Speaker
Dr. Hans Hofmann
Speaker's Institution
University of Texas at Austin
Date
20120403
Time
4:00 PM
Location
Anatomy/Zoology Building W118
Mixer Time
3:30 PM
Mixer Time
Anatomy/Zoology Building E112
Calendar (ICS) Event
Additional Information

We respond to the actions of others by making decisions and executing them. The research of Dr. Hofmann aims to elucidate the kinds of decisions that prove to be most consequential in our lives: social status, mate selection and escaping from danger. Using African cichlid fishes – famous for their amazing diversity, social complexity and ease of experimentation – as his model system of choice, he will discuss how neuroendocrine pathways and gene expression modules are involved in regulating social dominance; and how the classical tradeoff between reproduction and predation modulates startle escape performance through a reticular-spinal hindbrain circuit. Finally, Dr. Hofmann will discuss the evolution of a vertebrate social decision making network, a framework for bridging the molecular and behavioral levels of behavior within a comparative context.