Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Human and Animal Social Learning

Nieves, Nadia; Schroder, Claudius von

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_1298

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is critical for various aspects of mammalian social behavior, including social motivation, recognition, and decision-making (1)(2)(3). In humans, the medial PFC (mPFC) is involved in high-order aspects of social interaction, such as self-referential processing, mentalizing, and emotional regulation (4)(5)(6). At the same time, deficits in PFC function have been implicated in various neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of the prefrontal cortex in social interactions of animal models and the implications for autism spectrum disorder

Mohapatra

Wagner

2023

Front. Psychiatry

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Social interaction is a complex behavior which requires the individual to integrate various internal processes, such as social motivation, social recognition, salience, reward, and emotional state, as well as external cues informing the individual of others’ behavior, emotional state and social rank. This complex phenotype is susceptible to disruption in humans affected by neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Multiple pieces of convergent evidence collected from studies of humans and rodents suggest that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a pivotal role in social interactions, serving as a hub for motivation, affiliation, empathy, and social hierarchy. Indeed, disruption of the PFC circuitry results in social behavior deficits symptomatic of ASD. Here, we review this evidence and describe various ethologically relevant social behavior tasks which could be employed with rodent models to study the role of the PFC in social interactions. We also discuss the evidence linking the PFC to pathologies associated with ASD. Finally, we address specific questions regarding mechanisms employed by the PFC circuitry that may result in atypical social interactions in rodent models, which future studies should address.

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