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.
Wallis Lab
For information about specific projects, click on the links below:
1. Neural implants to unlearn maladaptive associations
2. Interactions between model-based and model-free reinforcement learning systems
3. Neural computations underpinning the representation of cognitive maps
1. Neural implants to unlearn maladaptive associations
2. Interactions between model-based and model-free reinforcement learning systems
3. Neural computations underpinning the representation of cognitive maps
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").
