Project description DEENESFRITPL The connections between neurology, cooperation and social bonds All primates – including humans – are social creatures. It is a psychological need underpinned by physiological processes in the brain. To better understand the mechanisms involved, the EU-funded NEUROGROUP project will use humans and monkeys to investigate the neurological effects of group cooperation, behaviour adopted to create and preserve social bonds, and the connections between group cooperation and social bonds. The groundbreaking study promises to offer a new understanding of the neurological basis of social interactions and bonding and their interdependence. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective The negative impact on society's mental health by social distancing during the current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of social interactions in maintaining a healthy life. Reputation, cooperation, and an individual's social ties play a crucial role in social interactions. My proposal will examine the interdependence and neural correlates of these psychological processes. I hypothesize that a social tie's strength influences cooperative behavior; similarly, cooperative behavior fosters social ties. Further, I hypothesize that the interplay of neuronal activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and insular cortex underpins these processes. My recent studies of human and non-human primate dmPFC showed its involvement in encoding social processes. Yet, its role in cooperation and social tie formation is unclear. To test these hypotheses, we will first characterize the neuronal representations underlying group cooperation. Second, we will identify the neuronal mechanisms underlying fundamental behavioral processes in forming and maintaining social ties during naturalistic interactions in monkeys. Third, we will compare in a new world monkey and humans the association between group cooperation and social ties? formation and maintenance. This new line of investigation will shed light on how elementary social computations during group interactions such as social dilemmas are computed at the single-neuronal and population levels within the primate brain. Overall, this proposal will allow us to study social interactions in a way that has never been done before and will lay the foundation of future work in my independent laboratory. By using an innovative approach, this project aims to identify the brain's mechanisms underlying the formation of non-kin and non-reproductive alliances. The information gleaned from this work will lay the groundwork for a comprehensive behavioral and neuronal mechanistic understanding of social ties. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologymammalogyprimatologymedical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesRNA virusescoronaviruses Programme(s) HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2021-STG - ERC STARTING GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2021-STG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based Host institution DEUTSCHES PRIMATENZENTRUM GMBH Net EU contribution € 1 700 000,00 Address KELLNERWEG 4 37077 Gottingen Germany See on map Region Niedersachsen Braunschweig Göttingen Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 700 000,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all DEUTSCHES PRIMATENZENTRUM GMBH Germany Net EU contribution € 1 700 000,00 Address KELLNERWEG 4 37077 Gottingen See on map Region Niedersachsen Braunschweig Göttingen Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 700 000,00