CNI Chalk Talk: Becket Ebitz

Becket Ebitz
Buschman Lab
Princeton University

Exploration in brain and behavior

In variable and uncertain environments, decision-makers must balance two goals: they must “exploit” rewarding options, but also “explore” in order to discover rewarding alternatives. Exploring and exploiting necessarily change how the brain processes and responds to stimuli, but little is known about how these states affect how the brain transforms sensory information into action. We addressed this question with a combination of psychophysics and electrophysiological recordings in a cannonical prefrontal sensorimotor control structure (the frontal eye field). We find that exploration is related to sudden disruption in top-down sensorimotor control. This may permit, rather than promote discovery via randomizing choice with respect to high-order control policies.

Lunch will be served.