Adaptive Behaviours
adaptive behaviours
Neural mechanisms governing the learning and execution of avoidance behavior
The nervous system orchestrates adaptive behaviors by intricately coordinating responses to internal cues and environmental stimuli. This involves integrating sensory input, managing competing motivational states, and drawing on past experiences to anticipate future outcomes. While traditional models attribute this complexity to interactions between the mesocorticolimbic system and hypothalamic centers, the specific nodes of integration have remained elusive. Recent research, including our own, sheds light on the midline thalamus's overlooked role in this process. We propose that the midline thalamus integrates internal states with memory and emotional signals to guide adaptive behaviors. Our investigations into midline thalamic neuronal circuits have provided crucial insights into the neural mechanisms behind flexibility and adaptability. Understanding these processes is essential for deciphering human behavior and conditions marked by impaired motivation and emotional processing. Our research aims to contribute to this understanding, paving the way for targeted interventions and therapies to address such impairments.
How Brain Circuits Function in Health and Disease: Understanding Brain-wide Current Flow
Dr. Rajan and her lab design neural network models based on experimental data, and reverse-engineer them to figure out how brain circuits function in health and disease. They recently developed a powerful framework for tracing neural paths across multiple brain regions— called Current-Based Decomposition (CURBD). This new approach enables the computation of excitatory and inhibitory input currents that drive a given neuron, aiding in the discovery of how entire populations of neurons behave across multiple interacting brain regions. Dr. Rajan’s team has applied this method to studying the neural underpinnings of behavior. As an example, when CURBD was applied to data gathered from an animal model often used to study depression- and anxiety-like behaviors (i.e., learned helplessness) the underlying biology driving adaptive and maladaptive behaviors in the face of stress was revealed. With this framework Dr. Rajan's team probes for mechanisms at work across brain regions that support both healthy and disease states-- as well as identify key divergences from multiple different nervous systems, including zebrafish, mice, non-human primates, and humans.