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SeminarPast EventNeuroscience

Decision and Behavior

Sam Gershman, Jonathan Pillow, Kenji Doya

Prof

Harvard University; Princeton University; Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

Schedule
Friday, November 29, 2024

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Schedule

Friday, November 29, 2024

2:00 PM Europe/Vienna

Host: Brain Prize Webinar Series 2024

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Event Information

Domain

Neuroscience

Original Event

View source

Host

Brain Prize Webinar Series 2024

Duration

70 minutes

Abstract

This webinar addressed computational perspectives on how animals and humans make decisions, spanning normative, descriptive, and mechanistic models. Sam Gershman (Harvard) presented a capacity-limited reinforcement learning framework in which policies are compressed under an information bottleneck constraint. This approach predicts pervasive perseveration, stimulus‐independent “default” actions, and trade-offs between complexity and reward. Such policy compression reconciles observed action stochasticity and response time patterns with an optimal balance between learning capacity and performance. Jonathan Pillow (Princeton) discussed flexible descriptive models for tracking time-varying policies in animals. He introduced dynamic Generalized Linear Models (Sidetrack) and hidden Markov models (GLM-HMMs) that capture day-to-day and trial-to-trial fluctuations in choice behavior, including abrupt switches between “engaged” and “disengaged” states. These models provide new insights into how animals’ strategies evolve under learning. Finally, Kenji Doya (OIST) highlighted the importance of unifying reinforcement learning with Bayesian inference, exploring how cortical-basal ganglia networks might implement model-based and model-free strategies. He also described Japan’s Brain/MINDS 2.0 and Digital Brain initiatives, aiming to integrate multimodal data and computational principles into cohesive “digital brains.”

Topics

Generalized Linear Modelsaction stochasticitybayesian inferencebehavioural strategiescomputational modelsdecision-makinghidden Markov modelspolicy compressionreinforcement learning

About the Speaker

Sam Gershman, Jonathan Pillow, Kenji Doya

Prof

Harvard University; Princeton University; Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

Contact & Resources

No additional contact information available

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