# Encoding and Control of Social Behavior in Prefrontal Cortical Ensembles

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $37,559

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Social impairment is a common symptom among neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, and negative
social experience plays a role in their development and maintenance. Thus, from a human health standpoint,
the elucidation of neural circuitry underlying social perception and social cognition represents a critical focal point
for basic neuroscientific research. Still, despite its obvious importance, a thorough understanding of how the
brain processes social information and uses it to guide social behavior remains elusive. In humans and in
rodents, the medial prefrontal cortex has been strongly implicated in social cognition, and dysfunction in
prefrontal circuitry is thought to underlie some of the social impairments observed in psychiatric conditions.
Recent advances in systems neuroscience have uncovered specific circuit elements serving social functions,
including aggression, social status, and dominance behaviors. However, it is not clear how social behavioral
choices are modulated by sensory and contextual cues, and how social information is represented in high-order
brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex. The research program outlined in this proposal seeks to uncover
how medial prefrontal neurons encode social information, and how this information is used to shape context-
dependent social decisions such as dominance behavior. Using in vivo calcium imaging in freely behaving mice,
the proposed experiments will reveal how prefrontal ensembles encode social sensory cues (Aim 1), and how
this information is used to guide social dominance decisions (Aim 2). Using optical recordings and optogenetic
perturbations, Aim 3 will focus on the role of prefrontal projections to the dorsal Raphé nucleus — a subcortical
structure implicated in the regulation of socioemotional and motivational states — in orchestrating social
dominance behavior. The insights garnered from these experiments will expand our understanding of how the
brain uses social cues to shape behavior, shedding new light onto the neural mechanisms underlying social
functioning and laying the groundwork for new approaches to treat psychiatric illness.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9979955
- **Project number:** 5F31MH117966-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Lyle Kingsbury
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $37,559
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-07-01 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9979955

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9979955, Encoding and Control of Social Behavior in Prefrontal Cortical Ensembles (5F31MH117966-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9979955. Licensed CC0.

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