For many postdocs, research fellowships are a vital form of funding. This semester, three postdocs from MCB labs have recently been awarded fellowships. Bongmin Bae of the Whipple…
MCB faculty Naoshige Uchida will succeed MCB faculty Jeff Lichtman as Head Tutor of Neuroscience. Each undergraduate concentration at Harvard has a Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS)—also known…
As they navigate their environment, animals readily learn to repeat actions which yield reward and avoid actions which cause punishment. This kind of learning is especially efficient when…
Postdoc Iku Kimura of the Uchida Lab has been awarded a prestigious fellowship from the Japan Science and Technology Agency. The fellowship program, named “Promoting Individual Research to…
In our new study published in Nature Neuroscience, we found evidence that rodent brains use a specific form of learning called temporal difference (TD) learning. TD learning has…
The last several years have seen remarkable developments in artificial intelligence (AI). Computers can now play complex video games such as Pac-Man, Space Invader, and even StarCraft II…
Predicting future rewards depends critically on beliefs about the current state of the world. For example, suppose you go to a restaurant with two chefs, one who you’ve…
You head to your favorite coffee shop, order a cappuccino, and when the barista calls your name, you grab your coffee. Imagine, however, you grab the wrong cup…
Monoamine neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, and noradrenaline are released by small populations of neurons that send information to much of the brain. These neurons function like major…