Pre-conference symposium ESCAN 2026 organized by SIG ESCAN-Social Neuroscience

As social neuroscience matures as a field, its relevance to pressing real-world issues has never been more apparent. This one-day pre-conference brings together researchers at the forefront of applied social neuroscience to explore how neural insights can inform and improve interventions, policies, and public understanding across diverse domains. With a strong emphasis on translational research, societal engagement, and methodological reflection, this event highlights the power and responsibility of social neuroscience in the 21st century. Each section will be introduced by a senior expert in the field and features two Early Career Researchers (ECR).

Program Structure:

13:30 Welcome and chats over coffee

13:50 Welcome address by Grit Hein

14:00 Session 1

14:00 Topic 1 – Artificial Intelligence and Human Interaction (Chair: Jan B. Engelmann)

Human interaction with artificial intelligence has expanded rapidly in recent years. Social neuroscience can illuminate how the affective and cognitive processes that support human social interaction extend to artificial agents. This session examines the potential of this knowledge to guide the development of AI systems that are more aligned with human social cognition, as well as the pitfalls of anthropomorphizing AI or overlooking individual differences in social neural architecture.

Introduction – Lasana Harris (Department of Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Brain Sciences (FBS) University College London, UK): AI and Social Neuroscience: Promises and Pitfalls

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds much promise for social neuroscience research, both as a research tool and as a topic of inquiry. As a research tool, AI has been used to classify biological (brain response patterns and physiological responses) and behavioural output (text and static/dynamic images), providing insight regarding human biological and psychological responses to stimuli. AI also provides glimpses into a multi-verse of brain responses patterns based on various analytic approaches. AI as a topic of inquiry further divides into perceptions of and decisions involving AI agents, and AI agents as psychological subjects. Research on AI perception and decision-making identifies differences in brain processing of AI social interaction partners relative to humans. Future research can track whether such differences persist as AI becomes further embedded as a social interaction partner. Research on AI as psychological subjects assumes computational analogues of psychological processes, and concessions of psychological states as biologically driven, raising methodological and philosophical questions not yet properly addressed in the field. Future research will have to grapple with such methodological and philosophical questions, potentially leading to novel methods, statistical approaches, ‘psychological’ concepts, and ultimately a new field of scientific inquiry.

Flash talk 1 – Jairo Perez-Osorio & Eva Wiese (Cognitive Psychology & Ergonomics, Head of Brains, Minds & Bots Lab, Institute of Psychology and Ergonomics, Berlin Institute of Technology, Germany): Teaming Up with AI Increases Own-Error Awareness

The rise of smart algorithms and AI has brought challenges around how individuals perceive and interact with these technologies. People often misalign their reliance on automation, leading to overreliance or underuse, and trust in automation remains difficult to measure. Neural correlates, particularly event-related potentials (ERPs) such as the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe), offer promising tools for indexing error monitoring for both self-generated and observed errors. In a modified Eriksen Flanker task, participants either collaborated or competed with an algorithm while we recorded their EEG and performance. We examined neural responses during task performance and during observation of the algorithm. Observation ERPs (oERN, oPe) replicated typical flanker findings and tracked algorithm errors equivalently across both social conditions, indicating that social context did not modulate how participants monitored AI errors. However, social context did shape self-monitoring: Pe amplitudes were significantly larger in the collaborative condition, reflecting heightened awareness of one’s own errors. Converging behavioral evidence showed that participants in the collaborative condition made fewer errors and fewer misses on attentional catch trials. These results suggest that collaborating with AI, rather than competing, promotes greater personal engagement and self-monitoring, without altering the neural mechanisms underlying observation of AI errors.

Flash talk 2 – Ruud Hortensius (Department of Social, Health & Organisational Psychology, Utrecht University, Netherlands): From individual social cognition to group dynamics during naturalistic human–AI interaction

In this short talk, I will show how a neurocognitive approach can help us understand not only how people perceive but also interact with robots and other forms of AI. Combining socialising interventions, behavioural observations, neuroimaging (fMRI and fNIRS), and multivariate analyses, we can probe the flexibility of social cognition during naturalistic interactions with artificial agents. I will also outline how -with a group-based neurocognitive approach- we can move from one-off interactions in a sterile lab to group interactions at home.

Discussion – 5 minutes

14:30 Topic 2 – Clinical and Health Applications (Chair: Henryk Bukowski, Grit Hein)

Social neuroscience can inform clinical and health applications by revealing how social interactions and relationships influence brain function, stress responses, and overall well-being. This session discusses the potentials and pitfalls of using this knowledge to improve treatments for mental and physical disorders and sheds light on future directions in the field.

Introduction Senior Researcher  – Giorgia Silani (University of Vienna, Austria): Neurodivergent Thinking:  Addressing Myths and Misconceptions about Autism in social neuroscience

Flash talk ECR – Fiona Eslami Tehrani (University of Vienna, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Austria): Anticipatory and consummatory responses to touch and food rewards in anorexia nervosa

I will present recent research using a reward paradigm that includes trial-by-trial anticipation and consumption of matched primary social (affiliative touch) and non-social (real food) stimuli in anorexia nervosa (AN). Results from simultaneous fMRI and electromyography (EMG) indicate that dissecting social and non-social reward processing into anticipation and consumption phases is an important step toward a better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying AN.

Flash talk ECR – Sofia Orellana Aguirre (University of Cambridge, UK): Challenges and promises of translating population neuroscience stress research for social workers in the England NHS

This talk will briefly discuss my findings on the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment on immuno-metabolic, psychosocial and brain health in adulthood as well insights that emerged from translating these findings into actionable information for NHS social workers and doctors.

Discussion – 5 minutes

15:00 – 15:15 Break

15:15 Session 2 – Environmental and Climate Neuroscience (Chair: Claus Lamm)

The climate emergency is a pressing societal challenge to which neuroscience has made relatively little research contributions so far (cf. Doell et al., Nature Climate Change 2023).
This session highlights recent efforts and discusses if and how social neuroscience may be leveraged in advancing our understanding of sustainable behavior and climate action.

15:15 – 15:45 Topic 3

Introduction Senior Researcher  – Claus Lamm (University of Vienna, Austria): Understanding (non)sustainable behavior and climate (in)action – opportunities and challenges

Flash talk ECR – Zoe Bollen (Psychological Science Research Institute, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium): Make it real: Challenges in studying environmental decisions and nature exposure in real-world contexts

This talk will first present an eye-tracking study examining the attentional processes underlying pro-environmental decision-making, and discuss the challenges of studying pro-environmental behaviors in laboratory settings while ensuring that these behaviors remain consequential and impactful. Then, it reports on an eye-tracking study investigating the restorative effects of exposure to preserved versus deteriorated nature, highlighting some of the methodological challenges of studying these effects in an in situ experiment.

Flash talk ECR – Leslie Tricoche (INRIA Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, Bordeaux University, France): Beyond WEIRD brains: Cross-cultural and developmental challenges for understanding environmental decision-making

In this talk, it will be argued that understanding pro‑environmental behavior requires studying a wider range of people beyond WEIRD adult populations. Because cultures and societies experience environmental issues differently, expanding research to non‑WEIRD communities is essential. Beyond culture, incorporating age, and in particular children and adolescents whose values and social norms are still forming and who will be heavily affected by the ecological crisis, is equally important.

Discussion – 5 minutes

15:45 – 16:15  Topic 4 – Societal and Political Applications of Social and Affective Neuroscience (Chair: Dan Campbell-Meiklejohn).

Can social and affective neuroscience really help solve political and social issues?  Can it be a useful measure of social forces on our biopsychology?  In this session we will explore these issues.

Introduction Senior Researcher – Manos Tsakiris (Royal Holloway University, London, UK): “Is there a need for social neuroscience to engage with politics?”

Flash talk ECR – Victoria Rambaud (Ghent University, Belgium): The Prison Brain: Using Social Neuroscience to Study the Impact of Incarceration

How do institutional environments like prisons shape the brain? And what does this mean for rehabilitation? This talk explores how social neuroscience can be applied to understand the effects of incarceration on cognitive and emotional processes. Drawing on longitudinal behavioral and EEG data, I will present the opportunities and challenges of translating neuroscience findings into meaningful societal and policy-relevant insights.

Flash talk ECR – Sofia Orellana (University of Cambridge, UK): Neurophysiological Targets for Resilience: Implications for Intervention

Childhood adversity and early-life stress are robustly associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes across the lifespan. In this talk, I will discuss which physiological and brain system pathways appear to be altered by these experiences, and how emerging social interventions may potentially modify these mechanisms and alter long-term outcomes.

Discussion – 5 minutes

16:15 – 16:30 Break

16:30 – 17:15 ECR panel discussion (Chair: Grit Hein)