Kay Tye, PhD

Kay Tye is exploring neural circuit mechanisms governing the coordination of animal groups with social hierarchies and how individuals within such groups maintain social homeostasis. Using computational neuroethology approaches and by studying circuits at the individual level and across multiple brains in parallel, Tye and her team want to understand the effects of acute and chronic social isolation on behavior after animals are reintroduced to a social group. Specifically, the team’s goal is to understand the biological bases for detection and evaluation of the quality and quantity of social contact, what circuits compute a relative deficit or surplus of contact, and what triggers an adjustment in the homeostatic set point.