Professor Wolfram Schultz

Wolfram Schultz

University position

Professor of Neuroscience

Professor Wolfram Schultz is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

Departments

Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

Institutes

Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute

Email

ws234@cam.ac.uk

Home page

http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/staff/s... (personal home page)

Research Themes

Systems and Computational Neuroscience

Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience

Interests

Please see http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/news/article.php?permalink=a8feeeff87 for details of current available positions.

Our group is interested to relate the mechanics of brain activity to measurable behaviour. We combine neurophysiological, imaging and behavioural techniques to investigate the neural correlates of goal-directed. We are interested in outcome value (in particular reward) signals in specific brain structures such as dopamine neurons, striatum, frontal cortex and amygdala. These rapid, global, evaluative and supervising neural signals may play a role in decision-making and choice behaviour. In investigating these outcome-coding mechanisms we try to establish a common biological basis for animal learning theory, microeconomic utility and game theories, and behavioural ecology. The larger background is to consider the brain in its capacity for processing reward information as an essential organ for assuring the fitness for survival in an evolutionary framework.

Rewards
Rewards
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Research Focus

Keywords

Reward

Value

Uncertainty

Action

neural circuit

Clinical conditions

Addiction

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Huntington's disease

Learning disbilities

Movement disorders

Obsessive compulsive disorder

Parkinson's disease

Schizophrenia

Equipment

Behavioural analysis

Electrophysiological recording techniques

Magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Collaborators

Cambridge

Michelle Baddeley

Anthony Dickinson

Paul Fletcher

Christopher Harris

United Kingdom

Ray Dolan Web: http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/Dolan/

International

Peter Bossaerts Web: http://www.hss.caltech.edu/~pbs/

Masamichi Sakagami Web: http://www.tamagawa.ac.jp/sisetu/...

Masataka Watanabe Web: http://tmin.ac.jp/english...

Key publications

Bermudez MA, Schultz W (2010), “Responses of amygdala neurons to positive reward predicting stimuli depend on background reward (contingency) rather than stimulus-reward pairing (contiguity)” J Neurophysiol 103: 1158-1170

Burke CJ, Tobler PN, Baddeley M, Schultz W (2010), “Neuronal mechanisms of observational learning” Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 107, 14431-14436

Kobayashi S, Pinto de Carvalho O, Schultz W (2010), “Adaptation of reward sensitivity in orbitofrontal neurons” J Neurosci 30: 534-544

O'Neill M, Schultz W (2010), “Coding of reward risk distinct from reward value by orbitofrontal neurons” Neuron 68: 789-800

Tobler PN, Christopoulos GI, O'Doherty JP, Dolan RJ, Schultz W. (2009), “Risk-dependent reward value signal in human prefrontal cortex. ” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 106: 7185-7190

Kobayashi S, Schultz W (2008), “Influence of reward delays on responses of dopamine neurons” J Neurosci 28: 7837-7846

Tobler PN, O’Doherty JP, Dolan R, Schultz W (2007), “Reward value coding distinct from risk attitude-related uncertainty coding in human reward systems” J Neurophysiol 97:1621-1632 Details

Schultz W (2006), “Behavioral theories and the neurophysiology of reward” Ann Rev Psychol 57:87-115

Fiorillo CD, Tobler PN, Schultz W (2003), “Discrete coding of reward probability and uncertainty by dopamine neurons” Science 299:1898-1902

Publications

2011

Schultz W (2011), “Potential vulnerabilities of neuronal reward, risk, and decision mechanisms to addictive drugs” Neuron 69: 603-617