Neural Circuits &
Computations for Behavior
Animals are
capable of complex behaviors and cognitive functions. What
fundamental neural computations underlie them, and how are
these computations implemented by circuits in the brain? Our
research attempts to answer these questions.
Currently, a
central focus of our work is to understand how the brain
implements the selection of one alternative among many, to
allow animals to pay attention to the most important
information at any instant. This ability to attend
'appropriately' is critical for adaptive behavior, and
abnormalilites in this ability are a prominent symptom of
several psychiatric disorders such as ADHD, autism and
schizophrenia. By identifying the principles of circuit
organization and function that underlie selection for
attention, we wish to discover new, specific treatment targets
to combat attentional dysfunction. We expect that the
principles
that we identify will shed light also on how the brain
implements selection in a range of other complex cognitive
behaviors such as decision-making and perceptual
discrimination.
In parallel, we also wish to uncover how different species
neurally solve the problem of selection: do they do it in the
same way or do their brain circuits implement selection
differently?
Finally, we have an interest in using insights from
neurobiology to design efficient, artificial intelligent
systems.
More
Updates...
Nov 1, 2018.
SPM to give talk at Karger Workshop
| here
|.
Oct 30, 2018.
Nagaraj's paper on combinatorially
optimized inhibition appears in Cell Reports.
| Press | Paper
|
Sept, 2018.
Our work is featured on NPR
|
here
|.
