Insight into how human brains work in their most ubiquitous and biologically meaningful context, social interaction, has remained largely elusive. This course ventures into this “dark matter” of social neuroscience, pursuing the question of what constitutes a “meeting of minds”. Conceptual and methodological challenges of studying human interaction are dealt with in-class discussions, laboratories, and small group research projects on selected topics. Students will be expected to design, run, analyze, and write up an interaction study answering a question of their choosing. Example research projects include but are not limited to studies of human interactive behavior in the real world, the lab, simulated scenarios, or on social media.

• Gain insight into the “dark matter” of social neuroscience
• Gain insight into how human brains achieve mutual understanding and how this elusive capacity underpins social interaction, culture, and society
• Get a thorough background in scientific literature and approaches for advancing our understanding of human interaction
• Learn how to design, run, analyze, and write up human interaction studies