The Department of Cognitive Sciences will host Dr. Ian Ballard, Assistant Professor of Psychology from the University of California, Riverside.

How learning sculpts goal-directed behavior

Goal-directed behavior requires the flexibility to update behavior in response to changing environmental contingencies. The neural systems supporting goal-directed behavior are often characterized as competing against a subcortical habit system. My research identifies cooperative interactions between these systems that support flexible decision-making. I will present a series of studies that draw on fMRI and PET neuroimaging, computational modeling, pharmacological probes in healthy human subjects, and collaborative research using neural recordings in nonhuman primates. The findings show that reward learning in the striatum facilitates the selection of beneficial goals, enabling context-dependent behavior. Furthermore, my findings show how the striatum enables flexibility by translating negative feedback into behavioral change. This research details how the brain’s phylogenetically ancient learning mechanisms powerfully shape high-order cognition.