Our general interest is in understanding how the nervous system processes and integrates social information and how this information is then used to adaptively regulate social behavior. We are also interested in studying how gonadal steroid hormones alter neural processing of social cues. In particular, our work is focused on analyzing the neurobiology of odor or "pheromonal" communication in Golden hamsters, a species that relies heavily on scent to guide its social behavior. Our laboratory uses a variety of techniques, including detailed behavioral analysis, permanent and reversible brain lesions, manipulations of endocrine systems, intracranial delivery of drugs and sex steroids, immunocytochemical detection of cellular activation and electrophysiological recordings from single neurons in awake and behaving animals to answer two specific questions:

1) How does the brain recognize the sex of other animals and how does that lead, in turn, to sexual attraction?

2) How does the brain learn and remember social information?