Upcoming Events
Frederike Petzschner
12:30pm-1:50pm, Friday, September 18th, 2026
Sevgi Yuksel
12:30pm-1:50pm, Friday, November 6th, 2026
Steve Chang
12:30pm-1:50pm, Friday, December 4th, 2026
Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms of Social Decision-Making
A defining feature of the primate brain is its social acumen. Humans and other highly social species continuously navigate diverse social contexts and make decisions shaped by prosocial, antisocial, or other strategic preferences. This talk will give an overview of ongoing work on the behavioral and neural mechanisms of social decision-making and social interaction in nonhuman primates. Focusing on the prefrontal–amygdala circuits, it examines the neural codes representing decision variables for self and other, the interactive gaze variables guiding dynamic social attention, and the inter-areal coordination supporting prosocial preference. In the context of naturalistic, continuous interactions, the talk examines how animals deploy flexible social strategies and how the prefrontal cortex integrates social evidence from partners to support mutually cooperative behavior. Together, these studies help elucidate the neural substrates of social decision-making and interaction, offering insight into the evolutionary roots of human social cognition.
Past Events
