will take place on Tuesday, December 6, 2016 from 17:15 to 18:15 hours in CBBM Research Building, EG, Room 50/51.
Host: Prof. So Young Park
Institute of Psychology I
Universität zu Lübeck
Abstract
Our laboratory investigates the neural mechanisms underlying decision making, motivation and reward processing in humans, using concepts from cognitive neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics. We use experimental tools such as model-based functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, intracranial electrophysiological recordings and pharmacological manipulations to understand the computational processes involved when making a choice. Our goals are to understand the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex in humans, the various functions that the reward dopaminergic system exerts on cognition and motivation and the neural mechanisms underlying dysfunctions of these two systems in patients with neurological or psychiatric illnesses. I will present recent results characterizing how reward types and probability engage specific parts of the orbitofrontal cortex, using intra-cranial recordings (iEEG) in patients with epilepsy and using fMRI in healthy subjects. I will also show how different types of rewards and punishments modulate specific brain systems when learning stimuli-outcome associations. In the social domain, we have recently characterized how the human brain monitors and updates dominance status of others during competitive interactions. Together, our results shed light on common neurocomputational mechanisms engaged in learning stimuli-outcome associations during non-social situations as well as during social interactions. The ground-breaking nature and potential impact of this research is to go substantially beyond the current state of the art by providing a neurocomputational account of how the brain makes social decisions. This approach should establish a mechanistic foundation for understanding disorders affecting motivation and social decision making processes.
Selected publications :
dreherteam.cnc.isc.cnrs.fr/en/
CV
JC Dreher is research director at CNRS (Lyon). His laboratory 'Neuroeconomics, Reward and Decision Making' investigates the neural mechanisms underlying decision making, motivation and reward processing in humans, using concepts from cognitive neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics. We use experimental tools such as model-based functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, intracranial electrophysiological recordings and pharmacological manipulations to understand the computational processes involved when making a choice. Our goals are to understand the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex in humans, the various functions that the reward dopaminergic system exerts on cognition and motivation and the neural mechanisms underlying dysfunctions of these two systems in patients with neurological or psychiatric illnesses (Parkinson’s disease, patients with focal prefrontal cortex lesions, schizophrenia and pathological gambling). In parallel, we are also studying how individual variations in hormones and genes influence reward processing and decision-making.
