Neural circuits and dynamics mediating social cognition

For an animal to thrive in its social environment it must recognize other animals and conspecifics and differentiate between friend and foe or kin and stranger. Moreover, it is critical for an animal to remember relevant social interactions to adapt appropriately to its social environment. How are these different social signals recognized, consolidated, and acted upon?

Our previous work (Wu et al., Nature, 2021) demonstrated that distinct molecular and circuit mechanisms control social versus non-social memory and contribute to the pathophysiology of autism. Building on those findings, our future research will address how synaptic plasticity and neural circuits orchestrate the formation of social representation and drive social decision-making.

Pathophysiology of social cognitive deficits

Social abnormalities in neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism are caused by a variety of factors. While social motivational changes are prominent contributors, they do not fully explain deficiencies in social interactions, facial recognition, and emotional processing. Research has only just begun to understand how synaptic and circuit changes give rise to social cognitive deficits. Our research seeks to understand how genetic mutation/deletion of synaptic molecules (Wu et al., Neuron, 2019) result in the pathophysiology of social cognitive defects and to develop approaches to reverse them.