# Neural Encoding of Social Information

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE · 2020 · $578,956

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
 Vocal communication plays a pivotal role in shaping the dynamics of social interactions and is impaired
in a wide range of neurological disorders. Consequently, a major component of translational research focuses
on identifying circuit-level neurobiological mechanisms underlying social communication deficits. Determining
the neural mechanisms underlying social communication deficits requires both understanding the functions of
neural circuits as well as the ability to link neural circuits to specific naturalistic behaviors. However, obtaining
this information has been challenging because of the difficulties in interpreting complex behavioral interactions
in freely socializing animals. The long-term goal of this research is to understand the neural circuitry controlling
naturalistic social behaviors directly influenced by communication. This could ultimately allow communication
disorders to be treated by therapeutically targeting atypically functioning neural circuitry. In pursuit of this goal,
the overall objective in this proposal is to determine how social communication is encoded in the nervous
system and the role it plays in shaping behavior. The proposal uses a novel microphone array system to track
the vocal behavior of freely socializing, individual adult mice—a technique that has eluded the field for 50
years. Coupling this innovative method with in vivo wireless electrophysiology and machine-learning
techniques used for robustly extracting meaningful social information will enable identification of the neural
circuits that encode social communication and the role communication plays in directly shaping social
behavior. Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that mice emit behavior-dependent vocalizations that directly alter the
social dynamics between animals. Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that behaviorally-dependent vocalizations are
encoded in the CA2 subregion of the hippocampus. Aim 3 will test the hypothesis that the lateral entorhinal
cortex, one of the primary cortical inputs to CA2, encodes the locations of vocalizations in egocentric reference
frames. The proposed research will have a broad impact as these studies will provide fundamental insight into
the neurobiological basis of social communication. Moreover, these experiments will lay the groundwork for
future studies examining the neural basis of social communication in mouse models of neurological disorders,
such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and autism spectrum disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9962011
- **Project number:** 1R01MH122752-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
- **Principal Investigator:** Joshua P Neunuebel
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $578,956
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-05 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9962011

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9962011, Neural Encoding of Social Information (1R01MH122752-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9962011. Licensed CC0.

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