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Zach Mainen

 

Wednesday 22nd April 2015

Time: 3.30pm

 

Basement Seminar Room

Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3AR

 

"Neural dynamics underlying the generation of self-initiated actions"

 

 

Bio

Zachary Mainen

Zachary Mainen is a neuroscientist whose research focuses on the brain mechanisms of decision making.
He studied psychology and philosophy at Yale University, received his doctorate in
Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego, and held a faculty position at Cold Spring
Harbor Laboratory, New York, before moving to Lisbon in 2007 to found the Champalimaud
Neuroscience Programme, where he is now the director. His work has been recognized by the Advanced
Investigator Grant of the European Research Council and the election to the European Molecular Biology
Organization. Mainen’s research explores brain function, especially decision-making, using theory-driven
experimental approaches. His laboratory helped to pioneer the use of quantitative behavioral paradigms
in rodents and combines those approaches with electrophysiological, optical and genetic techniques to
study neural representation and computation. He has a long-standing interest in the issue of how noise
and uncertainty impact neural systems and behavior and our understanding of these processes. His lab
is currently exploring these questions in the context of odor-guided perceptual decisions and learning,
the timing and selection of simple actions, and the role of the neuromodulator serotonin in behavior
and cortical function. This work touches on philosophical issues surrounding causality, free will,
knowledge and belief.

Zachary Mainen’s web page