Modeling Neural Representation of Social Recognition Information with Recurrent Neural Networks

Social recognition, the ability to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals, is crucial for animals' survival and reproduction. Neuroscience research has predominantly focused on investigating the brain regions and circuits that regulate social recognition. However, a lingering question pertains to the precise mechanisms underlying the social recognition process. To address this question, we employed a recurrent neural network (RNN) to determine whether an agent can recognize familiar individuals without involving higher-level decision-making processes. This approach takes into consideration that animal behavioral performance may not directly mirror complex cognitive functions. The RNN was trained using the full-FORCE learning paradigm. Our simulation results revealed three distinct subsets of neurons with specific functions: one dedicated to representing novel individuals and two others representing the same social individual in both unfamiliar and familiar states. We propose a hypothesis regarding the potential memory computing processes involved in these operations.