Valeria Gazzola

The Guest Speaker: Francesco Papaleo, principal investigator
Instituto Italiano Di Technologia, Genetics of Cognition.

Title: Neural Circuits of Social Cognition.

Abstract:

Emotion recognition and consequent social reaction are important for a healthy life. This might guide individual choices favoring self-interest or the interest of others, depending on context and the relationships between individuals. Here, I will present our recent discoveries on evolutionary conserved brain networks mediating these socio-cognitive processes. Human imaging and mouse anatomical, optogenetics manipulations and Ca2+ imaging data will be presented. Overall, our findings start providing a neurobiological comparative model with relevance to pathologies associated with dysfunctions in social cognition.