Communication Neuroscience Lab

Recruiting participants aged 18-35 that can come to Penn's campus for a 2-session study! Fill out the screening survey here: tinyurl.com/neuronewsinfo

Why Nurturing Connection is Good for Your Health What new research shows about why relationships matter, and how to prioritize them amid life’s competing demands.

Check out Emily's interview on @whyy.org's "The Pulse" where she discusses why nurturing connections is essential for health and wellbeing: whyy.org/episodes/wha...

The Neuroscience of decision-making - WHYY Why don’t we always prioritize what matters most—like making time for family and friends or fitting in a workout during a busy day? Emily Falk believes that understanding how our brain works can help ...

Emily discusses how different regions of the brain shape the big and small decisions we make every day with Marty Moss-Coane on @whyy.org. Listen to the podcast here: whyy.org/episodes/the...

It was a delight to share insights from our research on youth voting with @asc.upenn.edu on behalf of my fabulous collaborators @curse10.bsky.social @asinclair.bsky.social @diegoreinero.bsky.social @falklab.bsky.social!

Postdoctoral Researcher

🚨📣 We’re recruiting a postdoc! 📣🚨
Are you curious about how the environments in which people spend time influence their health? Are you motivated by research that promotes climate action, resilience, and wellbeing?
Read more and apply here: www.asc.upenn.edu/node/5905

Young voters played a key role in elections across the country last week. It’s fantastic to see record turnout in so many communities AND we still have so much room to grow!

For ideas on how to motivate and support youth to vote check out our new commentary:
osf.io/kyzh9_v1

Key points in 🧵

Shout out to our amazing team members: @curse10.bsky.social, @dcosme.bsky.social, @asinclair.bsky.social , Emily, Omaya, Julia, Pètra, Sophia, Paula, Lyan, Penn Leads the Vote, & the Netter Center for Community Partnerships!

Our messages can now be directly shared by our youth partners – and by you! Our co-created messages are available on OSF, linked on our preprint page. (5/5)

Overall, we found that research grounded in scientific theory and the lived experiences of youth yields more effective youth GOTV messages. We also found that network analyses (how beliefs relate to each other) complemented a gold-standard design process and uniquely informed messaging design. (4/5)

Messages targeting those beliefs were the most effective. We also found that our co-designed messages were more persuasive and motivating to youth than both existing student messages AND messages from a large-scale national campaign. (3/5)

We combined communication research and participatory practices to map student voting beliefs, then co-designed messages targeting the most influential beliefs. We found that youth are more motivated to vote when they believe voting is self-relevant and the election outcomes will impact them. (2/5)

🗳️📣Happy election day!! What motivates young people to vote?

In a new preprint, we share key findings from our collaboration with undergraduate students where we developed and tested a theory-guided GOTV messaging campaign doi.org/10.31234/osf... (1/5)

Recruiting PhD students for Fall 2026!

The Coupled Minds Lab at @tamu.bsky.social will use a multimodal approach combining fMRI hyperscanning, computational modeling, and natural language processing to study how conversations transform minds. Learn more: coupled-minds.github.io

Due Date Dec 1

How Tobacco Retail Exposure Impacts Smoking Behavior

Researchers from Annenberg's @falklab.bsky.social have found that smokers report higher levels of craving and smoked more cigarettes on days when their exposure to tobacco retail is higher:

Good Conversations Don’t Require Everybody to Agree, Neuroscience Shows Brain imaging is illuminating the patterns linked to productive, positive dialogue, and those insights could help people connect with others

@falklab.bsky.social wrote a nice summary of our hyperscanning work on how people form social connection and find agreement through conversation: www.scientificamerican.com/article/good...

Penn has launched a new website to share climate insights, available to PennKey holders. Our post-doc @asinclair.bsky.social and Emily shared their first insight here: climateinsights.upenn.edu/insights/wha...

Reminder: BCFG is co-hosting a conversation between @katymilkman.bsky.social & Team Scientist Emily Falk on her new book. @falklab.bsky.social

📅 TOMORROW, Sept 10 | 4–5:30PM
📍 The Agora, Annenberg Public Policy Center

Co-hosted with @appc.upenn.edu, @asc.upenn.edu, @pennmindcore.bsky.social

📢 Our awesome post-doc is recruiting for her Learning & Behavior Change Lab! 📢

Winning the Battle Against Yourself Podcast Episode · Hidden Brain · 09/08/2025 · 53m

Check on Emily's episode on the Hidden Brain podcast where she talks about how we can regain control over our decisions! @hiddenbrain.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

In this @pnas.org Letter, we respond to a comment on our paper about behavioral interventions to motivate action on climate change. In new analyses exploring individual differences, we find that our leading interventions were effective across the political spectrum. 🧵⤵️
www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

Emily joins Matt Abrahams on "Think Fast Talk Smart: The Podcast" to discuss insights on relevance, storytelling, and what makes our brains sync up during great conversations. Watch/listen here: www.fastersmarter.io/guests/emily...

Opinion | Here Is the Science of Why You Doomscroll

Check out Emily's op-ed for @nytimes.com on how small shifts in how we think can help us make choices that are better aligned with our values! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/06/o...

In this letter in @pnas.org, we respond to a comment on our recent paper.

Although multiple factors shape whether we act on our intentions, intentions are valuable precursors of behavior that can guide the iterative development of behavior change interventions.

www.pnas.org/doi/epub/10....

To Make Better Choices, Understand How Your Brain Processes Values The brain weighs factors based on their importance to oneself and one’s social world as part of a complex calculation that shapes behavior

@sciam.bsky.social spoke with Emily for a What We Value Q&A! Check out their discussion here: www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-m...

There is currently a lot of polarization about how we should think about what's right and wrong!💡 Neuroscientist Emily Falk drops some serious wisdom in our recent interview: bit.ly/emilyfalkdecisions

Watch or listen to Emily's Grooving Session with Kurt and Tim on the Behavioral Grooves Podcast, where they discuss real-world applications for the insights in What We Value! Find it here: behavioralgrooves.com/episode/the-...

Another great What We Value conversation, this time with Emily and Kerri Miller on @mprnews.org! Have a listen: www.mprnews.org/episode/2025...

Phenomenal health communication research panel hosted by CSAB which highlighted great research from the @falklab.bsky.social at #ica25!

@xinyiwang.bsky.social on curiosity’s role in health info seeking, and Ben Muzekari on how ad cues spark smoking cravings (via experiments + fMRI). 🧠🚬

Attending #ICA25? I’m presenting twice!

Today (Sat) 10:30-11:45: imagination interventions motivate pro-environmental behaviors

Mon 12-1:15: affective framing of news headlines influences engagement, donations, and memory

@falklab.bsky.social @asc.upenn.edu @penncssm.bsky.social @appc.upenn.edu

Emily shared five key insights from What We Value with @nextbigidea.bsky.social! Read and listen at nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/man...