Jan Drugowitsch

Jan Drugowitsch, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School

Research
Publications

Open the Jan Drugowitsch faculty profile graphic in Canva (opens in a new tab)

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

IEEE Trans Signal Process

Authors: Authors: Projection Filtering with Observed State Increments with Applications in Continuous-Time Circular Filtering
2022; 70:686-700.
View full abstract on Pubmed

Nat Commun

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

Design and analysis of learning classifier systems: a probabilistic approach

Authors: Authors: Drugowitsch J
2008.

Nat Hum Behav

Authors: Authors: Efficient stabilization of imprecise statistical inference through conditional belief updating
2022 Sep 22.
View full abstract on Pubmed