Events
Christian Lüscher, MD, PhD
Exposure to odors emanating from a conspecific can influence the food choice, a phenomenon called social transmission of food preference (STFP). The piriform cortex codes olfactory perceptions, while the inactivation of neurons in the nucleus accumbens triggers consumption. The neural circuit and cellular substrate of this transition from olfactory perception to value-based action however remains elusive. Here we provide evidence for synaptic plasticity in the mPFC driving the food preference.
Clare Howard (Laboratory of Richard Mann)
Thesis Defense Seminar
Adan Horta (Laboratory of Stavros Lomvardas)
Thesis Defense Seminar
Joshua I Gold, PhD
Our brain uses past experiences, integrated over multiple timescales, to shape how it makes decisions in our uncertain and dynamic world. These adaptive processes can take many forms, across both conditions and individuals, with different combinations of costs (like processing time) and benefits (like flexibility) that can make them difficult to compare and benchmark. Here I will describe our recent efforts to characterize the effectiveness of decision processes with respect to the complexity of model they use to convert past observations into useful predictions that can guide choices. I will show that this approach: 1) has a solid theoretical foundation using concepts drawn from physics and other fields; 2) can account for substantial individual variability of human subjects performing certain decision tasks; and 3) leads to quantitative predictions about the most efficient and effective solutions to a host of decision problems according to a fundamental “law of diminishing returns” relating accuracy to complexity. I will then show that these notions of complexity can be encoded in pupil-linked arousal systems that, in turn, may reflect the influence of neuromodulatory systems like the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system on coordinated neural dynamics that can affect how information is integrated over time.