Welcome to the Social Neurobiology Lab
Social interactions are fundamental in maintaining a healthy life. Likewise, reputation, cooperation, and an individual’s social ties play a crucial role in social interactions. Our lab aims to examine the interdependence and neural basis of these psychological processes.
The ultimate goal of the lab is to understand the behavioral and neuronal mechanisms governing the formation and maintenance of friendships, through a multipronged approach.
Our Approach
We combine careful characterization of behavior, longitudinal observations, and neurophysiology in probing the brain mechanisms of complex cognitive processes.
Primate Social Cognition: Social cognition is unique in that it involves the interplay between individual and other’s goals. A major goal of the lab is to investigate how these cooperations are computed at the level of single neurons.
Human Social Cognition: How our brains facilitate – or hamper – our daily interactions with others remains poorly understood. Our group aims to better understand human social cognition at both the behavioral and neuronal levels.
Positions
We are funded by an ERC Starting Grant, a Leibniz Cooperative Excellence grant, the MacLean-Erkelenz Foundation, and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
We have open positions for Postdocs and Ph.D. students, and offer to host Master’s students for practicals, lab rotations and thesis.
We investigate the neuronal basis of social connection in humans and non-human primates.
We offer:
- A mix of experimentation, programming, and data analysis
- A relaxed, friendly, and supportive lab environment
- Multiple approaches to understand the neuronal basis of social connection, including neurophysiology in humans and non-human primates
- The chance to work together to develop and grow your research skill set.
Please note that the institute’s working language is English
For those interested in postdoctoral positions, we have funding through the Henriette-Herz Scouting Program of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
However, for your own career development, I will help you apply for your own fellowships and grants. This is a selection of funding opportunities:
- Humboldt Research Fellowships. Three deadlines per year
- Branco Weiss Fellowship. Deadline in January
- Human Frontier Science Program. Deadline in May
- Marie Curie Fellowships. Deadline in September
If you are interested in joining the lab, please email me (rbaezmendoza@dpz.eu) with a cover letter and your CV.