{{short description|American cognitive neuroscientist}} '''Rebecca Saxe''' is a professor of cognitive neuroscience and associate Dean of Science<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.mit.edu/2021/jacqueline-lees-rebecca-saxe-named-associate-deans-science-0816 | title=Jacqueline Lees and Rebecca Saxe named associate deans of science | date=16 August 2021 }}</ref> at MIT. She is an associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and a board member of the Center for Open Science. She is known for her research on the neural basis of social cognition. She received her BA from Oxford University where she studied Psychology and Philosophy, and her PhD from MIT in Cognitive Science. She is the granddaughter of Canadian coroner and Ontario provincial legislator Morton Shulman, and daughter of Toronto city councillor Dianne Saxe.
==Scientific contributions== As a graduate student, Saxe demonstrated that a brain region known as the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) is specifically activated by ‘theory of mind’ tasks that require understanding the mental states of other people.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00230-1 | last1 = Saxe | first1 = R. | last2 = Kanwisher | first2 = N. | title = People thinking about thinking people. The role of the temporo-parietal junction in "theory of mind" | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 19 | issue = 4 | pages = 1835–1842 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12948738 | s2cid = 206118958 }}</ref> She continues to study this brain region, and has recently demonstrated that rTPJ is involved in moral judgments; in a task where subjects hear stories and evaluate the permissibility of the characters’ behavior, disruption of the rTPJ causes subjects to place less weight on the character's intentions, and greater weight on the actual outcomes of their actions.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Young | first1 = L. | last2 = Camprodon | first2 = J. A. | last3 = Hauser | first3 = M. | last4 = Pascual-Leone | first4 = A. | last5 = Saxe | first5 = R. | title = Disruption of the right temporoparietal junction with transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces the role of beliefs in moral judgments | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0914826107 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 107 | issue = 15 | pages = 6753–6758 | year = 2010 | pmid = 20351278 | pmc =2872442 | bibcode = 2010PNAS..107.6753Y | doi-access = free }}</ref> Individuals with autism show a similar pattern of responses, suggesting a possible role for rTPJ in the etiology of autism.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Moran | first1 = J. M. | last2 = Young | first2 = L. L. | last3 = Saxe | first3 = R. | last4 = Lee | first4 = S. M. | last5 = O'Young | first5 = D. | last6 = Mavros | first6 = P. L. | last7 = Gabrieli | first7 = J. D. | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1011734108 | title = Impaired theory of mind for moral judgment in high-functioning autism | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 108 | issue = 7 | pages = 2688–2692 | year = 2011 | pmid = 21282628 | pmc =3041087 | bibcode = 2011PNAS..108.2688M | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=MIT.Levenson/><ref name=MIT.Courtney/><ref name=HP.Roya/><ref name=N.Lewis/><ref name=O.Mikulak/>
In addition to her work on theory of mind, Saxe also studies the plasticity of the cortex<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Bedny | first1 = M. | last2 = Pascual-Leone | first2 = A. | last3 = Dodell-Feder | first3 = D. | last4 = Fedorenko | first4 = E. | last5 = Saxe | first5 = R. | title = Language processing in the occipital cortex of congenitally blind adults | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1014818108 | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | volume = 108 | issue = 11 | pages = 4429–4434 | year = 2011 | pmid = 21368161 | pmc =3060248 | bibcode = 2011PNAS..108.4429B | doi-access = free }}</ref> and the neural substrates of empathy,<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Bruneau | first1 = E. G. | last2 = Pluta | first2 = A. | last3 = Saxe | first3 = R. | doi = 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.11.008 | title = Distinct roles of the 'Shared Pain' and 'Theory of Mind' networks in processing others' emotional suffering | journal = Neuropsychologia | volume = 50 | issue = 2 | pages = 219–231 | year = 2012 | pmid = 22154962 | pmc = | s2cid = 17953611 }}</ref> group conflict<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Bruneau | first1 = E. G. | last2 = Dufour | first2 = N. | last3 = Saxe | first3 = R. | doi = 10.1098/rstb.2011.0293 | title = Social cognition in members of conflict groups: Behavioural and neural responses in Arabs, Israelis and South Americans to each other's misfortunes | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 367 | issue = 1589 | pages = 717–730 | year = 2012 | pmid = 22271787 | pmc =3260847 }}</ref> and emotion attribution.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Saxe | first1 = R. | last2 = Houlihan | first2 = S. D. | doi = 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.019 | title = Formalizing emotion concepts within a Bayesian model of theory of mind | journal = Current Opinion in Psychology | volume = 17 | pages = 15–21 | year = 2017 | pmid = 28950962 | pmc = 5637274 }}</ref>
==Awards and recognition== Before joining the MIT faculty, Saxe was a junior fellow of Harvard University's Society of Fellows. In 2008, she was named one of Popular Science Magazine's “Brilliant 10” scientists under 40, and in 2012 the World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader. Her 2009 TED talk has been viewed more than 3.3 million times. Saxe was awarded the Troland Research Award by the National Academy of Sciences in 2014.
==References== {{Reflist|30em|refs= <ref name=MIT.Levenson>{{cite magazine|last1=Levenson|first1=Thomas|title=The Story of a Study of the Mind|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/article/510966/the-story-of-a-study-of-the-mind/|accessdate=9 November 2014|magazine=MIT Technology Review|date=20 February 2013}}</ref>
<ref name=MIT.Courtney >{{cite magazine|last1= Humphries |first1= Courtney |title=Hacking the Soul|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/qa/528271/what-am-i-thinking-about-you/|accessdate=9 November 2014|magazine=MIT Technology Review|date=17 June 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=HP.Roya >{{cite news|last1= Rad |first1= Roya $.|title=The Brain of a Spiteful Person|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roya-r-rad-ma-psyd/the-brain-of-a-spiteful-person_b_3292298.html|accessdate=9 November 2014|newspaper=Huffington Post|date=21 May 2013}}</ref>
<ref name=N.Lewis >{{cite news|last1= Lewis |first1= Susan K. |title=The Ape That Teaches|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/ape-teaches/|access-date=9 November 2014|publisher=Nova|date=1 January 2008}}</ref>
<ref name=O.Mikulak>{{cite news|last1=Mikulak|first1=Anna|title=An Intergenerational Conversation Between Mahzarin R. Banaji and Rebecca Saxe|url=http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2011/july-august-11/an-intergenerational-conversation-between-mahzarin-r-banaji-and-rebecca-saxe.html|accessdate=9 November 2014|issue=6|publisher=Observer|date=2011|volume=24}}</ref> }}
== External links == *[http://saxelab.mit.edu/ Saxe Lab] *[https://bcs.mit.edu/users/saxemitedu Rebecca Saxe MIT faculty page] *[https://www.pbs.org/search/?q=Rebecca.Saxe Search PBS.org for Rebecca Saxe] *[https://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_saxe_how_we_read_each_other_s_minds "How we read each other's minds" - talk at TEDGlobal 2009] *[http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/rebecca-saxe-named-young-global-leader.html MIT press release for Young Global Leader award]
==Further reading== *{{Citation |last=Wenner |first=Melinda |date=November 2008 |title=The Infant's Philosopher |work=Popular Science |pages=60–61 |url=http://www.popsci.com/node/24557 |accessdate=12 May 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911013538/http://www.popsci.com/node/24557 |archivedate=11 September 2012 }} *[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515212112.html Science Daily article about Saxe's research]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxe, Rebecca}} Category:Living people Category:Canadian cognitive neuroscientists Category:Canadian women academics Category:Canadian women neuroscientists Category:Harvard Fellows Category:Jewish Canadian scientists Category:MIT School of Science faculty Category:MIT School of Science alumni Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century Canadian women scientists