An English translation of the textbook chapter entitled Understanding each other has been published (Dutch version). The chapter is the product of a collaboration between scientists, teachers and elementary school kids. It aspires to educate children on the principles of human communication as brought about by recent scientific endeavors. 

See this great write for an answer. Or this Dutch article.

A new tool was released in FieldTrip which allows localization and assignment of electrode locations and their names in patient CT/MR scans. This tool was developed in collaboration with Cal Dewar (UC Berkeley) and Robert Oostenveld (Donders Institute) and aims to facilitate the analysis of 'direct brain recordings' (neural signal recordings done directly on the brain's cortex or inside the brain).

Dit boek hoofdstuk is geschreven naar aanleiding van een initiatief van het Wetenschapsknooppunt Radboud Universiteit om actuele wetenschappelijke doorbraken de klas in te krijgen. De tekst zal, vergezeld van workshop materiaal voor in de klas, verschijnen in het 5de boek in de reeks ‘Wetenschappelijke doorbraken de klas in!’ (2016). Voor meer informatie, zie www.ru.nl/wetenschapsknooppunt/

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been strongly implicated with social functioning. This study demonstrates that this region is not necessary for taking communicative decisions per se, but for tuning those decisions with knowledge about a social partner, as inferred from prior stereotypes and ongoing behaviors.

Stolk A, Noordzij ML, Verhagen L, Volman I, Schoffelen JM, Oostenveld R, Hagoort P, and Toni I. Cerebral coherence between communicators marks the emergence of meaning.

When we interact with another person, we consider what we mutually know. This new study suggests this knowledge is continuously and simultaneously adjusted in our minds as the interaction unfolds.

Loek Brinkman, Arjen Stolk, H. Chris Dijkerman, Floris P. de Lange, Ivan Toni

Rhythmic neural activity within the alpha (8 - 12 Hz) and beta (15 - 25 Hz) frequency bands is modulated during actual and imagined movements. Changes in these rhythms provide a mechanism to select relevant neuronal populations, although the relative contributions of these rhythms remain unclear. Here we use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate changes in oscillatory power while healthy human participants imagined grasping a cylinder oriented at different angles. This paradigm allowed us to study the neural signals involved in the simulation of a movement in the absence of signals related to motor execution and sensory reafference. Movement selection demands were manipulated by exploiting the fact that some object orientations evoke consistent grasping movements, whereas other orientations are compatible with both over-hand and under-hand grasping. By modulating task demands, we show a functional dissociation of the alpha- and beta-band rhythms. As movement selection demands increased, alpha-band oscillatory power increased in the sensorimotor cortex ipsilateral to the arm used in the imagined movement, whereas beta-band power concurrently decreased in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. The same pattern emerged when motor imagery trials were compared to a control condition, providing converging evidence for the functional dissociation of the two rhythms. These observations call for a re-evaluation of the role of sensorimotor rhythms. We propose that neural oscillations in the alpha-band mediate the allocation of computational resources by disengaging task-irrelevant cortical regions. In contrast, the reduction of neural oscillations in the beta-band is directly related to the disinhibition of neuronal populations involved in the computations of movement parameters.

In the light of of the Faculty of Social Sciences' 50th anniversary, we are organizing a symposium entitled "The role of mirror neurons in social interaction", with special guest Giacomo Rizzolatti.