Name: Meenakshi Asokan
Hometown: Chennai, India
Hobbies: Rock climbing, hiking, skiing
Lab: Kay Tye
Lab website: tyelab.org
What do you study?
Neural underpinnings of empathy. Why do we care so much about the suffering of those we love and identify with, and yet feel indifferent towards some strangers in distress? How do our brains orchestrate the feeling that we ‘vibe’ or ‘are on the same wavelength’ with someone?
Why is it important?
Empathy varies widely depending on the social context. There is a notable empathy-gap and dampened tendency to help out-group members, posing a huge challenge for our racially and culturally diverse societies. We know very little about the neural basis of how social factors such as familiarity, affiliation, bonding and dominance status titrate the levels of empathic responses. It is critical to bridge these gaps in our knowledge to also identify new insights for treating deficits in empathy in neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.
What piqued your interest in science?
The realization that we are pushing the boundaries of what is known! Every finding we make, however small, is a discovery that was absolutely unknown to the world till then, one that will make us understand the world better and find cures to problems that exist.
What do you like about being a scientist?
Coming up with my own ideas to test. Constant intellectual stimulation and new pieces of information to digest. Potential to make a big difference to the way we understand the world!
What are 5 general vocabulary terms someone should know going into your field of science?
Mind, Brain, Cognition, Neurons, Spikes
What are 5 specific vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Empathy, Prefrontal cortex, Electrophysiology, Neural encoding, Optogenetics