Colloquium Series 2016-2017

Gunnar Blohm
Centre for Neuroscience Studies
Queens University

Spiking Networks for Decision Making and Working Memory

Decision making and working memory are central to cognition. Working memory is the transient retention and manipulation of information that can then be used to make a selection among choices, i.e. a decision. I propose a unifying framework of neural dynamics that could underlie different key features of decision making (such as the speed-accuracy trade-off) and working memory (such as capacity, distractibility and overload). We developed spiking neural models that capture decisions and working memory independently or within the same network as a function of a single (cognitive) control parameter, which we propose to be distal network disinhibition. The predicted neural mechanisms are helpful in understanding canonical computations underlying a variety of cognitive process beyond decisions and working memory.