Rebecca Saxe

Rebecca Saxe is the John W. Jarve (1978) Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT and Associate Dean of the School of Science. She leads the SaxeLab, investigating how the brain constructs social cognition, particularly theory of mind—the ability to infer others' thoughts, intentions, and emotions. Her work integrates behavioral experiments, neuroimaging (fMRI), and computational modeling to explore social cognition across ages, from infants to adults.

Research focuses include moral judgment, power dynamics, and how infants develop social understanding. She pioneered studies on the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) as a neural basis for thinking about others' mental states. Her TED Talk on 'How we read each other's minds' highlights this work's societal implications.

• Affiliations: McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT School of Science
• Key Themes: Social neuroscience, developmental cognition, computational models of mind

Publications span over 15 years, emphasizing reproducible science and open data practices. Current projects include infant neuroimaging, virtual intergroup contact, and modeling emotion prediction via generative theory of mind frameworks.