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Neural dynamics in human decision making

Investigators: Dr Timothy Behrens, FMRIB Centre, Laurence Hunt, FMRIB Centre, and Matthew Rushworth, Dept Experimental Psychology, Oxford

Using fMRI, Behrens, Rushworth and colleagues have used computational techniques to identify the regions of cerebral cortex that encode key parameters that are essential for decision-making and learning. This work will use MEG/EEG in combination with a variety of magnetic-resonance (MR) based methods and neurodisruptive stimulation methods to reveal the neural dynamics of human decision-making. The high temporal resolution of MEG/EEG will enable testing of quantitative models of the neuronal mechanisms underlying decision-making. Such models are specified at the level of neural networks and make predictions about regional brain activity on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis. 

Behrens, T.E., Hunt, L.T., Woolrich, M.W., and Rushworth, M.F. (2008) Associative learning of social value. Nature 456, 245-249 

Behrens, T.E., Woolrich, M.W., Walton, M.E., and Rushworth, M.F. (2007) Learning the value of information in an uncertain world. Nat Neurosci 10, 1214-1221