Social perception across the lifespan

From day to day we encounter a variety of social signals that provide subtle but important insights into how we need to behave (e.g. judging someones' emotions or the focus of their social attention). Our ability to perceive and correctly interpret these signals is critically important to successful interactions and well-being, and reductions in social perception abilities (e.g. in conditions like alexithymia, autism) can lead to a number of difficulties that have wide impacts including poor social competence and isolation. In recent years the field of social neuroscience has led to a number of novel insights into the mechanisms that support social perception and how they change as we age. This seminar series aims to bring together researchers working on mechanisms of social perception across the lifespan (e.g. in infancy, in adolescence, in adulthood, and in the elderly) to discuss timely issues related to how social perception abilities change as we age, including: what changes occur to our social perception abilities across the lifespan; what mechanisms contribute to this; what are the consequences of these changes; and whether we can facilitate positive changes in social perception abilities. It also aims to allow researchers to engage with the public/professionals (e.g. teachers, carers, policy makers) about how social perception abilities change across the lifespan and what impact this can have for society.

To achieve this aim, a series of four workshops and an online conference will be held. The workshops will be spread over a one year period with each focused on a different theme: 1) social perception in childhood, 2) social perception in adolescence, 3) social perception in adulthood, 4) social perception in the elderly. The online conference will run beyond the one year workshops and serve as a discussion forum about key issues related to the workshops (using text and video clips). The format of the workshops will include keynote talks given by senior career researchers, followed by discussions of key issues raised by the talks that will be given by early career researchers, and finally questions and answers from all workshop participants for the keynote speaker and the discussants. Each workshop will contain two keynote speakers and four discussants. This format will promote an active dialogue about important issues related to mechanisms of social perception across the lifespan for all workshop participants and facilitate discussions between early and senior career researchers. The website will provide a means for further knowledge transfer, user-engagement, and discussion of key issues related to studies examining social perception abilities across the lifespan.

In sum, this seminar series will combine a series of workshops centered on mechanisms of social perception across the lifespan with a web conference related to the same topic. The workshops will integrate talks by senior researchers with discussion sessions led by early career researchers, and provide an opportunity for all workshop participants to contribute to discussions of key issues related to how mechanisms of social perception change as we age. The web conference will facilitate these discussions further and widen the impact of the workshops cross-nationally/to those that cannot physically attend (including members of the public). The seminar series will therefore promote interactions between different groups of academics (e.g. early/late career researchers), and engage with a wider audience (e.g. public/professional bodies) about how social perception abilities change as we age (and the impact of this for society).

It is expected that the seminar series will benefit a number of groups within the UK and internationally. These will include academics, professionals and the public.

The workshops and online conference will impact academics with direct and indirect interests in how our social perception abilities change as we age. For psychologists and neuroscientists researching mechanisms of social perception (direct interests), the seminar series will facilitate dialogue between early and senior researchers on key issues related to mechanisms of social perception across the lifespan. For other academic groups with less direct interests (e.g. sociologists and clinicians), the seminar series will provide the chance for engagement with novel findings in the field of social neuroscience/psychology, the opportunity for collaboration and discussion with groups outside of their direct field of study, and the potential for wider dissemination of their own work (e.g. of the consequences of changes in social perception abilities on society). This will be facilitated by talks given by senior researchers and the use of discussant groups made up of early career researchers; by the opportunity for questions from all workshop participants; and through the web conference discussion forums that will be open to all. The seminar series will therefore promote knowledge transfer, lead to the formation of potential collaborations, and the generation of new lines of study within this field.

The workshops and online conference will also be open to the public and professionals working in related fields (e.g. teachers, carers, policy makers - groups where understanding mechanisms of social perception contributes to their work). This will promote knowledge exchange and public understanding of science. It will be facilitated by the talks and discussion sessions held at each workshop; through networking opportunities at the workshops; and through the web conference discussions (including video clips related to key issues raised by the workshops). Moreover, it is hoped that the web conference will provide and important online resource that will have a large impact on knowledge transfer about how social perception abilities changes as we age, and the impact of these changes on social interaction.

The international nature of the seminar series will also mean that the impact for all of these groups will not only be restricted to the UK - understanding how social perception abilities change across the lifespan (and the impact of this) is an important global issue and therefore the impact of discussions raised by the seminar series will be wide reaching. All of this will be facilitated by including international speakers at the workshops and the web conference discussions/conference video gallery that will be open to all.