Shihui Han: Neural Representation of the Self in Sociocultural Contexts

Neuroaesthetics | Symposium


Symposium im ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie,
22.-24. November 2012
In Kooperation und mit Unterstützung der Gemeinnützigen
Hertie-Stiftung.


How people think about the self strongly influences their social
communica-
tion and behavior. Recent cultural neuroscience studies have
shown increas-
ing evidence for modulation of neural representation of the self
by cultural
contexts and cultural experiences. I will present our recent
research that used
different psychological paradigms and different brain imaging
methods to in-
vestigate cultural influences on neural mechanisms underlying
self-reflection
on personal attributes. I will also present preliminary brain
imaging results that uncover how genes may interact with culture
to shape the social brain network activity involved in reflection
on the self and close others. These findings are helpful for
understanding the biosocial nature of neural mechanisms of human
self-concept.


Dr. Shihui Han is a professor at the Department of Psychology,
Peking Uni-
versity. He is the director of the Cultural and Social Cognitive
Neuroscience
Laboratory. He served as the Chair of the Department of
Psychology at Peking
University between 2003 and 2007. He studies cultural and genetic
influences
on neural substrates of social cognition such as self-referential
processing,
empathy, and theory-of-mind. He has published over a hundred
research papers
in journals such as Nature Review Neuroscience, Annual Review of
Psychology, Brain, Journal of Neuroscience, Social Cognitive and
Affective Neuroscience, Psychological Science, NeuroImage,
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, Journalof
Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Social
Neuroscience, etc. He is now the chief editor of Culture and
Brain and the associate editor of Social Cognitive and Affective
Neuroscienc, Social Neuroscience, and Acta Psychologica
Sinica.