Dr Vrticka’s most recent blog posts
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Auf der gleichen Wellenlänge – verstehen sich Eltern und Kinder besser durch Gleichklang im Gehirn?
Wir lassen uns oft vom Verhalten anderer „anstecken“ – klassische Beispiele dafür sind Gähnen oder Lachen. Neue Forschungsergebnisse zeigen auf, dass eine solche „Ansteckung“ sogar im Gehirn beobachtet werden kann. Modernste bildgebende Verfahren offenbaren, dass Gleichklang im Gehirn für das Verstehen anderer wichtig ist, und das bereits im Kindesalter. In diesem Artikel beschreiben wir, wie… Read more
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Is your brain securely attached? A social neuroscience perspective on attachment (1)
Attachment theory was developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth here in the UK about seventy years ago. Since then, it has become one of the most comprehensive psychology frameworks describing how we initiate and maintain social relationships across the life span. Attachment theory nowadays is omnipresent – in popular books, social media posts, magazines… Read more
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Attachment Style and Brain Structure in Adolescence & Early Adulthood
Adolescence is a time of significant change. Amongst the many physical maturation processes that kick off when children become teenagers is a boost in brain development. Scientific evidence documents an increased rate of cortical thinning and associated loss of brain volume particularly during early adolescence. Such regressive processes appear to be linked to, amongst others,… Read more
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Men as Fathers and Caregivers: Insights from Two New Social Neuroscience Studies
An edited version of this blog has been published with The Conversation UK on 09 November 2021 and can be accessed here. The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on our work and living arrangements. Amongst the many changes we faced and had to cope with, one particularly stood out for dads. During the nationwide… Read more
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Securely Connected – How Mums and Dads Get “In Sync” With Their Kids
‘Recent technical advances now allow us to test two (or more) participants simultaneously – using so-called “hyperscanning” – during naturally unfolding social interactions. These new developments are particularly important for the social neuroscience of human attachment. After all, attachment is an interpersonal process from the very beginning. What is even more exciting is that by… Read more
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The Social Neuroscience of Attachment
“During the last two decades, interest in better understanding the biological and particularly brain basis of human attachment has steadily grown. This process led to the emergence of a new area of research at the interface of neuroscience and psychology, the social neuroscience of human attachment. Over the years, there have been many claims reflecting… Read more
Dr Pascal Vrticka (PhD, FHEA) 