Neuroscience Seminar Series: Patrick Piantadosi '10 on "Amygdala Correlates of Decision-Making," April 18

Welcome Patrick Piantadosi, PhD, SMCM class of 2010, to speak about his research "Amygdala correlates of decision-making.” Piantadosi is a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

This seminar will now happen over Zoom, with broadcasting in Goodpaster 195. Zoom Meeting ID: 870 6434 3565 Passcode: 235604

Seminar Description: Decision-making requires the ability to weigh the costs and benefits associated with specific actions. How the brain accomplishes this remains largely unknown. In this talk, I will provide evidence that mice can learn rapidly to make adaptive decisions, avoiding potential punishments and prioritizing safe rewards. Then, I will show that the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a region critical to affective processing (e.g., fear), is necessary for this learning to occur, and that neural activity within this region relates to decisions made during periods of safety and periods of potential punishment.