Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco, 2003

Decision-making; electrophysiology; sensory processing; vision; audition; neural computation; modeling; behavior

email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , phone (516) 367-5035, fax (516) 367-8866

The study of decision-making provides a window on the family of brain functions that comprise cognition. It intervenes between perception and action, and can link one to the other. Although much is known about both sensory processing and motor control, much less is known about the circuitry connecting them. Some of the most interesting circuits are those that make it possible to deliberate among different interpretations of sensory information before making a choice about what to do.

In my laboratory, we investigate the neural machinery underlying decision-making. We use carefully designed paradigms that encourage experimental subjects to deliberate over incoming sensory evidence before making a decision. We collect behavioral data on decision-making tasks from both humans and rodents. To connect this behavior to its underlying neural circuitry, we measure electrophysiological responses of cortical neurons in rodents as they perform the task. Our current focus is on parietal cortex because this area appears to be at the midpoint between sensory processing and motor planning. We also use theoretical models of varying complexity to further constrain how the neural responses we observe might drive the behavior. This approach generates insights into sensory processing, motor planning and complex cognitive function.

 

Please visit Anne's Lab home page.

 

Selected Publications

Beck, J.M., Ma, W.J., Kiani, R., Hanks, T., Churchland, A., Roitman, J., Shadlen, M.N., Latham, P. and Pouget, A. 2008. Probabilistic population codes for Bayesian decision making. Neuron. 60: 1142-1152.

Churchland, A., Kiani, R. and Shadlen, M.N. 2008. Decision-making with multiple alternatives. Nat. Neuroscience. 11: 693-702.

Churchland, A., Huang, X. and Lisberger, S.G. 2007. Responses of neurons in the medial superior temporal visual area to apparent motion stimuli in macaque monkeys. J. Neurophysiology. 97: 272-282.

Churchland, A. and Lisberger, S.G. 2005. Relationship between extraretinal component of firing rate and eye speed in area MST of macaque monkeys. J. Neurophysiology. 94: 2416-2426.

Churchland, A. and Lisberger, S.G. 2005. Discharge properties of MST neurons that project to the frontal pursuit area in macaque monkeys. J. Neurophysiology. 94: 1084-1090.