
National Institute of Mental Health Related Research Domains:
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Affiliation and Attachment:
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Interpersonal Dynamics
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Neuroscience of Commitment
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Women's Health
2. Perception & Sense of Self
in Interpersonal Relationships:
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Self-Other Cognitive Interdependence
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Attitude similarities
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Self-Other Expansion
3. Perception and
Understanding of Others:
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Modulation and Function of the Mirror Neuron System during dyadic formation
Dr. Steph Cacioppo, Ph.D.
Named a "Rising Star" by the Association for Psychological Science, Dr. Steph Cacioppo is the Director of the Brain Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.
Dr. Steph Cacioppo focuses on the neurobiology of social emotions
and their impact on brain health and human performance.
She has authored more than 120 scientific publications and her work has been featured in several outlets, including the Scientific American, Washington Post, Discover Magazine, The Guardian, National Geographic, and the New York Times.
Understanding how and why the human mind dynamics vary as a function of how one feels toward (and thinks about) themselves and others may provide critical insights on one’s mental health, well-being, and may better and faster performance. The better is our understanding of positive mindset, the greater is our respect for the significance and potency of their role on physical health.
In her research, Steph integrates theories of self-expansion and embodied cognition with lesion studies, functional neuroimaging, and 4D electrical neuroimaging to investigate brain dynamics of the social self, its cognitive and health benefits.
She also investigates how and why a specific brain network called the inferior fronto-parietal network, which includes the seminal mirror neuron system (a network that is activated when you move and see others perform a similar action), contributes to: i) speed performance under emotional pressure, ii) emotional well-being, iii) individual and team-building differences and iv) formation, maintenance, and restoration of lasting salutary connections.

THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
PRITZKER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE