Adaptive Decision-Making
The world around us is constantly changing. How do we know what information is relevant to our current choices?
Our lab is interested in how information relevant to our environment is learned, processed and applied to our everyday choices. To study this, we build decision-making games with “hidden” features that change how a participant should behave. We then use mathematical modeling and human brain recordings to determine what strategies humans use to change their decision-making in different environments and how the brain performs these computations.
Working Memory
Working memory is a critical component to cognition, allowing us to remember and retrieve useful information quickly. However, the world around us is very complex, so constraining the information we store in memory lets us be more efficient.
Our lab is interested in how working memory can support adaptive decision-making by selectively retaining information that is most relevant to our current environment. We develop theoretical models of how the brain can implement efficient coding schemes and compare them to human behavior.
Cognition in Psychiatric Disorders
Patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders can often have trouble with their day-to-day choices, using different strategies or approaches that don’t correctly account for their environment.
Our lab is interested in developing translational tools that can measure the decision-making strategies patients use, how these strategies differ from the general population and if these behavioral metrics can predict treatment outcomes.
Eissa Lab 