Event Date
XIAOMO CHEN, PHD
Assistant Professor
Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
Center for Neuroscience
Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine
UC Davis
Abstract
Cognitive control refers to the ability to limit neural computations to goal-relevant information and inhibit distraction. This process is associated with a wide range of cognitive functions. Despite the importance of this capability, however, we are still only at the beginning stages of understanding its circuit-level mechanism. In this talk, I will focus on two essential cognitive functions that are closely linked to cognitive control: selective attention and reward-based decision-making. I will share my previous research investigating the neural circuits that are causally involved in selective attention and reward-based decision-making respectively. After that, I will talk about a newly developed large-scale neuronal recording technique that allows us to study neural circuits and dynamics within and across brain structures. The future direction of the lab is to leverage the benefit of this large-scale neuronal recording technique to study and enhance cognitive control functions.
Bio
Dr. Chen received her doctorate training from Johns Hopkins University and her post-doc training from Stanford University. Her academic training includes biomedical engineering, experimental psychology, and system neuroscience. She is an assistant professor at UC Davis in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior. In addition, she serves as a principal investigator of the Cognitive Control lab at UC Davis, where her lab investigates the neural bases of cognitive control functions. The overarching goal of her research is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive control and to translate those discoveries toward the development of techniques to enhance these cognitive functions.
This event has both in-person and remote options. Please register at this link: