Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

International Initiatives

• Title: Braincraft

• International Partner (Institution - Laboratory - Researcher):

  • University of Colorado, Boulder (United States) - Computational Cognitive Neuroscience - Randall O'Reilly

• Start year: 2015

• We develop with this team a computationally-based understanding of the neural circuits involved in decision making, namely basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex. More precisely, we want to understand what are the processes by which animals and humans select their actions based on their motivations and on the consequences of past actions. This is a fundamental question in neurosciences, with implications to ethology, psychology, economics, sociology and computer science. Through a unique combination of expertise in cognitive psychology, neurosciences and computer science, this associate team will foster a collaboration for developing a computationally-based understanding of the neural circuits involved in decision making, namely basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex. One of the key question is to know the overall contribution of these structures and their function in the decision process.

In the 3-years project “Basal Ganglia at Large (BGaL)”, funded by the CNRS and the CEFIPRA, we collaborate with the computer science department of IIIT Hyderabad and the biomedical department of IIT Madras, for the design of models of basal ganglia and for their implementation at large scale (cf. §  7.4 ) as well as for their relation with other brain structures (cf. §  7.2 ).