Can Neuroscience Advance Our Understanding of Core Questions in Communication Studies? an Overview of Communication Neuroscience

Can neuroimaging methods offer any benefit to communication scholars? Although communication scholars draw on multiple, interdisciplinary methods, the field has not traditionally leveraged neuroimaging techniques (Cappella, 1996). By contrast, other social science disciplines have benefitted greatly from the use of neuroscience methodologies to test core theoretical questions (Adolphs, 2003; Cabeza & Nyberg, 2000a; Cacioppo, 2002; Cacioppo, Berntson, Sheridan, & McClintock, 2000; Lieberman, 2010; Loewenstein, Rick, & Cohen, 2008; Ochsner & Lieberman, 2001; Poldrack, 2008; Sanfey, Loewenstein, & Mcclure, 2006; Yarkoni, Poldrack, Van Essen, & Wager, 2010). The current chapter outlines a vision for how communication studies might leverage neuroimaging technologies moving forward. We begin by defining communication neuroscience as a subdiscipline and giving a brief overview of the most commonly employed neuroimaging methods. We follow this introduction with a discussion of the types of questions that neuroimaging is most equipped to answer and suggest areas for further exploration.