Vocal communication between social partners requires motor and sensory systems to produce and perceive vocalizations. Separate lines of research have extensively mapped mammalian neuronal circuits for vocal outputs and auditory inputs. Research is needed to explore where these systems integrate within the brain and how these integrative structures function in prosocial contexts. Both lines of research include higher order structures in frontal cortex, including the anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). As part of the vocal-motor system, the mPFC is thought to initiate affective and innate vocalizations through the midbrain periaqueductal gray. As part of the auditory-sensory system, the mPFC is proposed to discriminate between salient stimuli through the auditory cortex. The mPFC is also essential in social cognitive processes, including human empathy and social decision-making; there is a growing body of work showing that mPFC is part of a broad cortical network that mediates human attachment and prairie vole pair bonding. How the mPFC may act as a central hub to integrate corticolimbic information and drive prosocial communication is unclear.

Upcoming projects in the lab will investigate neural substrates of vocal communication during pair bonding in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). We will explore how activity in candidate brain regions (e.g., mPFC) reflect individual variation in vocal production across bonding-related contexts, and conversely, how the brain responds to various types of vocal stimuli. We also will use targeted manipulations to test how different brain regions function in regulating vocal communication. In addition to a variety of behavioural methods, we will use modern techniques in immunohistochemistry and chemogenetics.