Anterior Cingulate Cortex Mediates State-Dependent Prioritization of Distressed Conspecifics

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Animal Behavior
• Social Cognition

Background:

• Emotion recognition is vital for social interactions in mammals.
• Complex social environments and observer's internal state influence social target selection.
• The neural basis of how internal states affect social prioritization is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate how an observer's internal emotional state affects social target prioritization.
• Determine the neural mechanisms underlying social discrimination in dynamic social settings.
• Identify the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in state-dependent social prioritization.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a novel multi-target social paradigm with observer mice in varied emotional states.
• Recorded neural activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) using *in vivo* fiber photometry.
• Employed bidirectional optogenetics to establish causal links between ACC activity and social behavior.

Main Results:

• Naïve and relieved observers prioritized stressed conspecifics, while stressed observers lost this ability.
• ACC neuronal activity correlated with prioritizing stressed individuals, but was suppressed in stressed observers.
• ACC manipulation demonstrated its causal role in innate social preference and overriding internal stress effects.

Conclusions:

• Acute negative internal states profoundly impair social discrimination.
• The ACC functions as a state-dependent gatekeeper, regulating social prioritization.
• Understanding ACC function is key to comprehending how internal states modulate social behavior.