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I. OVERVIEW
II. SPECIFIC PROJECTS |
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Overview |
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| Efficiently
running our lives often requires us to juggle a wide variety of different goals.
These range from the very simple ("I'd like a cup of coffee")
to the very complex ("I'd like to be a good parent"). |
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| This
ability depends on an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, an
area that reaches its greatest complexity in humans. People with damage
to the prefrontal cortex lead extremely disorganized lives and have difficulty
planning even simple activities. Our research is focused on understanding
how goals are represented in the prefrontal cortex, and how these goals
are then used to control our actions. |
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is achieved by combining sophisticated behavioral methods with techniques
for recording the activity of groups of prefrontal neurons. Current questions
being investigated include: How does the prefrontal cortex choose between
widely different and often competing goals? What are the neuronal mechanisms
that relate goals and sub-goals? What mechanisms allow us to change our
plans as our goals change? |
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