BASC Lab at UC Davis

We are a developmental social cognitive neuroscience laboratory at UC Davis. Our lab is working to uncover how the ‘social brain’ develops! As humans, we navigate a complex social world in which we communicate, cooperate, and empathize; we reason about the covert contents of the mind to predict and explain overt behavior. From a young age, infants and children are forming the building blocks of social understanding and competent social behavior. We’re interested in how the brain supports this development, and how brain developments interact with and are influenced by aspects of the child’s environment. We conduct behavioral research in conjunction with the use of EEG, ERP, and fNIRS to examine the neural correlates of social cognition.

 Principal Investigator Dr. Lindsay Bowman

Dr. Bowman’s research brings together unique perspectives on neuroscience, cognition, and social understanding in the developmental context. She uses a combination of neuroscientific and behavioral methods to illuminate developing cognition and pathways to adaptive and maladaptive social behavior across infancy and childhood.

 Thank you to participating families & our students!

None of the work in our laboratory would be possible without our dedicated undergraduate and graduate research assistants and of course our participating families! We extend our sincere gratitude for the time and energy so generously committed by our students and participants in the Davis and the surrounding communities. Together you are helping us uncover how social cognition and the brain develops across infancy and childhood! ​