Christopher D. Harvey, Ph.D.

The Neuroscience of Decision Making

What are our brains doing as we make decisions? How do we navigate complex spatial environments? For instance, how do we use cues from our environment to make correct decisions on how to navigate through a city toward our destination?The Harvey lab seeks to understand fundamental principles for the function and organization of neuronal circuits in the mammalian cortex. We investigate how circuits perform computations involved in working memory and decision-making, especially in the context of spatial navigation.

Our approach is based on connecting properties of neuronal circuit function with behavior in the mouse. We utilize a variety of experimental methods to study activity dynamics in circuits and the relationship between circuit dynamics and architecture. Recently, we have initiated efforts to combine our experimental program with a program for computational and theoretical modeling. Together our approach emphasizes the dynamics and the mechanisms by which circuits perform computations (how does a circuit compute?) and also aims to identify the computations performed in specific circuits (what does a circuit compute?).

Many current experiments are centered on a recently developed virtual reality system in which mice can navigate through visual virtual environments. This system allows us to train mice to perform perceptual decision-making tasks and to probe circuit function during these tasks using a wide range of optical, electrophysiological, genetic, and anatomical methods.