Matthias Schurz

Dr. Matthias Schurz is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Psychology and Digital Science Center (DiSC) at the University of Innsbruck. He investigates social cognition, brain mechanisms of empathy, theory of mind, and emotion processing using neuroimaging techniques. His work spans clinical applications (e.g., borderline personality disorder), developmental conditions (e.g., dyslexia), and comparative neuroscience (e.g., primate temporal cortex studies).

• Affiliation: University of Innsbruck, Institute of Psychology (Grauer Bär building), Digital Science Center (DiSC)
• Prior Positions: Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Oxford, academic roots at University of Salzburg

Research Focus: Schurz's research explores the neural basis of social cognition, including:

• Meta-analyses of brain activation patterns in empathy and theory of mind tasks
• Functional brain connectivity during social interactions
• Temporal cortex's role in human-specific cognitive processes
• Neural correlates of developmental dyslexia and psychiatric disorders
• Comparative studies of primate temporal lobe evolution

Recent Publications: His 2025 work includes quantitative reviews of brain activation in social cognition, hyperscanning studies of relational neuroscience, and investigations into visuo-spatial perspective-taking. Earlier studies (2024-2021) cover bipolar disorder's neural fingerprints, hierarchical social cognition models, and gradient-based brain organization for empathy-based decisions. These works demonstrate expertise in fMRI, meta-analysis, and network neuroscience.