Jan Drugowitsch

Jan Drugowitsch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Drugowitsch Lab Website

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Jan Drugowitsch, PhD

Associate Professor of Neurobiology
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Email: jan_drugowitsch@hms.harvard.edu
Website: Drugowitsch Lab website – more information about Jan Drugowitsch’s research (opens in a new tab)

The Aim

The Drugowitsch Lab develops computational models for how the brain makes decisions and navigates under uncertainty.

The Impact

Our brains are remarkably good at making sense of the world that surrounds us in order to act and navigate, even if they only get messy and incomplete information from our senses. Our lab combines tools from neuroscience, machine learning, and physics to figure out how networks of neurons interpret such messy signals to guide behavior. These studies reveal core principles for how healthy brains think, decide, and learn, and could help us better understand brain disorders that affect our decision‑making and navigation abilities. In the long run, this could inform new treatments and more effective technologies for intervention in conditions such as schizophrenia, ADHD, OCD, and anxiety.

A Closer Look

Publications View
Scaling of sensory information in large neural populations shows signatures of information-limiting correlations.
Authors: Authors: Kafashan M, Jaffe AW, Chettih SN, Nogueira R, Arandia-Romero I, Harvey CD, Moreno-Bote R, Drugowitsch J.
Nat Commun
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Distributional Reinforcement Learning in the Brain.
Authors: Authors: Lowet AS, Zheng Q, Matias S, Drugowitsch J, Uchida N.
Trends Neurosci
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Hierarchical structure is employed by humans during visual motion perception.
Authors: Authors: Bill J, Pailian H, Gershman SJ, Drugowitsch J.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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Heuristics and optimal solutions to the breadth-depth dilemma.
Authors: Authors: Moreno-Bote R, Ramírez-Ruiz J, Drugowitsch J, Hayden BY.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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Meissner corpuscles and their spatially intermingled afferents underlie gentle touch perception.
Authors: Authors: Neubarth NL, Emanuel AJ, Liu Y, Springel MW, Handler A, Zhang Q, Lehnert BP, Guo C, Orefice LL, Abdelaziz A, DeLisle MM, Iskols M, Rhyins J, Kim SJ, Cattel SJ, Regehr W, Harvey CD, Drugowitsch J, Ginty DD.
Science
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The impact of learning on perceptual decisions and its implication for speed-accuracy tradeoffs.
Authors: Authors: Mendonça AG, Drugowitsch J, Vicente MI, DeWitt EEJ, Pouget A, Mainen ZF.
Nat Commun
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Control of Synaptic Specificity by Establishing a Relative Preference for Synaptic Partners.
Authors: Authors: Xu C, Theisen E, Maloney R, Peng J, Santiago I, Yapp C, Werkhoven Z, Rumbaut E, Shum B, Tarnogorska D, Borycz J, Tan L, Courgeon M, Griffin T, Levin R, Meinertzhagen IA, de Bivort B, Drugowitsch J, Pecot MY.
Neuron
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Learning optimal decisions with confidence.
Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, Mendonça AG, Mainen ZF, Pouget A.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
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Control of Synaptic Specificity by Establishing a Relative Preference for Synaptic Partners.
Authors: Authors: Xu C, Theisen E, Maloney R, Peng J, Santiago I, Yapp C, Werkhoven Z, Rumbaut E, Shum B, Tarnogorska D, Borycz J, Tan L, Courgeon M, Meinertzhagen IA, de Bivort B, Drugowitsch J, Pecot MY.
Neuron
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Family of closed-form solutions for two-dimensional correlated diffusion processes.
Authors: Authors: Shan H, Moreno-Bote R, Drugowitsch J.
Phys Rev E
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