Social behavior is a complex behavior with preference towards familiar individuals as opposed to strangers. We found that social stimuli are represented by the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Familiar and novel social stimuli elicit selective mPFC neural response and their responses. We found that social information can transmit through mPFC-thalamic pathway and mPFC-thalamic neural synchronization is dependent on the downstream thalamic area. In another social defeat paradigm, we examined an mPFC-brainstem pathway with mPFC downstream target in the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and found a decreased mPFC-PAG neural synchronization after social defeat. Therefore mPFC-subcortical pathways modulate different aspects of social behavior through synchronized neural activities. In collaboration with material scientists, we fabricated novel triboelectric nanogenerator device and have applied the device for neural stimulation. We have demonstrated this novel application in olfactory substitution and neural stimulation with self-powered and electronic-skin flexible materials.

We would like to extend an invitation to all of you to join us on this exciting event.

Workshop: Prefrontal information processing and novel neural stimulation approach
Date: 3 January 2020 (Friday)
Venue: N1-1004
Time: 11:00 am to 12:30 pm

For enquiry, please contact Ms. Ana Sou at tel: 8822 4600 or email: ici.cogbrainsci@um.edu.mo.