Understanding how the brain processes emotional stimuli is one of the major challenges in modern neuroscience. Emotional expression is considered a window into the internal affective state of an individual, spanning species from insects to humans. Importantly, emotional processing is a crucial domain affected in psychiatric conditions, including depression and bipolar disorder. However, a clear-cut definition of emotions applicable across species remains debated, as does the basic interpretation of behavioral analysis in animal models.
Our group aims to study the neural circuits of emotions using a multiscale and cross-species approach, which is fundamental to understanding how emotions arise and are regulated in the brain.
