Systems Neuroscience

Project Summary Sequences of neuronal activity are thought to underlie planning, preparation, and production of voluntary skilled behaviors.

Project Summary How does the brain transform sensory information into complex behavior? The objective of this proposal is to identify the relevant neurons across the brain that are necessary to produce a relatively simple motivated behavior to study and identify fundamental principles underlying coding. Sensory-to-behavior circuits must contain a variety of neural computations such as those that determine the identity and meaning of the sensed cues, gauge internal state, remember previous experience, and command muscle action.

Project Summary / Abstract This project is a collaboration between researchers at four universities to examine how the brain makes decisions. When a human or any animal moves through the world, it must make constant decisions about what to do next. These decisions are based on the state of the animal, its past history, and its future goals.

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Social interactions, a ubiquitous aspect of our everyday life, are critical to the health and survival of the species, but little is known about their underlying neural computations. The major limitation preventing our understanding of the neural underpinnings of social cognition is the lack of a suitable framework to allow us to study how it emerges in real time from interactions among brain networks.

Project Summary  Despite the enormous complexity of the brain, it is becoming increasingly apparent that structures like the  cerebral cortex are modular, relying on a set of canonical computations that occur across brain regions and  modalities to mediate perception, cognition and behavior.  One important example of a canonical computation  is&

Project Summary Dopamine neurons (DNs) are key regulators of motivated behaviors, and defects in dopamine signaling may underlie some psychiatric disorders including addiction, depression, and schizophrenia, as well as neurological disorders such as Parkinson's. Much of the work in this area has been based on the dogma that DNs encode reward prediction errors (RPE) and that they do so in a uniform manner. However, work from several groups, including ours, indicates that DNs projecting to different targets exhibit distinct properties and serve distinct functions.

Project Summary/Abstract Improved understanding of the brain processes underlying normal and abnormal function is necessary for devising better ways to diagnose, alleviate, or cure neurological or psychiatric disorders. It is clear that even for simple behaviors, such processes depend on interactions among multiple brain regions. However, these interactions themselves are less well understood.

ABSTRACT Humans interact with their environment in countless ways and can switch seamlessly between activities. Even for seemingly simple tasks, a variety of sensory inputs are integrated to create a motor plan to complete a task. Take the example of picking up a glass. Visual, tactile, and proprioceptive inputs provide cues about the position and weight of the object as well as limb state. Additional sensory and contextual inputs can also influence the movement. For example, a person might pick up a glass differently if she is intending to take a drink, versus clear off a table.

Humans have a remarkable ability to flexibly interact with the environment. A compelling demonstration of this cognitive flexibility is our ability to perform complex, yet previously un-practiced tasks successfully on the first attempt.

Project Summary/Abstract Memory is critical for cognitive well-being, and sleep is critical for memory consolidation, yet the underlying mechanisms in the human brain are poorly understood. Research on memory and sleep so far has suffered from a substantial gap between non-invasive cognitive research in humans and detailed electrophysiological research in animals.