CAREER: Understanding the role of social contact in the organization and modulation of cognition and neuroplasticity

Virginia Polytechnic Institute And State University, Blacksburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

Non- Technical paragraph The social environment has important consequences for brain development and learning. This is true for animals, just as it is for humans. The broad goal of this work is to resolve how social interactions can both improve and compromise learning and memory through changes in stress hormone levels. By studying how social experiences impact learning in animals (here, birds) we can understand the costs and benefits of social interactions in a variety of social animals, including ourselves. This project is important to the fields of neuroscience and behavior because we are studying the benefits of social enrichment on brain function and learning. Most prior work has focused only on the negative consequences of social conflict and elevated stress hormone levels. This work is relevant to human society because the basic physiological and brain processes in the bird species to be studied are shared with humans; determining how social conditions impact stress hormones and learning in birds will provide information as to how social interactions impact human health and learning. This experimental work in animals will specifically determine if and how social enrichment could improve learning through effects on stress hormones. Finally, by involving K-12 teachers in summer research experiences and supporting curriculum development and implementation in high school classrooms, this project will be a foundation for training and recruiting students from underserved Appalachian communities to the sciences. Technical paragraph Social living is argued to select for enhanced cognition and underlying brain function, because navigating social relationships can require superior attention to social cues and memory of past interactions. Despite extensive work on the role of evolutionary processes in shaping cognition and sociality, few studies have addressed the potential for social conditions to drive changes in cognitive performance and underlying neuroplasticity during an animal's lifetime. Moreover, most studies to date have focused on the potential deleterious effects of social conflict, without considering how social interaction may support cognition and brain function. Social conflict can impair cognition through the effects of elevated glucocorticoids on underlying brain mechanisms. However, the reciprocal hypothesis, that social contact may enhance cognitive performance by maintaining glucocorticoid levels in an optimal range to support cognition and brain function, has not been tested. This project will take the experimental approach of simultaneous manipulation of both social and physiological variables in a social songbird, the zebra finch (Poephila guttata), to resolve the consequences, mechanisms, and developmental origins of individual variation in cognition. This work will move us toward understanding complex relationships among environmental factors and internal regulatory mechanisms. Further, addressing how social contact and underlying glucocorticoids may enhance cognition moves us beyond a historic focus (now well recognized as being flawed) on the impairments caused by this endocrine pathway and builds upon a broadening understanding of the adaptive role of stress. Finally, this project will support the training of K-12 teachers and high school students from underserved rural communities in Appalachia by involving them in the research.