Regulation of prosocial and cognitive behaviors along the dorsoventral hippocampal axis

Objective

Prosociality—the act of assisting others—is essential for survival across species. It encompasses key cognitive and emotional components, including empathic responses to distress, cognitive problem-solving for assessing needs, and the willingness to take risks to help. However, neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and psychopathy are characterized by intact or enhanced cognitive abilities, yet they display significant deficits in prosocial behavior. This raises the question: what neurobiological mechanisms underlie this phenomenon? The hippocampus, with its functional differentiation along the dorsoventral axis, offers an ideal framework for investigation. The dorsal hippocampus (dHC) is believed to play a key role in cognitive processing, whereas the ventral hippocampus (vHC) is primarily associated with emotional information processing. Although dHC and vHC communicate, the specific neural mechanisms underlying this interaction remain elusive. This proposal will investigate the hypothesis that communication between dHC and vHC is crucial for prosocial behavior. By monitoring the same cell populations across various cognitive and prosocial tasks, I will identify which circuit activities are generalizable and which are task-specific. I will utilize advanced imaging, electrophysiology, tracing and optogenetics techniques to examine the communication between dHC and vHC, external modulation of this circuit, its recruitment and causal role during cognitive and prosocial tasks. Finally, I will use animal models of autism and psychopathy to test the hypothesis that impaired communication between the dHC and vHC underlies the disrupted interaction between cognition and emotion in these disorders. This research may provide valuable insights into the neurobiological basis of prosocial behavior and its deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders