The social world exerts a powerful influence on our behavior and our brains. Yet, much of our knowledge regarding the function of neurons in the brain is based on neural recordings from animals or humans who are isolated from their social counterparts. Thus, there exists a knowledge gap that is largely due to the lack of recording and behavioral tools for doing experiments in the social realm that still allow proper experimental control. Dr. Andrea Chiba and colleagues aim to fill this gap by developing the following: 1) light, wireless, flexible recording sensors that can provide brain and body signals in a non-intrusive manner; 2) a robot with a synthetic, biologically inspired brain that can act as a socially relevant entity; and 3) a set of novel experiments to interrogate the function of brain circuits and their relationship to other biological signals during social interactions and decisions. The ability to record and integrate signals from the brain and body during complex social decisions will provide a research platform for studying and reconstructing brain signals to understand how the brain represents the social world. The new technology can eventually be scaled for use with humans, providing a means to better understand the neural basis of goal-directed social actions beyond what is currently feasible.
In addition to its potential for advancing the understudied field of social neuroscience, the development of the tools will provide a cutting-edge platform to train the next generation of diverse interdisciplinary scientists. The research team is committed to public outreach and plans are in place for: 1) public talks, including to K-12 and undergraduate audiences; 2) dissemination of information through appropriate media outlets; and 3) launching a virtual robot competition to engage promising young scholars of diverse backgrounds in scientific careers, by highlighting exciting interdisciplinary research that links the study of brain and behavior with engineering approaches.
Specifically, 3 major technologies will be developed and conjoined to comprise a suite of neuroscientific tools that include: 1) Flexible, stretchable, wireless sensors for detecting autonomic responses such as respiration rate and heart rate, both of which are modulated by social encounters; 2) integration of the autonomic signals with high-density neurophysiological wireless recording systems, as no such system exists currently. Approximations of these systems result in heavy instrumentation that disrupts ordinary movement and social behavior, so the second generation of this technology would include integration with injectable cellular scale opto-electronic devices; and 3) A synthetic life form (robot) to be further developed as a neuroscience research tool and a test bed for integration of theoretical principles gained from experimental data of the complex dynamics of neural systems. Ultimately, the neurally inspired architecture of the robot will, in turn, be expanded to include and synthesize the formal theoretical properties of neural systems essential to social function. The basic neuroscientific questions that can be addressed with these tools are boundless.
