Jan Drugowitsch

Jan Drugowitsch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Research
Publications

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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

MedicalXpress – February 2025: Neural “optimist” and “pessimist” in decision making (article, opens in a new tab)

This feature describes how the Drugowitsch Lab found a neural “optimist” and “pessimist” working in tandem to predict whether an animal expects a good or bad outcome. Furthermore, silencing one group shifted the behavior of the animal as if it suddenly expected more or less from its choices.

newswise.com – December 2021: Turning information into split‑second decisions (article, opens in a new tab)

This feature profiles how the Drugowitsch Lab uses computational tools to study how the brain turns information into split‑second decisions, like judging whether it is safe to cross a street. It also touches on the lab’s research into how place cells help animals track their position and navigate space.

Publications View

Tuning the speed-accuracy trade-off to maximize reward rate in multisensory decision-making.

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, DeAngelis GC, Angelaki DE, Pouget A.
Elife 2015-06-19
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Simultaneous learning and filtering without delusions: a Bayes-optimal combination of Predictive Inference and Adaptive Filtering.

Authors: Authors: Kneissler J, Drugowitsch J, Friston K, Butz MV.
Front Comput Neurosci 2015-01-01
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Optimal multisensory decision-making in a reaction-time task.

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, DeAngelis GC, Klier EM, Angelaki DE, Pouget A.
Elife 2014-06-14
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Relation between belief and performance in perceptual decision making.

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, Moreno-Bote R, Pouget A.
PLoS One 2014-01-01
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Filtering sensory information with XCSF: improving learning robustness and robot arm control performance.

Authors: Authors: Kneissler J, Stalph PO, Drugowitsch J, Butz MV.
Evol Comput 2014-01-01
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Probabilistic vs. non-probabilistic approaches to the neurobiology of perceptual decision-making.

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, Pouget A.
Curr Opin Neurobiol 2012-12-01
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The cost of accumulating evidence in perceptual decision making.

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, Moreno-Bote R, Churchland AK, Shadlen MN, Pouget A.
J Neurosci 2012-03-14
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Quick thinking: perceiving in a tenth of a blink of an eye.

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, Pouget A.
Nat Neurosci 2010-03-01
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A formal framework and extensions for function approximation in learning classifier systems

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J, Barry AM
Machine Learning 2008-01-01

Nat Commun

Authors: Authors: Visual motion perception as online hierarchical inference
2022 Dec 01; 13(1):7403.
View full abstract on Pubmed