Ohio State is in the process of revising websites and program materials to accurately reflect compliance with the law. While this work occurs, language referencing protected class status or other activities prohibited by Ohio Senate Bill 1 may still appear in some places. However, all programs and activities are being administered in compliance with federal and state law.

Interpersonal Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab

The Wagner Interpersonal Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab studies how the brain encodes and retrieves socially relevant information. The lab uses naturalistic neuroimaging to investigate how personality and attitudes shape people’s perception of strangers, friends, fictional characters and—more recently—AI chatbots. Another line of research in the lab focuses on the neural basis of self-regulation failure in the domains of eating and addiction.

Highlighted publications:

Broom, T. W., & Wagner, D. D. (2023). The boundary between real and fictional others in the medial prefrontal cortex is blurred in lonelier individuals. Cerebral Cortex 33(16): 9677–9689.  

Broom, T.W., Stahl, J.L., Ping, E.E.C., Wagner, D.D. (2022). They Saw a Debate: Political Polarization Is Associated with Greater Multivariate Neural Synchrony When Viewing the Opposing Candidate Speak Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 35(1):60-73. 

Broom, T.W., Chavez, R.S., Wagner, D.D. (2021). Becoming the King in the North: Identification with Fictional Characters is Associated with Greater Self-Other Neural Overlap. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 16(6):541–551.