Central Questions for Social Neuroscience Research

Over the past decade, interest in social neuroscience has expanded rapidly. This growth raises a fundamental inquiry: what are the central questions that now define the field of social neuroscience? While the answer to this question depends on the appropriate neurobiological level of explanation, ranging from cellular substrates to systems and network-level dynamics, there are commonalities that transcend multiple levels. One longstanding question in the field of social neuroscience concerns whether there is social specificity in the brain. If a neural substrate exhibits social specificity, does it do so at the algorithmic level, the implementational level, or both? Another emerging question concerns how neural systems construct and update internal models of the social world composed of other agents and factors of one's social environment. These internal models of the social world must integrate social information throughout one's lifespan, adding a critical developmental component in building social world models. Relatedly, another core question concerns internal states that dynamically guide social behavior and social cognition. These internal states may have components that are innately driven or acquired by learning in the social world. With powerful neuroscientific tools and behavioral sophistications, the field is gaining a great amount of traction to begin to answer such central questions. This special collection brings together seven selected contributions that reflect cutting-edge and cross-species research in the field of social neuroscience. As editors, we encourage readers to consider the aforementioned and other big-picture questions in social neuroscience as they engage with the manuscripts in this issue.