# Project 4 - The Neurobiology of Social Decision-Making: Social Inference and Context

> **NIH NIH P50** · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2021 · $353,667

## Abstract

Project 4. Project Summary.
Project 4 is a continuation of our basic-research intracranial recordings in humans, which were scattered
across Aims in multiple Projects in the current funding period and have now been collected in one focused
Project. It is co-directed by Richard Andersen and Ueli Rutishauser, both of whom are also on our current
Conte Center. Its overarching Aim is to use single-unit recordings in humans to understand the
representations and circuits for social inference and its contextual modulation, with an emphasis on comparing
this to representations of one's own states. It links to other Projects: Aim 1 will investigate the responses of
amygdala neurons to social threat, a question linked to Project 3. Aim 2 will investigate the responses of
posterior parietal neurons in representing another person's actions from which we could learn, a question
linked to Project 1. These links are reflected in the personnel of Project 4, which includes PIs from other
Projects (Adolphs, O'Doherty, Mobbs) as well as shared post-docs and students.
 The Aims of Project 4 map onto recordings in two distinct patient populations. Aims 1 and 3 will be led
by Rutishauser, and tested with single-unit recordings from the amygdala and prefrontal cortex in epilepsy
patients (10 per year), through a subcontract to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Aims 2 and 4 will be led primarily
by Richard Andersen, and tested with single-unit recordings from the posterior parietal cortex in rare patients
who have brain-machine interfaces implanted chronically for control of neural prosthetics (tested at a
rehabilitation center close to Caltech). Aim 1 will record the responses of neurons in the prefrontal cortex and
amygdala to social stimuli such as faces and a range of threats. It will investigate the category-selectivity of
neurons, and ask how this is modulated by attention, using concurrent eyetracking. Aim 2 will record primarily
in the posterior parietal cortex, but also include some experiments with recordings in amygdala and prefrontal
cortex, and examine how the observation and execution of actions are represented by these neurons (a
question related to so-called “mirror neurons”). It also includes a close link to Project 1 in testing whether
single neurons encode signals for observational learning. Aim 3 will investigate error signals in a Stroop task
by recording from neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex and supplementary motor cortex in epilepsy patients;
it will also feature an observational Stroop task, where the subject sees the errors made by another person.
This Aim will also be conducted, in the same patients, using fMRI (prior to their electrode implantations). Aim 4
will capitalize on the ability record in posterior parietal cortex in the brain-machine interface patients from over
a year, and will compare recordings done over this long period as a function of state variables such as mood.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10101675
- **Project number:** 5P50MH094258-10
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD A ANDERSEN
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $353,667
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-07-26 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10101675

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10101675, Project 4 - The Neurobiology of Social Decision-Making: Social Inference and Context (5P50MH094258-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10101675. Licensed CC0.

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