Thesis: Ph. D. in Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / The amygdala is a structure well known for its role in fear and reward learning, but how these mechanisms are used for decision-making is not well understood. Decision-making involves the rapid updating of cue associations as well as the encoding of a value currency, both processes in which the amygdala has been implicated. In this thesis I develop a strategy to study value-guided decision making in rodents using an olfactory binary choice task. Using a logistic regression model, I show that the value of expected rewards is a strong influence on choice, and can bias perceptual decisions. In addition, I show that decisions are influenced by events in the near past, and a specific bias towards correct choices in the near past can be detected using this analysis. Using genetic targeting of a sub-population of amygdala neurons, I show that this population is required for the rapid learning of an olfactory decision making task. Using in-vivo calcium imaging of this population I show that these neurons are active during the inter-trial interval and modulated by choice history, suggesting a mechanism by which choice history can influence current decisions. / by Kean Jaime-Bustamante. / Ph. D. in Neuroscience
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/114076 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Jaime-Bustamante, Kean (Kean Willyams) |
| Contributors | Susumu Tonegawa., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 122 pages, application/pdf |
| Rights | MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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