This special topics course will examine the neural mechanisms of reward, decision making, and reward-based learning. The course covers the anatomy and physiology of reward and action systems. Special emphasis will be placed on the representation of reward expectation; the interplay between reward, motivation, and attention; and the selection of actions. Links between concepts in economics and the neural mechanisms of decision making will be explored. Data from animal and human studies collected using behavioral, neurophysiological, and functional magnetic resonance techniques will be reviewed. Instructor Andersen.
Students will present papers during the class (two per class, about 2 papers per student over the course of the term). In addition, two students per paper will be assigned as "discussants". Discussants will prepare questions for the paper presenter, to help the group get to the core issues of each paper.
Date |
Topic / Papers |
Presenter (Discussants) |
| 2012/04/05 | Class Orientation | N/A |
| 2012/04/12 |
Value Coding |
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| Louie, K. , Grattan, L.E. and Glimcher, P.W. (2011) “Reward value-based gain control: divisive normalization in parietal cortex” J. Neurosci. 31:10627-10639. | Shabnam (Juri, Gal) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Padoa-Schioppa, C. and Assad, J.A. (2006) “Neurons in orbitofrontal cortex encode economic value” Nature 441:223-226. Platt, M.L., and Glimcher, P.W. (1999) “Neural correlates of decision variables in parietal cortex” Nature 400:233-238. Rangel, A., Camerer, C., and Montague, P.R. (2008) “A framework for studying the neurobiology of value-based decision making: Nature Reviews 9:545-556. |
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| 2012/04/19 |
Reward: Risk and Value |
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| Guest lecture from Wolfram Schultz | ||
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Tobler, P.N., Christopoulos, G.I., O-Dherty, J.P., Dolan, R.J., and Schultz, W. (2009) “Risk-dependent reward value signal in human prefrontal cortex” PNAS 106:7185-7190 Bermudez, M.A., and Schultz, W. (2010) “Responses of amygdala neurons to positive reward-predicting stimuli depend on background reward (contingency) rather than stimulus-reward pairing (contiguity)” J. Neurophysiol. 103: 1158-1170. O-Neill, M. and Schultz, W. (2010) “Coding of reward risk by orbitofrontal neurons is mostly distinct from coding of reward value” Neuron 68:789-800. |
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| 2012/04/26 |
Perceptual Decision Making |
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| Cai, X., and Padoa-Schioppa, C. (2012) "Neuronal encoding of subjective value in dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex” J. Neurosci. 32:3791-3808 | Luke U (Luke M, Erika) | |
| Rorie, A.E., Gao, J., McClelland, J.L., and Newsome, W.T. (2010) “Integration of sensory and reward information during perceptual decision-making in lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) of the macaque monkey/a>” PLoS ONE e9308.< | June (Carrie, Luke M) | |
| Bennur, S. and Gold, J.I. (2011) “Distinct representations of a perceptual decision and associated oculomotor plan in the monkey lateral intraparietal area” J. Neurosci. 31:913-921. | Gal (June, Erika) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Maunsell , J.H.R. (2004) “Neuronal representations of cognitive state: reward or attention?” Trends Cog. Sci. 8:261-265 Newsome, W.T., Britten, K.H., and Movshon, J.A. (1989) “Neuronal correlates of a perceptual decision” Nature 341:52-54. Shadlen, M.N. and Newsome, W.T. (2006) “Motion perception: seeing and deciding” PNAS 93:628-633. Andersen, R.A., Brotchie, P.R., and Mazzoni, P. (1992) “Evidence for the lateral intraparietal area as the parietal eye field” Cur. Opin. Neurobiol. 2:840-846. Albright, T.D. (1984) “Columnar organization of directionally selective cells in visual area MT of the macaque” J. Neurophysiol. 51: 16-31. |
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| 2012/05/03 |
Intentional Framework |
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| Shadlen, M.N. and Newsome, W.T. (2001) “Neural basis of a perceptual decision in the parietal cortex (area LIP) of the rhesus monkey” J. Neurophysiol. 86:1916-1936. | Luke M (Gal) | |
| Pastor-Bernier, A. and Cisek, P. (2011) “Neural correlates of biased competition in premotor cortex” J. Neurosci. 31:7083-7088. | Juri (Luke U, Shabnam) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Shadlen, M.N., Kiani, R., Hanks, T.D. and Churchland, A.K. (2008) “Neurobiology of decision making: an intentional framework” from Better than conscious? Decision making, the human mind and implications for institutions. Eds: Engel, C. and Singer, W., MIT Press. Rickert, J., Riehle, A., Aertsen, A., Rotter, S., Nawrot, M.P. (2009) “Dynamic encoding of movement direction in motor cortical neurons. J. Neurosci. 29:13870-13882. Cisek, P. (2007) “Cortical mechanisms of action selection: the affordance competition hypothesis” Trans R. Soc. Lond. B 362:1585-1599. |
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| 2012/05/10 |
Categorical Decision Making |
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| Swaminathan, S.K., and Freedman, D.J. (2012) “Preferential encoding of visual categories in parietal cortex compared with prefrontal cortex” Nat. Neurosci. 15: 315-322. | Juri (Janet, Shabnam) | |
| Goodwin, S.J., Blackman, R.K., Sakellaridi, S., and Chafee, M.V. (2012) “Executive control over cognition: stronger and earlier rule-based modulation of spatial category signals in prefrontal cortex relative to parietal cortex” J. Neurosci. 32: 3499-3515. | Erika (Shabnam, Luke U) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Fitzgerald, J.K., Freedman, D.J., and Assad, J.A. (2011) "Generalized associative representations in parietal cortex" Nat. Neurosci. 14: 1075-1079. Freedman, D.J., and Assad, J.A. (2011) "A proposed common neural mechanism for categorization and perceptual decisions" Nat. Neurosci. 14: 143-146. |
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| 2012/05/17 |
Potential Plans |
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| Klaes, C., Westendorff, S., Chakrabarti, S., and Gail, A. (2011) “Choosing goals, not rules: deciding among rule-based action plans” Neuron 70:536-548. | Gal (June, Carrie) | |
| Cui, H. and Andersen, R.A. (2011) “Different representations of potential and selected motor plans by distinct parietal areas” J. Neurosci. 31: 18130-18136. | Luke U (Janet, Shabnam) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Cui, H. and Andersen, R.A. (2007) "Posterior Parietal Cortex Encodes Autonomously Selected Motor Plans". Neuron. 56:552-559. |
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| 2012/05/24 |
Persistent Activity |
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| Rescheduled due to Ditch Day | ||
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Gnadt, J. W., and Andersen, R.A. (1988). "Memory related motor planning activity in posterior parietal cortex of macaque." Exp. Brain Res. 70: 216-220. Funahashi, S., Goldman-Rakic, P.S. et al. (1989) “Mnemonic coding of visual space in monkey’s dorsolateral prefrontal cortex” J. Neurophysiol. 61:331-349. |
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| 2012/05/31 |
Social Decision making |
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| Curtis, C.E. and Lee, D. (2010) “Beyond working memory: the role of persistent activity in decision making” Trends in Cog. Sci. 14:216-222. | Erika (Janet, Gal) | |
| Klein, J.T., Deaner, R.O., and Platt, M.L. (2008) “Neural correlates of social target value in macaque parietal cortex” Current Biology 18: 419-424. | June (Juri, Janet) | |
| Smith, D.V., Hayden, B.Y., Truong, T-K. Song, A.W., Platt, M.L., and Huettel, S.A. (2010) “Distinct value signals in anterior and posterior ventromedical prefrontal cortex” J. Neuros. 2490-2495. | Carrie (Shabnam, Luke M) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Deaner, R.O., Khera, A.V. and Platt, M.L. (2005) “Monkeys pay per view: adaptive valuation of social images by rhesus macaques” Curr. Biol. 15:543-548. |
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| 2012/06/07 |
Awareness of Decisions |
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| Bernacchia, A.k, Seo, H., Lee, D., and Wang, X-J (2011) “A reservoir of time constants for memory traces in cortical neurons” Nature Neurosci. 14: 366-374. | Carrie (Shabnam, June) | |
| Sirigu, A. et al. (2004) “Altered awareness of voluntary action after damage to the parietal cortex” Nature Neuro. 7:80-84. | Luke M (Erika, Janet) | |
| Fried, I. Mukamel, R. and Kreiman, G. (2011) “Internally generated preactivation of single neurons in human medical frontal cortex predicts volition” Neuron 69: 548-562. | Janet (Juri, Carrie) | |
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Background Reading for Those Who are Interested: Libet, B., Gleason, C.A., Wright, E.W., and Perl, D.K. (1983) “Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity(readiness-potential). The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act.” Brain 106:623-642. Andersen, R.A., and Buneo, C.A. (2002). "Intentional maps in posterior parietal cortex." Ann.Rev. Neurosci. 25: 189-220. Snyder, L. H., Batista, A.P., and Andersen, R.A. (1997). "Coding of intention in the posterior parietal cortex." Nature 386: 167-170. Desmurget, M., Reilly, K.T., Richard, N., Szathmari, A., Mottolese, C., and Sirigu, A. (2009) “Movement intention after parietal cortex simulation in humans” Science 324: 811-813. Soon, C.S., Brass, M., Heinze, H-J. and Haynes, J-D. (2008) “Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain” Nat. Neurosci. 11:543-545. Haggard, P. (2008) “Human volition: towards a neuroscience of will” Nat. Rev. Neurosci 9: 934-946. |