In this talk, I will summarize my research assessing the neural basis of human social-emotional functions from different perspectives. In the first study, which leveraged neuroimaging and histopathological data in a neurodegenerative disease of social-emotional dysfunction, I will provide evidence for a chain of influence linking specific neuron-types to specialized brain network in mediating the typical empathy deficits found in patients with frontotemporal dementia. Second, I will talk about how brain networks supporting social-emotional functions are highly dynamic systems, and that mapping these time-varying processes can reveal both individual state and trait characteristics in healthy older adults. Finally, I will introduce my most recent work revealing emotion-specific patterns of autonomic nervous system activity, and present evidence that these patterns are intrinsically generated at rest. I will conclude with an outlook on how multimodal integration of autonomic and brain activity can improve our understanding of social-emotional well-being in healthy and clinical populations.