Research

How does the brain learn in continuous motor spaces?

Mastering a new skill requires the brain to not only learn which action to enact in a given situation, but also how to improve the quality and precision of a chosen movement to meet a task-specific performance goal. This requires the brain to learn in continuous, often high-dimensional, motor spaces where the number of “choices” is much greater than in decision-making tasks. This is a computationally challenging problem but one at which the brain excels in comparison to artificial agents such as robots. We are investigating the contribution of cortical and basal ganglia circuits to trial-and-error motor learning using tasks that train rats to adapt the kinematics of simple ballistic movements.

How does the brain efficiently solve complex decision-making tasks?

How the brain learns by trial-and-error is best understood in the context of simple binary choice tasks. Less is known about how the brain learns in more complex, real-world environments. Faced with a larger array of choices, the brain must employ efficient strategies to explore available options and discover the optimal choice. To uncover such strategies, we design complex, multi-choice foraging tasks for rats and investigate the the role of prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia circuits in mediating different forms of exploration.

Play behaviour and its impact on brain development

Despite its importance to brain development, little is known about the neural basis of play and how it guides plasticity in brain areas responsible for social, cognitive, and motor skills in adulthood. We seek to identify the neural circuits underlying play behaviour during juvenescence and adolescence. We also want to understand the impact of play on development of frontal cortex, an important locus for skilled behaviour, and the neural mechanisms by which play influences later learning in adulthood.