Neural Location of the Decisional Reference Point

Breaking Down Noise in Choice

Normalized Reinforcement Learning

Learning is widely modeled in psychology, neuroscience, and computer science by prediction error-guided reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. While standard RL assumes linear reward functions, empirical evidence overwhelmingly shows that reward-related neural activity is a saturating, nonlinear function of reward; however, the computational and behavioral implications of nonlinear RL are unknown. This project examines a novel nonlinear RL algorithm incorporating the canonical divisive normalization computation, which is widely found in sensory and cognitive processing. Preliminary work shows that normalized RL introduces an intrinsic and tunable asymmetry in prediction error coding. At the behavioral level, this asymmetry explains empirical variability in risk preferences typically attributed to asymmetric learning rates. At the neural level, diversity in asymmetries provides a computational mechanism for recently proposed theories of distributional RL, allowing the brain to learn the full probability distribution of future rewards. This behavioral and computational flexibility argues for an incorporation of biologically valid value functions in computational models of learning and decision-making.

Assessing Stellate Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex, persistent pathological anxiety condition in response to extreme stress with significant impact on mental and physical function. PTSD severity is exacerbated by frequently occurring comorbid conditions including mood and anxiety disorders, impulsive and dangerous behavior, and substance abuse. Given its prevalence, chronic and recurring nature, and associated comorbid conditions, PTSD produces a significantly high total disease burden. Recent research has highlighted differences in neural activity in individuals with PTSD, specifically in brain regions responsible for psychological processes affected in PTSD such as emotional processing, fear learning and extinction, and memory. Most studies have examined neural differences between control subjects and those with PTSD, making it difficult to determine: (1) whether these differences reflect pre-existing vulnerabilities or acquired pathophysiology, (2) whether changes in specific brain activity patterns in PTSD are correlated with improvements in PTSD symptoms after treatment, and (3) which brain regions – and their associated psychological processes – offer the most promise as targets for intervention. Over the past decade, however, there have been growing number of case reports indicating that simultaneous blockade of the stellate ganglion at spinal levels C4 and C6 can elicit rapidly evoked and long-lasting remission from PTSD. SGB therefore provides a clinical intervention for PTSD that allows for pre-intervention and post-intervention fMRI neuroimaging that matches the timescale of changes in PTSD symptoms. In this study, subjects with PTSD symptoms will be randomized into SGB treatment and control arms to examine how SGB might modulate the neural circuitry of emotion processing, fear learning and extinction, and decision making. Identifying what specific changes in neural activity correspond to symptomatic improvement in PTSD will offer an increased understanding in the pathology of PTSD and could set the stage for the development of novel treatments for anxiety disorders, specifically PTSD.

Local Disinhibition Decision Model (LDDM)

Normalized value coding and winner-take-all choice are two important features of decision-making uncovered in the brain. Computational neuroscience utilizes different neural circuit models to explain the mechanism of single features. It is unknown whether these features can be explained by a single decision circuit. In this project, we examine an integrated circuit model with the recently identified neuronal types from optogenetics, including excitatory, inhibitory, and disinhibitory neurons. The integrated circuit implements both normalized value coding and winner-take-all choice dynamics, controlled by the top-down signal of disinhibition. Disinhibition provides a simple mechanism for flexible top-down control of network states, enabling the circuit to capture diverse task-dependent neural dynamics. The top-down controlled disinhibition may also play a role in controlling decision speed and accuracy tradeoffs. We have published the model in Shen et al., 2023. Ongoing work is discovering other interesting features from this biological circuit, such as the temporal control of decision-making in a changing world. [pdf]

Quantifying Risk of Transitioning from Occasional Opioid Use to Opioid Addiction

The central aim of this study is to identify the risk factors that predispose an individual to transition from occasional opioid use to addiction as defined by DSM-V. We seek to understand how i) overall life quality, ii) hedonic experience during initial opioid use and subsequent craving, iii) genetic predisposition, and iv) individual psychological traits may facilitate a transition to addiction during opiate use. We hypothesize that these four main risk factor categories can be used together to reliably differentiate a cohort of subjects who have developed OUD from a comparable matching cohort of subjects who have similar initial exposure to opiates but do not develop OUD. We also propose to examine these traits in a matched control group who differs from our other groups in that they are opioid naïve. A sufficiently predictive quantitative model would allow patient specific and dosage specific risk assessment, could meaningfully impact prescribing plans, and might even be used to assess the likelihood of addiction recovery.

Computational Foundations of Behavioral Biases

Insights into the choice process have made it possible to study the neural and computational causes of irrational choice behavior. This project investigates behavioral biases such as base-rate neglect through the lens of the drift-diffusion model (DDM) and related choice-process models. Psychometric experiments allow us to reveal the evolving decision variable in behavior, which provides empirical restrictions on the latent decision variable above and beyond choices and response times alone. Using this methodology, we find that evidence accumulates independently of base rates, which suggests a simple mechanism underlying base-rate neglect. Our methodology is more broadly applicable, and promises detailed insights into the neural and computational foundations of irrational choice behavior more generally.

Choosing Well: Testing the Efficiency of Neural Representation

Divisive Normalization is often viewed as a "canonical brain encoding mechanism" (in the words of Heeger). However, the divisive normalization encoding function is efficient only for specific types of input stimuli. Using behavioral paradigms and computational modeling, in this project we test whether the brain uses the same type of output firing rate function of normalized value for all types of input stimuli, or, perhaps the encoding mechanism varies between different types of choice environments. In other words, we ask if our choices are constrained by one physiological encoding mechanism - at the expense of efficiency - or, whether we are adaptive to different types of choice environments?

Neurocomputational Framework for Strategic Interactions

Seminal work in social neuroscience identified the role of the temporo-parietal junction (TPj) in reasoning about the mental state, actions and goals of others, a process usually referred to as “mentalizing”. Nonetheless, the study of mentalizing behavior is still lacking a strictly computational approach, which could lay the foundation for a neuronal-mechanistic account of social interactions. In this project, we develop a novel framework to examine the cognitive basis of strategic social interactions. Our goal is to investigate how the brain decodes social interactions into subclasses of cognitive functions associated with different cortical modules. Leveraging modelling architectures from Game Theory, alongside experimental design concepts from computational psychology, we identify orthogonal cognitive modules that we hypothesize play a role in mentalizing.

Decision-Making in Addiction

Decision-making is strongly affected by drugs of abuse. The ability to exert self-control and resist to temptation and craving is severely impaired in addiction and this can give rise to impulsivity and risk-seeking behavior. These changes however may be malleable, and existing pharmacological and psychosocial treatments seem to restore these decision processes to a healthier state. The goal of this project is to study how craving and treatment for addiction may impact the neural computations underlying these types of decision-making in a dynamic way. Using fMRI, computational modeling, and choice experiments in patients with substance use disorder, our aim is to design a set of robust screening tools that can be used in the clinic to make accurate predictions about an individual's recovery.