The Computational and Neural Mechanisms Linking Decision-making and Memory in Humans
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Summary
Learning to make good decisions in the present, and accurately recalling events and information from the past, are critical aspects of human cognition that are often impaired in many psychiatric disorders. This project aims to identify the how the choices individuals make influence what, and how, people remember by combining disparate techniques in computational modeling and direct brain recordings in human subjects. The researcher developed a dual-task paradigm, probing how decisions in one task affect immediate recognition memory. To examine the neural mechanisms underlying model-free RL's influence on memory, the researcher will record local field potential (LFP) and single neuron activity in various brain regions as epilepsy patients perform the proposed task. The results of this project will identify specific neurocomputational mechanisms unifying decision-making and memory processes.
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–65 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Has seizure activity which is deemed non-responsive to standard pharmacological intervention(s), as determined by treating Neurologist and established clinical practices * Has elected to receive clinically indicated intracranial EEG (electrocorticography (ECoG), stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG)) and/or temporal responsive neurostimulation (RNS) for medication-refractory epilepsy outside of this research study, as determined by treating clinician(s) and per current clinical practice * Capacity to provide written informed consent * Language proficiency in English or Spa…
Interventions
- BehavioralValue-manipulation
During the decision-making task, different choices are assigned different values probabilistically.
Location
- Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical SchoolNew Brunswick, New Jersey