Welcome to the lab

  • Where science happens
  • Compositional computations are used for representing social gaze events in the prefrontal-amygdala circuits, enabling flexible social communication, Qi et al., Nature Communications, 2026.
  • Neurons in the dmPFC accumulate social evidence via active social gaze for mutual cooperation, Shi et al., 2026, Neuron
  • Marmoset dyads show diverse and partner-specific flexible cooperation strategies that are gaze-dependent and gaze-independent, Meisner*, Shi*, et al., 2025, Current Biology
  • Delivering real-time, closed-loop, microstimulation to the OFC, triggered by social gaze event, boosts social attention dynamics during real-life social gaze interaction, Fan*, Dal Monte*, et al., 2024, Neuron
  • Development of a Marmoset Apparatus for Automated Pulling (MarmoAAP) to study cooperative behaviors, Meisner et al., 2024, eLife
  • Frequency-specific, direction-selective, coordination between BLA and ACCg for prosocial decision, Dal Monte et al., 2020, Nature Neuroscience
  • Single-neuron bases of real-life social gaze interaction, Dal Monte*, Fan*, et al., 2022, Neuron
  • Dissociation of vicarious and experienced rewards in the prefrontal-amygdala pathway, Putnam et al., 2023, Neuron
  • Our comprehensive review across humans, monkeys, and rodents supports the importance of the prefrontal-amygdala circuits in social decision-making. From Gangopadhyay*, Chawla* et al., 2020, Nature Neuroscience
  • Applying Marr's three levels to understand social specificity in the 'social brain', Lockwood, Apps, and Chang, 2020, TiCS
  • ACCg and its specialized contributions to social cognition, Apps et al., 2016, Neuron
  • Combined administration of oxytocin and naloxone supralinearly increases social attention following mutual eye contact and mutual receipt of reward, Dal Monte*, Piva* et al., 2017, PNAS
  • dmPFC and decision-making on behalf of others, Piva et al., 2019, eLife
  • Single-neuron recording
  • 100 College space at Yale
  • SHM space at Yale

Our team studies the neural mechanisms underlying social interaction.

What brain mechanisms enable us to interact with others?

Our brains evolved to deal with the increasing demands of social interaction. Social behaviors are
reward-driven, whether their motivating factors are physical rewards, such as food and sex, or more
abstract rewards, such as vicarious experience and interpersonal reputation. Investigating how the
brain computes social preferences and mediates prosocial and antisocial decisions offers an
ecologically valid and efficient way to understand the brain. In particular, studying how the brain
computes social information during dynamic and contingent interactions will likely reveal novel
insights into the neural mechanisms underlying social behaviors. Elucidating these mechanisms will
ultimately help treat social deficits in numerous psychiatric disorders.

To address these questions, our laboratory investigates how neurons in prefrontal–amygdala circuits
signal social decisions and mediate social gaze dynamics. We apply electrophysiological and
neuropharmacological approaches during real-life social interactions, as well as functional
neuroimaging techniques.