Neuroethology of Social Behaviour
We investigate how neural circuits operate during spontaneous, real-world social behaviour. Using chronic multielectrode and wireless recordings in freely moving macaques together with detailed behavioural tracking, we study how frontal and limbic networks encode social actions, affiliation, threat, social hierarchy and interpersonal regulation.
A central goal is to move beyond highly constrained laboratory paradigms and determine how neural representations emerge during dynamic interactions with conspecifics. Our recent work focuses on how premotor and prefrontal areas integrate motor goals with the social meaning of actions, bridging systems neuroscience and natural behaviour.
Methods
- chronic multielectrode recordings; wireless neurophysiology in freely moving macaques; single-unit and local-field-potential analysis; automated video tracking; fine-grained ethological coding of spontaneous social interaction
Papers
| Reference | Topics | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Ferrari, P. F., Gallese, V., Rizzolatti, G., & Fogassi, L. (2003). Mirror neurons responding to the observation of ingestive and communicative mouth actions in the monkey ventral premotor cortex. European Journal of Neuroscience, 17, 1703–1714. | Mirror responses to communicative and ingestive actions. | |
| Ferrari, P. F. (2024). Social neuroscience: Primate research goes wireless. Current Biology. | Ecological wireless primate social neuroscience. | DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.046 |
| Coudé, G., Toschi, G., Festante, F., Bimbi, M., Bonaiuto, J., & Ferrari, P. F. (2019). Grasping neurons in the ventral premotor cortex of macaques are modulated by social goals. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 31, 299–313. | Premotor coding of social goals. | DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01353 |
| Coudé, G., Ferrari, P. F., Rodà, F., Maranesi, M., Borelli, E., Veroni, V., Monti, F., Rozzi, S., & Fogassi, L. (2011). Neurons controlling voluntary vocalization in the macaque ventral premotor cortex. PLoS ONE, 6, e26822. | Voluntary vocalization and premotor control. | DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026822 |
| Baldi, J., Disarbois, E., Mendez, A. C., Cappellaro, G., Annicchiarico, G., Bimbi, M., Coudé, G., Duhamel, J.-R., & Ferrari, P. F. (2025). Frontal cortex encodes action goals and social context in freely moving and socially interacting macaques. bioRxiv. | Frontal representations during free social interaction. | DOI: 10.1101/2025.10.21.683128 |