Rene Weber (Chair) and Richard Huskey (Digital Media Coordinator), along with three others, initiated, and are the initial officers of, the International Communication Association’s new interest group, Communication Science & Biology.
The Communication Science and Biology Interest Group promotes scientific research with relevance for the study of human communication, broadly defined, including biological perspectives such as psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral genetics, animal studies, and evolutionary psychology. Members of the Interest Group value a focus on human communication systems and processes, and strive for rigorous and replicable research. The Interest Group encourages collaboration among scholars of diverse backgrounds to build a richer understanding of shared research questions and methods in the study of human communication. Empirical studies follow primarily a quantitative approach and employ both experimental and observational research designs. In addition to programmatic research leading to novel findings, explorative research, data sharing, and direct replication studies are highly encouraged; null-findings are honored, if the research is based on a rigorous investigation. The Interest Group honors its members’ achievements through top paper awards and a special award designed to recognize outstanding contributions to communication science.