Neurophysiology of Reinforcement Learning

  • What are the mechanisms underlying changes in frontopolar cortex activity that prompt exploration?

    Does the brain encode information relevant for managing explore-exploit tradeoffs differently when exploration is motivated by either appetitive or aversive consequence?

  • Amygdala

    Caudate

    Frontopolar Cortex

    Nucleus Accumbens

    Orbitofrontal Cortex

    Putamen

    Ventral Tegmental Area

Chemogenetic Modulation of Novelty Seeking

  • Do amygdala inputs to the ventral striatum control primates willingness to explore novel stimuli and actions?

    Which motivational circuits in the primate brain separately regulate appetitive and aversive reinforcement learning?

  • Amygdala → Striatum

    Anterior Cingulate Cortex → Frontopolar Cortex

Neuroanatomy with Molecular and Genetic Tools

  • How does the molecular heterogeneity of neuron types in the amygdala contribute to its diverse function and connectivity with other parts of the motivational brain?

    Can we adapt molecular tools developed for viral connectomics to enable perturbations of brain networks and observe mesoscale changes in neural activity and behavior?

  • Amygdala

    Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

    Frontopolar Cortex

    Lateral Intraparietal Area

    Orbitofrontal Cortex