Departmental Seminar: Dr. Hans Hofmann

Event Date: 12.07.2015 Day: Monday Time: 12:00 pm Location: 601 Fairchild Event Type: Departmental

Dr. Hans Hofmann

Department of Integrative Biology
Institute for Neuroscience
University of Texas at Austin

Title: “Integrative Neuroscience of Social Competence”

Abstract: Social animals possess sophisticated cognitive abilities for assessing, evaluating, and responding to a wide range of social cues. Such social competence allows individuals to optimize their behavior based on the available social information. Despite our detailed understanding of the ultimate (fitness) consequences of social competence in some contexts, surprisingly little is known about its neural and molecular underpinnings. Social competence relies on flexible decision-making processes in the brain. Vertebrates share a Social Decision Making (SDM) Network, a network of fore- and midbrain nuclei involved in behavioral regulation and evaluation of stimulus salience. I will present results from several of our studies aimed at identifying the neural circuitry, molecular signaling, and regulatory mechanisms involved in social competence.