Rate My Professor James Rilling

Rilling utilizes non-invasive functional brain imaging techniques to investigate the neural bases of human social cognition and behavior, with a current emphasis on the neurobiology of caregiving in fathers, grandmothers, and dementia caregivers, as well as the role of oxytocin signaling in social processes. His work also encompasses comparative analyses of brain structure and function in monkeys, apes, and humans to identify human specializations and evolutionary patterns. Key publications include "The neuroscience of social decision-making" (Annual Review of Psychology, 2011), "The biology of mammalian parenting and its effect on offspring development" (Science, 2014), "Comparative Primate Neuroimaging: insights into human brain evolution" (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2014), and "A neural basis for social cooperation" (Neuron, 2002). Among his honors are Phi Beta Kappa (1992), the Templeton Positive Neuroscience Award (2010), Winship Distinguished Research Professor at Emory University (2014-2017), and membership in the Emory University MilliPub Club (2015, 2019). Rilling has contributed to editorial boards of Brain Behavior and Evolution and Frontiers in Decision Neuroscience, and served in leadership roles such as Interim Director of Graduate Studies, chair of admissions and search committees, and executive committees for neuroscience programs.