Dr. Xiaosi Gu

时间： 2015-09-25 16:00 - 18:00

地点： Room 1115, Wang Kezhen Building

The representation of an agent’s internal state has been considered as a prelude to value-based decision-making. However, little is known about the computational and neural mechanisms governing such internal representation. In this talk, I will propose a key role of the insular cortex in decision-making by computing a ‘state’ variable of an agent’s internal world (i.e. interoception) and communicating this signal with other neural regions (e.g. vmPFC, striatum) involved in decision-making. Under this framework, many psychiatric disorders such as addiction can be viewed as a product of aberrant computations in both interoceptive (homeostatic) and exteroceptive (allostatic) domains. Importantly, this view also provides opportunities for developing new therapeutics for psychiatric conditions with interoceptive and decision-making deficits.

2015-09-25

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2015-09-25