BMI Seminar // Lorenzo Posani: The Neural Geometry of Social Memory

The brain's ability to navigate social behavior involves complex computations that may sometimes conflict with each other. One example is generalization compared to detailed memory: while abstract categories allow us to respond quickly to general social cues, including whether a conspecific is novel or familiar, detailed memory enables the storage and recall of complex, multi-modal social experiences. How does the brain manage these conflicting computations to enable proper social behavior? I will present recent work that combines calcium imaging in the mouse hippocampal CA2 area, known for its importance in social behavior, geometrical analysis of the population code, and theoretical investigation to gain insight into the neural basis of memory and generalization in social behavior.