Integration of social and nonsocial information in the primate brain

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Project Summary Primate species frequently use social information to inform their decisions, for instance, to help make inferences about potential threats or rewards in the environment. The Diagnostics and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) has labeled social impairments, including social cognition, as a primary characteristic of many mental health-related disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia. Therefore, understanding the neurobiology surrounding social cognition and decision-making is of critical importance. Work in this field has primarily centered around human and rodent studies, mapping brain regions related to social cognition and innate social functions. To understand the neural mechanisms governing complex social reasoning, however, we must investigate neural circuit function in primate brains. Neurophysiology recording in monkeys, particularly rhesus macaque, provide us with an ideal model to investigate these questions. Rhesus monkeys are a social species with similar neuroanatomy to humans and engage in complex social behaviors. Thus, they can provide valuable insight to the mechanisms of social cognition in the brain. The long-term goal of this project is to determine whether the brain encodes social information in multimodal circuits, or if social information is encoded in a fundamentally unique way. In the following proposal, I detail how monkeys are an ideal model to study social cognition using a neurophysiological approach. In Aim 1, I have taught monkeys to use social and nonsocial visual guides to select correct target locations for a juice-reward. In the F99-phase, I will record and analysis neurons from the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACCg) and the frontal eye field (FEF), interconnected regions implicated in social cognition and motor planning, to determine how this circuit encodes goal-directed information derived from social and nonsocial cues. In Aim 2, under the K00 phase, I discuss my proposal for a multi-subject study incorporating neurophysiological recording and computational modeling and analysis to understand how neural activity facilitates social interactive behavior. Overall, my goal for this fellowship is to provide myself with the tools, knowledge, and ability to successfully make a lasting impact on the neuroscience field and improve our knowledge of how social cognition impacts our mental health.