcan be influenced by parental bonding styles in childhood. Furthermore, few studies that investigated neural correlates are associated with these two variables. As such, this study aims to establish how parental bonding in childhood affects brain regions that are also implicated in adult SDO. Methods: Ninety-one participants were recruited and underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) and Parental Bonding Index (PBI) were collected. We used DARTEL package in SPM12 to conduct a whole-brain analysis. The ROI analyses were focused on amygdala grey matter volume (GMV). Results: This study identified a strong correlation between PBI and SDO. Interestingly, PBICare and PBIProtection scores significantly predicted SDO scores. SDO was positively associated with amygdala GMV, PBICare was negatively associated with amygdala GMV, and PBIProtection was positively associated with amygdala GMV. Conclusions: Our results show that PBI and SDO are highly correlated as well as their association with the amygdala and other key regions of the brain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Mechanisms Underlying Social Cognition and Emotional Processing)
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30 pages, 1297 KB  
Systematic Review
A Systematic Review of Inter-Brain Synchrony and Psychological Conditions: Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Autism and Other Disorders
by Atiqah Azhari, Ashvina Rai and Y. H. Victoria Chua
Brain Sci. 2025, 15(10), 1113; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci15101113 - 16 Oct 2025
Viewed by 755
Abstract
Background: Inter-brain synchrony (IBS)—the temporal alignment of neural activity between individuals during social interactions—has emerged as a key construct in social neuroscience, reflecting shared attention, emotional attunement, and coordinated behavior. Enabled by hyperscanning techniques, IBS has been observed across a range of dyadic [...] Read more.
Background: Inter-brain synchrony (IBS)—the temporal alignment of neural activity between individuals during social interactions—has emerged as a key construct in social neuroscience, reflecting shared attention, emotional attunement, and coordinated behavior. Enabled by hyperscanning techniques, IBS has been observed across a range of dyadic contexts, including cooperation, empathy, and communication. This systematic review synthesizes recent empirical findings on inter-brain synchrony (IBS)—the temporal alignment of neural activity between individuals—across psychological and neurodevelopmental conditions, including stress, anxiety, depression, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Drawing on 30 studies employing hyperscanning methodologies (EEG, fNIRS, fMRI), we examined how IBS patterns vary by clinical condition, dyad type, and brain region. Results: Findings indicate that IBS is generally reduced in anxiety, depression, and ASD, particularly in key social brain regions such as the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortices (dlPFC, mPFC, vmPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), suggesting impaired emotional resonance and social cognition. In contrast, stress elicited both increases and decreases in IBS, modulated by context, emotional proximity, and cooperative strategies. Parent–child, therapist–client, and romantic dyads exhibited distinct synchrony profiles, with gender and relational dynamics further shaping neural coupling. Conclusions: Collectively, the findings support IBS as a potentially dynamic, condition-sensitive, and contextually modulated neurophysiological indicator of interpersonal functioning, with implications for diagnostics, intervention design, and the advancement of social neuroscience in clinical settings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Mechanisms Underlying Social Cognition and Emotional Processing)
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