A 2026 fNIRS hyperscanning study involving 20 dyads found that structured chord progressions paired with live eye contact increased activity in social-brain regions and produced partner-specific neural synchrony more than scrambled-note control music.1 The result supports a plausible mechanism for music-supported connection, but it does not prove that chord progressions treat loneliness or replace clinical …
A 2026 fMRI study found language and theory-of-mind activation already separated in 54 child sessions from ages 3-9, with strict child overlap near zero in the left superior temporal lobe (Dice 0.015) and no evidence that the 2 systems disentangled with age.1 The result pushes against a simple developmental story in which language grows out …
A 2026 PRISMA systematic review by Cavallo et al. in Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience aggregates 43 neuroimaging studies of social cognition in adults with stroke or traumatic brain injury and finds the same handful of regions implicated again and again: the insula, cingulate cortex, middle frontal gyrus, and corpus callosum.1 Research Highlights Stroke/TBI social-cognition …