Building blocks for rewards, decisions, and social interactions in primate amygdala neurons
This is a hybrid event.
Long implicated in aversive processing, the amygdala is now recognised as a key reward system. I will present new data from single-neuron recordings and computational modelling that may help reveal the functions of this enigmatic structure. Our findings show that primate amygdala neurons (i) process nutrients and sensory food qualities as biological sources of economic values; (ii) encode a three-step decision mechanism that derives object choices from object-independent, view-based computations; (iii) learn to simulate decision processes of social partners to predict the partners’ choices.
Fabian Grabenhorst studied psychology at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, followed by a DPhil in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He then trained in neurophysiology at the University of Cambridge, before starting a research group at Cambridge as a Wellcome Dale Fellow. In 2021, he re-joined the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford as Associate Professor.
This is a hybrid event. If you wish to attend in person please register your attendance via Doodle here (room capacity limit is 45 people):
doodle.com/poll/ucit4tzif4nz95rm?utm_source=poll&utm_medium=link
To join online on the day:
us06web.zoom.us/j/87996780009?pwd=bDlBdXZPMXRUQ3pQRHZaVGRrK2RLZz09
Meeting ID: 879 9678 0009
Passcode: 128893
Date:
18 October 2021, 14:00 (Monday, 2nd week, Michaelmas 2021)
Venue:
New Radcliffe House, Walton Street OX2 6NW
Venue Details:
Seminar Room 2 (2nd Floor)
Speaker:
Professor Fabian Grabenhorst (Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford)
Organising department:
Department of Experimental Psychology
Organiser contact email address:
hod.office@psy.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Professor Kia Nobre (University of Oxford)
Part of:
Departmental Seminar Series (Experimental Psychology)
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editors:
Halley Cohen,
Regula Dent