A central focus of the lab is the study of high-order cognitive processes supporting learning and memory. We study active sensing mechanisms as a path to dissect multi-level system-wide processes underlying learning and memory, and in particular the active modulation of behavior to optimize sensory perception and motor output during behavior. Sensation is an active operation requiring the continuous modulation of detection, representation and processing of incoming information. Active sensation involves the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes, resulting in engagement of brain-wide systems. In mice, olfaction provides a unique avenue to study active sensing. In collaboration with Dima Rinberg at NYU we developed a unique experimental setup to monitor sniffing non-invasively in behaving mice. Examining brain-wide responses using this platform of an animal from the naïve state to task proficiency, we demonstrate the effects of learning on hippocampal and striatal responses. In particular, we were able to manipulate sensory experience by separating events where odorants may or may not appear in synchronization with the sniff phase cycle in a go/no-go odor discrimination task, showing that animals adjust their sniff behavior to better sense odorants when it appears off-phase. Whole-brain fMRI allows to identify putative brain regions implicated in modulating the sniff cycle, deciding how to respond in the task, and process rewards as well regions involved in false alarm and miss errors.
We are now working on an expanded integrated MRI-compatible behaving mouse platform that allows to present multiple sensory modalities and monitor versatile motor behaviors. It will allow to design experiments that rely on multi-modal sensory binding of information. We plan to use this approach to focus on current theories of hippocampal and striatal based learning mechanisms. Our recent efforts on this front link back to work we have done in humans in decision-making (Kahn et al., 2002; Assaf et al., 2009), hippocampal-dependent learning (Kahn et al., 2004; Gonsalves et al., 2005; Kahn et al., 2008) and prefrontal mechanisms subserving memory retrieval and flexible behavior (Bunge et al., 2003; Kahn et al., 2005; Kuhl et al., 2007, 2008; Vincent et al., 2008).
Group Members: Eyal Bergmann, David Gruskin, and Daniela Lichtman