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Cortical-Striatal Circuit Mechanisms Underlying Altruistic Decisions

Award Number: K99MH142687
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2028

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Cortical-Striatal Circuit Mechanisms Underlying Altruistic Decisions - Project summary Altruistic decisions, the act of benefiting others at a personal cost, are fundamental to social interaction and cooperation. However, the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying altruistic decisions remain largely underexplored. This project aims to investigate how individuals evaluate costs and rewards to make altruistic decisions, focusing on the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and its interaction with the striatum. Using an ethologically relevant model system that offers unique advantages due to its cooperative social behaviors and accessible neural recordings, I will study altruistic decisions in both cooperative and competitive contexts. In Aim 1, I will examine how varying physical costs influence altruistic behaviors in cooperative tasks. Behavioral and neural data will be analyzed to understand how the MPFC integrates self and partner effort levels to guide decisions. Aim 2 will explore altruistic decisions in competitive contexts by manipulating reward inequity, focusing on how the MPFC supports selfish and altruistic strategies and how reward size differences modulate these dynamics. Aim 3 will focus on the MPFC-striatal circuit, investigating its role in altruistic decisions using wireless high-density neural recordings and biologically constrained multi-area recurrent neural network models. These models will replicate behavioral and neural data from experimental work, generate testable hypotheses, and allow causal manipulation of circuit properties. By integrating naturalistic behavioral paradigms, advanced neural recording techniques, and computational modeling, this research will uncover the neural computations and circuitry underlying strategic altruism. The findings will significantly advance our understanding of prosocial decision-making and have broad implications for addressing psychiatric disorders with social deficits, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia. This work aligns with my long-term career goal of establishing an independent research program that bridges experimental and computational neuroscience to study the neural basis of strategic prosocial behaviors and contribute to translational research on social dysfunction.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $121,842 )
2026	2026	YALE UNIV	150 MUNSON ST	NEW HAVEN	CT	06511	SOUTH CENTRAL CT	USA	Mental Health Research Grants	000	1	4/2/2026	NEW	$121,842
														Subtotal = $121,842

Grand Total All Awards = $121,842

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Cortical-Striatal Circuit Mechanisms Underlying Altruistic Decisions

Award Number: K99MH142687

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: TRAINING/TRAINEESHIP

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 04/01/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 03/31/2028

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