Seminars & Events

Computations In Science Seminar
"A Recurrent Neural Circuit Mechanism of Stochastic Decision Making"

DATE: December 12, 2007
TIME: 12:30 p.m.
SPEAKER: Xiao-Jing Wang
LOCATION: KPTC 206, University of Chicago

Description:
How do we make hard decisions? A decision is a deliberation process that involves accumulation of evidence for possible alternatives, ultimately leading to the commitment to a categorical choice. Recent physiological studies with behaving nonhuman primates have begun to uncover neural signals at the single-cell level that are correlated with specific aspects of subject's decision computations. In this talk, I will present a biophysically-based recurrent network model of spiking neurons for decision making. I will show that this model accounts for a range of observations from two sets of monkey experiments: one on perceptual decision making in a visual motion direction discrimination task, the other on internal valuation of
competing alternatives and action selection in a foraging task. This model suggests a unified circuit mechanism for decision making, namely NMDA-receptor dependent slow neuronal reverberation that can be described theoretically in terms of stochastic attractor dynamical systems.

More Information:
If you would like to meet with the speaker or join us for a meal, please contact Robert Schroll (rschroll@uchicago.edu)

Discussion over bag-lunch at 12:15 p.m.
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