Home Department: Symbolic Systems
Mentor: Keren Haroush (Neurobiology)

2023 Research Project:“Classifying Marmoset Monkey Gaze in Social Decision-Making Games Using Machine Learning”

To understand the importance of gaze in social interaction, the Haroush lab analyzes marmoset monkeys playing social decision-making games where one monkey decides on the reward of a recipient monkey. Noah’s goal is to find connections between the monkeys’ gaze and whether the donor monkey behaves altruistically. This will help the team to understand the role of gaze in social decision-making and identify the neural circuits involved. This research is relevant for social disorders characterized by gaze aversion, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders and ADHD, where abnormal brain activity may give rise to atypical gaze patterns and behavior.
 

2024 Research Project:"Using Machine Learning to Classify Marmoset Behavior in Social Decision-Making Games"

In order to understand the fundamental building blocks of social decision making, the team will analyze marmoset monkeys playing through social dilemma games that test one monkey’s altruism towards another. They use machine learning to objectively characterize each monkeys’ behavior throughout these games, using AI to automatically classify behavior across video frames. By understanding the monkey’s behavior in conjunction with its decision making and neural activity, they may be able to unravel the neuronal basis for human social decision making.