Decoding the Social World: Neural Mechanisms of Social Information Processing

titleDecoding the Social World: Neural Mechanisms of Social Information Processing
start_date2026/06/26
schedule13:00
onlineno
location_infoconference room, Institut Magendie
summarySocial interactions are fundamental to survival, yet they require animals to continuously acquire, interpret, and evaluate information about others to guide appropriate behavioural responses. Despite the importance of these processes, the neural mechanisms that transform social information into adaptive behaviour remain poorly understood. In this seminar, I will present research examining how the brain processes socially relevant information across multiple stages of social interaction. Using zebrafish and mouse models, I identify evolutionarily conserved neural mechanisms that enable animals to detect socially transmitted cues, recognize the affective states of others, and rapidly evaluate unfamiliar conspecifics during direct encounters. Combining behavioural analysis, neural activity recordings, genetics, and circuit manipulations, I show that oxytocin-dependent circuits regulate the detection and interpretation of socially derived information, and the hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons of the paraventricular nucleus are necessary for rapid social appraisal during uncertain social encounters. Together, these findings reveal conserved neural systems that allow animals to extract information from others and transform it into adaptive behavioural responses, providing new insights into the neural basis of social behaviour and its disruption in neuropsychiatric disorders.
responsiblesNC