Investigating the brain substrates underlying higher-order social learning

ongoing

Adapting behavior based on context and past experiences is crucial for social animals. Social cues are key in this process as they help animals learn about their environment in relation to other members of their species. Animals learn to associate sensory cues (conditioned stimuli, CS), such as sounds or lights, with salient stimuli (unconditioned stimuli, US) through higher-order conditioning, also known as mediated learning (ML). Recent studies have implicated two brain areas, the hippocampus (HPC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA), in ML. However, how these areas contribute to socially induced ML and which specific cell types are involved remains unknown. The SocialLearn project aims to systematically investigate the neural mechanisms underlying higher-order conditioning using social cues. Specifically, the project will focus on the HPC and BLA and their roles in socially induced ML. I will develop novel higher-order conditioning paradigms that incorporate social cues as unconditioned stimuli, enabling the study of ML in social contexts. Next, I will examine how different cell types in the HPC and BLA encode social higher-order associations by using dual-color, dual-site fiber photometry to record neural activity. Finally, I will manipulate excitatory and inhibitory neurons in these regions to determine their roles in the formation and expression of ML. This approach, combined with unsupervised behavioral analysis, will allow me to investigate ML in social settings, reveal the activity patterns of specific neuronal populations in the HPC and BLA, and clarify their roles in this complex cognitive process. If successful, the project will provide new tools for studying higher-order conditioning in social contexts, deepen our understanding of how social experiences shape behavior, and offer insights into psychotic-like experiences. SocialLearn will also help me develop critical scientific and leadership skills, preparing me for future research leadership roles.