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Researchers find neurons work as a team to process social interactions
Monday, November 27, 2023
Researchers have discovered that a part of the brain associated with working memory and multisensory integration may also play an important role in how the brain processes social cues. Previous research has shown that neurons in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) integrate faces and voices—but new research, in the Journal of Neuroscience, shows that neurons in the VLPFC play a role in processing both the identity of the “speaker” and the expression conveyed by facial gestures and vocalizations.
“We still don’t fully understand how facial and vocal information is combined and what information is processed by different brain regions,” said Lizabeth Romanski, PhD, associate professor of Neuroscience at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester and senior author of the study. “However, these findings confirm VLPFC as a critical node in the social communication network that processes facial expressions, vocalizations, and social cues.”
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Read More: Researchers find neurons work as a team to process social interactionsCongratulations to Dr. Keshov Sharma in receiving a 2023 Medical Faculty Council Basic Science Travel Award!
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Keshoc attended SfN 2022 in San Diego, CA and presented his poster entitled, "Neural Population Activity in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex During Perception of Audiovisual Expressions Reflects Identity".