Neuroscience & Society
Neuroscience & Society
Brain-based diseases, including neurodegenerative disease and addiction, are increasing at an exponential rate. Rapid advancements in technologies like social media and artificial intelligence impact our sense of self, our social interactions, and our mental health. Societal and environmental concerns may alter quality of life. In light of all these concerns, the time is now for a new approach to neuroscience. At Wake Forest University, we believe that understanding the brain requires more than advancing neuroscience alone. When cutting-edge brain science is brought into conversation with the arts and humanities, social science, ethics, law, and lived experience, we gain a fuller picture of how the mind works, how behavior and meaning are shaped, and how wellbeing is created.
Wake Forest embraces a holistic approach to neuroscience and society — one that connects scientific insight with ethical reflection, community partnership, and a deep appreciation for the human experience.
Our neuroscience and society initiative explores who we are and how we relate to one another; is guided by equity, creativity, dignity, and justice; partners with communities in inquiry;and strengthens our ability to meet the challenges of our time with wisdom and empathy.
This vision means:
- Connecting neural mechanisms with the social, environmental, and narrative contexts that shape cognition, emotion, and identity.
- Uniting brain science with the arts, humanities, ethics, and law to illuminate the full complexity of mind, behavior, and lived experience.
- Listening first and recognizing that discoveries are most powerful when grounded in relationships of trust, reciprocity, and cultural understanding.
- Embedding ethical inquiry and policy leadership into neuroscience research, technology development, and clinical practice.
Stories
Showing up & taking action
How Improvisational Movement and Dance Affect the Brain
Wake Forest researchers Christina Hugenschmidt and Christina Soriano discuss their IMPROVment® program, which uses improvisational dance to improve balance, mood, and brain health in older adults with neurodegenerative disease.
AI: The Future of Health Care
Metin Nafi Gurcan, PhD, leads Wake Forest’s Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, using AI to improve health equity, predict maternal mortality risk, and accelerate cancer care diagnostics.
Neuroscience + arts take center stage in health and wellness
Wake Forest is proving that the arts are a critical tool for medical recovery and cognitive health.
Using Noninvasive Brainwave Technology to Treat PTSD Symptoms
A Wake Forest pilot study found that HIRREM — a noninvasive acoustic brainwave-mirroring technology — significantly reduced PTSD symptoms and improved heart rate variability in military veterans.
Study Shows How Your Expectations Affect Your Brain
A Wake Forest and East China Normal University fMRI study found that spicy food lovers and haters activate entirely different brain regions in response to the same sauces — illuminating the neural basis of the placebo effect.
NIH Awards Wake Forest University School of Medicine $27 Million to Study Vascular Health and Its Impact on Cognition
A five-year, $27 million NIH renewal grant funds MESA-MIND, a multi-ethnic study examining how cardiovascular and vascular risk factors contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
How the Performing Arts Can Teach Kids Concepts in Science
Wake Forest University partners with Speas Elementary in Winston-Salem for the Theatre in Education program, where Wake Forest students use movement and performance to teach second graders core science standards.
The ‘Switch Cost’ of Multitasking
Psychology professor Anthony Sali explains how the brain doesn’t truly multitask — it switches between tasks — and why that rapid switching carries cognitive costs that vary with learning, anxiety, and context.
Computer Scientist Wins NSF CAREER Award to Advance Alzheimer’s Research Using AI
Wake Forest computer scientist Minghan Chen received a $500,000 NSF CAREER Award to develop “Neuron Twin,” an AI framework combining multiscale modeling and deep learning to study Alzheimer’s disease progression.
How Often Do You Lie? Deception Researchers Investigate How the Recipient and the Medium Affect Telling the Truth
Research shows lying is rarer than assumed — most people tell few lies daily, with half of all lies coming from just 5% of participants — and surprisingly, email produces fewer lies than face-to-face or video chat.
Being Humble About What You Know Is Just One Part of What Makes You a Good Thinker
Wake Forest psychology professor Eranda Jayawickreme argues that intellectual humility alone isn’t enough for good thinking — curiosity, open-mindedness, carefulness, and a genuine love of knowledge are equally essential traits to cultivate.
Feeling Disoriented by the Election, Pandemic and Everything Else? It’s Called Zozobra, and Mexican Philosophers Have Some Advice
“Zozobra” — a Mexican philosophical concept describing the anxiety of being unable to settle into a single worldview — offers a framework for understanding the disorientation many Americans feel amid political upheaval, pandemic, and social fragmentation.
Hold the Mustard: What Makes Spiders Fussy Eaters?
Wake Forest sensory neuroscientists found that wolf spiders react strongly to allyl isothiocyanate — the compound in mustard and wasabi — by grooming frantically and dropping prey, suggesting spiders share TRP chemical-detection channels with mammals.
With Beetroot Juice Before Exercise, Aging Brains Look ‘Younger’
A Wake Forest study found that older adults who drank beetroot juice before moderate exercise showed brain connectivity patterns resembling those of younger adults, suggesting diet and exercise together may protect brain health in aging.
Don’t Call It Exercise
Wake Forest professor Jason Fanning explains why the word “exercise” backfires for older adults and why reframing physical activity as “movement throughout the day” — the focus of his NIH-funded MORPH study — produces better long-term health outcomes.
Who’s Remembering to Buy the Eggs?
Wake Forest management professor Julie Holliday Wayne’s research reveals that women carry about 80% of the “invisible family load” — the unseen managerial, cognitive, and emotional work of running a household — but finds surprising upsides too.
U.S. POINTER Study Shows Lifestyle Changes Improve Brain Health in Older Adults
The landmark two-year U.S. POINTER trial, co-designed by Wake Forest’s Jeffrey Katula and Laura Baker, found that structured lifestyle interventions targeting exercise, diet, and cognitive challenge significantly improved cognition in older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s.
Kenneth Kishida Named Inaugural Boswell Presidential Endowed Chair of Neuroscience and Society at Wake Forest
Wake Forest named Kenneth Kishida, Ph.D. — renowned for measuring dopamine and serotonin in real time in awake human brains — as the inaugural Boswell Chair, anchoring the University’s new interdisciplinary Neuroscience and Society initiative.
Teens Aren’t the Problem. Stereotypes Are.
Wake Forest developmental psychologist Christy Buchanan explains how negative stereotypes about adolescents create confirmation bias that undermines parenting confidence, strains parent-teen relationships, and causes parents to miss the majority of positive teen behaviors.
Helping College Students Find a Way to Belong
A Wake Forest study of 4,753 first-year students found extroverts and agreeable students felt stronger campus belonging, while emotionally unstable students struggled — with important implications for how colleges design first-year programming.
When Facing Difficult Life Experiences, Study Shows Coping Strategies Matter
A Wake Forest study co-authored by undergraduates found that older adults who processed COVID-19 experiences through redemptive thinking — finding silver linings — reported significantly higher wellbeing than those who did not.