Biology subjects

Meisner, O. C.

Publications and source records attributed to Meisner, O. C..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Canonical decision computations underlie behavioral and neural signatures of cooperation in primates

Successful cooperation requires dynamic integration of social cues. However, the neural mechanisms supporting this complex process remain unknown. Here, we reveal that the primate dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) implements a gaze-dependent social evidence accumulation process to guide cooperative decisions in freely moving marmoset dyads. A drift-diffusion process in which the partners action variability is accumulated by social gaze best explains the cooperative actions of the actor. Single-neuron recordings in dmPFC revealed a direct neural correlate: the slope of predictive ramping activity mapped directly onto the rate of evidence accumulation, while baseline firing, modulated by prior outcomes, mapped onto the initial bias. At the population level, the geometry of dmPFC neural trajectories reflected the strength of social evidence and was linked to cooperative success. Together, these findings establish a multi-level neural mechanism for transforming active sensing into a decision variable, linking a canonical computation to cooperative behavior in a naturalistic setting.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Diverse and Flexible Strategies Enable Successful Cooperation in Marmoset Dyads

In humans, cooperation relies on advanced social cognition, but the extent to which these mechanisms support cooperation in nonhuman primates remains unclear. To investigate this, we examined freely moving marmoset dyads in a cooperative lever-pulling task. Marmosets successfully coordinated actions, relying on social vision rather than environmental cues. Blocking visual access or replacing the partner with an automated agent disrupted coordination. Causal dependencies between social gaze and pull actions revealed both gaze-dependent and gaze-independent strategies. Cooperation depended on social relationships, including dominance, kinship, and sex. Remarkably, marmosets adapted strategies based on partner identity, indicating rapid social learning and memory. Altogether, these findings show that flexible, cognitively driven cooperation extends more broadly across primates than previously recognized, informing our understanding of cooperative behaviors mechanisms and evolution.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Development of a Marmoset Apparatus for Automated Pulling (MarmoAAP) to Study Cooperative Behaviors

In recent years, the field of neuroscience has increasingly recognized the importance of studying animal behaviors in naturalistic environments to gain deeper insights into ethologically relevant behavioral processes and neural mechanisms. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), due to its small size, prosocial nature, and genetic proximity to humans, has emerged as a pivotal model toward this effort. However, traditional research methodologies often fail to fully capture the nuances of marmoset social interactions and cooperative behaviors. To address this critical gap, we developed the Marmoset Apparatus for Automated Pulling (MarmoAAP), a novel behavioral apparatus designed for studying cooperative behaviors in common marmosets. MarmoAAP addresses the limitations of traditional behavioral research methods by enabling high-throughput, detailed behavior outputs that can be integrated with video and audio recordings, allowing for more nuanced and comprehensive analyses even in a naturalistic setting. We also highlight the flexibility of MarmoAAP in task parameter manipulation which accommodates a wide range of behaviors and individual animal capabilities. Furthermore, MarmoAAP provides a platform to perform investigations of neural activity underlying naturalistic social behaviors. MarmoAAP is a versatile and robust tool for advancing our understanding of primate behavior and related cognitive processes. This new apparatus bridges the gap between ethologically relevant animal behavior studies and neural investigations, paving the way for future research in cognitive and social neuroscience using marmosets as a model organism.

neuroscience↗