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Jean Decety is Irving B. Harris professor at the University of Chicago and its College with a primary appointment in the Department of Psychology and a secondary appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience. He is an executive committee member of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, a member of the Committee on Neurobiology, the Committee on Computational Neuroscience, and a member of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neuroengineering.

Dr. Decety is the co-director of the Brain Research Imaging Center at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Address:
Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Department of Psychology
The University of Chicago
5848 S. University Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

Faculty Web page
Lab Web page
Neuroscience at the University of Chicago

Publications
Book Chapters and Books
Conferences

Educational background:

Habilitation as Director of Research in Cognitive Neurosciences. University Claude Bernard Lyon I, France (1994).
Ph.D., cum laude, University Claude Bernard Lyon I, France (Neurobiology, 1989).
Advanced M.S., University Claude Bernard Lyon I, France (Biological and Medical Engineering Sciences, 1987).
Advanced M.A., University Lumière Lyon II, France (Cognitive Psychology, 1986).
Advanced M.S., University Claude Bernard Lyon I, (Neurosciences, 1985).
Bachelor, University Lumière Lyon II, (Psychology 1983 - with Major in Neuropsychology, and Minor in Psychopathology).
Baccalaureate section D (Natural Sciences and Mathematics, 1978).

Honnors:

Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (2011)
Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (2009)
Doctor Honoris Causa, Favaloro Unisersity Medical School, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2010)
British Council Fellowship for a stay at the University of Oxford (1991)
Fyssen Foundation Fellowship (1990-1991)

Research skills:

Affective social neuroscience
Developmental neuroscience
Psychopathology
Human neuroanatomy and neurophysiology
Functional brain imaging (PET, fMRI, DTI, ERPs, MEG)
Cognitive neuroscience
Social neuroscience

Research interests:

Anthropology (physical and social)
Antisocial personality disorder
Conduct disorder
Developmental neuroscience
Emotion
Empathy
Evolutionary biology
Intentionality and theory of mind
Interpersonal processes
Moral reasoning
Prosocial behavior
Psychopathy
Social neuroscience

Read a story about my research in the University of Chicago Magazine, April 2006.
Why I became interested to study empathy? Read an interview from the summer 2010 CCSN News letter. Read more »

Main research projects:

Developmental social neuroscience of implicit moral reasoning in children and adolescents, 2008-present.
Empathy deficits in children with aggressive conduct disorder, 2007-present.
Dysfunction of empathy and its expression in individuals who vary in psychopathic traits, 2008-present.
Cognitive neuroscience of empathy and sympathy, 2001-present.
Cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in imitation and intersubjectivity, 1999-2006.
Neural underpinnings of perspective taking, 1999-present.
The perception of causation in healthy subjects and schizophrenic patients, 1999-2003.
Theory of mind in normal subjects and schizophrenic patients, 1998-2003.
The perception and the understanding of human actions, 1996-2000.
The neurophysiological basis of mental simulation of action in healthy subjects and neurological patients, 1991-1996.

Past appointments:

Head of Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Washington, Seattle, 2001-2005.
Head of Neurophysiology of Intentionality Unit at INSERM 280, Lyon, France, 1997-2001.
Junior and then Senior researcher at INSERM 94, Bron, France, 1991-1996.
Post doctoral fellow at the Karolinska Hospital and Institute, Stockholm, Sweden in the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuroradiology, PET-Division (Prof. Per E. Roland, Director), 1990-1991.
Ph.D. student at Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden in the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, SPECT-section (Prof. David H. Ingvar, Director), 1988-1990.

Professional memberships:

Editorial Duties:

Development and Psychopathology (Editorial Board Member)
Frontiers in Emotion Science (Associate Editor)
Neuropsychologia (Editorial Board Member)
Scientific World Journal (Editorial Board Member)
Social Neuroscience (Founder and Editor in Chief)

If you happen to know French, you might like to read the article,
"Le sens des autres" [The Sense of Others] that was published in Le Monde in November 2002.