Development of neural circuits for social motion perception in schooling fish.

The collective behavior of animal groups emerges from the interactions among individuals. These social interactions produce the coordinated movements of bird flocks and fish schools, but little is known about their developmental emergence and neurobiological foundations. By characterizing the visually based schooling behavior of the micro glassfish Danionella cerebrum, we found that social development progresses sequentially, with animals first acquiring the ability to aggregate, followed by postural alignment with social partners.

Understanding collective behavior through neurobiology.

A variety of organisms exhibit collective movement, including schooling fish and flocking birds, where coordinated behavior emerges from the interactions between group members. Despite the prevalence of collective movement in nature, little is known about the neural mechanisms producing each individual's behavior within the group. Here we discuss how a neurobiological approach can enrich our understanding of collective behavior by determining the mechanisms by which individuals interact.

Development of neural circuits for social motion perception in schooling fish.

Many animals move in groups, where collective behavior emerges from the interactions amongst individuals. These social interactions produce the coordinated movements of bird flocks and fish schools, but little is known about their developmental emergence and neurobiological foundations. By characterizing the visually-based schooling behavior of the micro glassfish , here we found that social development progresses sequentially, with animals first acquiring the ability to aggregate, followed by postural alignment with social partners.

Computational modeling of threat learning reveals links with anxiety and neuroanatomy in humans.

Influential theories implicate variations in the mechanisms supporting threat learning in the severity of anxiety symptoms. We use computational models of associative learning in conjunction with structural imaging to explicate links among the mechanisms underlying threat learning, their neuroanatomical substrates, and anxiety severity in humans. We recorded skin-conductance data during a threat-learning task from individuals with and without anxiety disorders (N=251; 8-50 years; 116 females).

Correlates of Auditory Decision-Making in Prefrontal, Auditory, and Basal Lateral Amygdala Cortical Areas.

Spatial selective listening and auditory choice underlie important processes including attending to a speaker at a cocktail party and knowing how (or whether) to respond. To examine task encoding and the relative timing of potential neural substrates underlying these behaviors, we developed a spatial selective detection paradigm for monkeys, and recorded activity in primary auditory cortex (AC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and the basolateral amygdala (BLA). A comparison of neural responses among these three areas showed that, as expected, AC encoded the side of the cue and target characteristics before dlPFC and BLA.