The Hayden lab studies how our decision-making hardware (our brains) compare our options and choose the most rewarding one. We record activity of single neurons during actual choices in order to parcel out the contributions of frontal lobe structures to value-based choices. We use this information to help us understand brain disorders, especially addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Tourette syndrome.
The lab is particularly interested in the following questions:
What is self-control? Can we enhance self-control and improve the lives of people who are addicted to drugs or who can't control their impulses?Learn more
Why do we care so much about fictional rewards - rewards we could have obtained but didn't? Does the brain process these rewards differently from real ones?Learn more
How do properties of neurons shape the principles of economics? Is there a neuroeconomics? And why are we so bad at other simple decision problems? Learn more
How are animals' brains engineered to promote efficient foraging? Learn more
Can neural activity tell us anything about free will? Learn more
Now open.
Interested in joining? We are looking for post-docs and graduate students (to matriculate in 2012). We currently have no openings for undergraduates.
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