Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Our laboratory studies the mechanisms by which highly complex behaviors are mediated at the neuronal level, mainly focusing on the example of dynamic social interactions and the neural circuits that drive them. From dyadic interactions to group dynamics and collective decision making, the lab seeks a mechanistic understanding for the fundamental building blocks of societies, such as cooperation, empathy, fairness and reciprocity.
The computations underlying social interactions are highly distributed across many brain areas. Our lab is interested in which specific areas are involved in a particular function, why such an architecture arises and how activity in multiple networks is coordinated. Our goal is to develop a roadmap of the social brain and use it for guiding restorative treatments for conditions in which social behavior is impaired, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders and Schizophrenia.
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We have open positions for currently enrolled graduate students (through available rotation opportunities) and prospective postdoctoral fellows (supported by federal funding) for studying the neuronal basis of dynamic social interactions. We perform cutting-edge large-scale recordings and targeted perturbation in rich social tasks based on game-theory combined with advanced analytical approaches, brain-computer interface, machine vision and deep learning to understand the single neuron and population level underpinnings of complex social computations. We are looking to recruit bright, highly motivated, and friendly individuals with strong interest (for students) or background (for postdoctoral applicants) in neurophysiology and/or computation. Individuals from groups under-represented in STEM are especially encouraged to apply. For more details, please email Keren Haroush directly at kharoush@stanford.edu.
