Organization of neural circuits underlying social behavior: A consideration of the medial amygdala

The medial amygdala (MeA) is critical for the expression of a broad range of social behaviors, and is also connected to many other brain regions that mediate those same behaviors. Here, we summarize recent advances toward elucidating mechanisms that enable the MeA to regulate a diversity of social behaviors, and also consider what role the MeA plays within the broader network of regions that orchestrate social sensorimotor transformations. We outline the molecular, anatomical, and electrophysiological features of the MeA that segregate distinct social behaviors, propose experimental strategies to disambiguate sensory representations from behavioral function in the context of a social interaction, and consider to what extent MeA function may overlap with other regions mediating similar behaviors. •The medial amygdala (MeA) is critical for processing social sensory signals and regulating a broad range of social behaviors.•The MeA coordinates multiple social behaviors through distinct cell types, projections, or population activity.•The MeA is embedded in a broader neural network that orchestrates social sensorimotor transformation.•Multiple brain regions interact in a distributed brain network to orchestrate a single social behavior.