Cognition and Neuroscience Workgroup

Director: Brett Clementz

The Cognition and Neuroscience workgroup is an interdisciplinary group that studies behavior and/or cognition from a neural systems perspective. The research programs may take a “top down” or a “bottom up” approach. In the former approach, the whole organism is studied to understand underlying mechanisms (i.e., such as basic neural systems or circuits mediating behavior, sensation or cognition), whereas in the latter approach, the focus is on uncovering the larger functional role of a specific gene, neuronal population, or circuit. Areas of interest include sensation and perception, affective disorders, compulsive behavior and cognition. Subjects employed in these experiments range from rodents to capuchin monkeys to humans. Research methods include brain imaging in animals or humans.