Delineating the Anatomical and Functional Circuitry Underlying Social Learning

 描述(由申请人提供)： 现代神经生物学的一个中心目标是了解外部世界的感觉刺激转化为有意义的动作的神经机制。绝大多数外部刺激并不具有内在的价态或行为意义。相反，这些品质是通过经验强加给刺激的。这种学习成分在具有强制社会结构的动物身上发挥着更广泛的作用。解剖学、遗传学和分子方法以及光遗传学和光学记录方面日益复杂的工具正在提供对各种大脑电路结构和功能的前所未有的了解。然而，这些回路是如何与神经调节器相互作用来产生习得行为的，目前还不是很清楚。在这里，我们建议使用解剖学、遗传学、分子和行为工具来识别负责产生社会学习的神经回路。我们将使用已知的梨状回路来识别神经基质，在这些神经基质上，社会意义被施加到感觉刺激上。此外，我们将通过在电路中向前移动来确定负责产生行为的输出区域来描绘路径。最后，这些实验将允许绘制神经调节剂催产素与嗅觉回路相互作用的节点图，为我们提供更完整的图像-神经回路和神经调节线索-大脑如何通过学习将感觉表征转化为有意义的行为。我们相信，通过这一提议确定的回路将成为一个理想的平台，以解决催产素如何与社会学习中的适应和适应不良机制相互作用。此外，尽管我们在嗅觉回路、催产素和社会行为的背景下提出这些问题，但结果将在神经生物学中产生广泛影响，从感觉编码到神经调节器的研究。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A central goal in modern neurobiology is to understand the neural mechanism by which sensory stimuli of the external world is converted into meaningful actions. The vast majority of external stimuli do not have inherent valence or behavioral significance. Instead those qualities are imposed on the stimuli through experience. This learning component plays a broader role in animals with imposed social structures. Increasingly sophisticated tools in anatomical, genetic and molecular methods as well as optogenetics and optical recordings are providing unprecedented understanding of circuit structures and function in brains of all kinds. However, how these circuits are interacting with neuromodulators to produce learned behaviors is not well understood. Here, we propose to identify neural circuits that are responsible for the generation of social learning using anatomic, genetic, molecular and behavioral tools. We will use known piriform circuitry to identify the neural substrates on which social meaning is imposed on sensory stimuli. Further, we will delineate the pathway by moving forward in the circuit to identif output regions responsible for producing behavior. Finally, these experiments will allow the mapping of nodes at which the neuromodulator oxytocin interacts with the olfactory circuitry, providing us a more complete picture - neural circuits and neuromodulatory cues - of how the brain translates sensory representations to meaningful behavior through learning. We believe that the circuit identified through this proposal would serve as an ideal platform to address how oxytocin interacts with mechanisms of adaptation and mal-adaptation during social learning. Furthermore, although we ask these questions in the context of olfactory circuits, oxytocin and social behaviors, the results will have a broad impact across neurobiology, from the studying of sensory coding to neuromodulators.