Knowing how the discharges of single neurons and groups of neurons give rise to our thoughts, feelings, decisions and choices of action, lies at the fore of cognitive neuroscience. We know very little about how the activity of populations of neurons relate to behavioral choices, yet answers to such questions stand to reveal the fundamental mechanisms underlying neurological and psychiatric diseases ranging from Parkinson’s disease to addiction and schizophrenia. In the research program of Michele Basso at UCLA we focus on understanding the role of the basal ganglia and its inputs to the superior colliculus in cognitive processes related to decision-making. We incorporate a variety of experimental approaches. Our primary focus emphasizes behavioral, electrophysiological and computational techniques in the non-human primate. We work closely with neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuropsychologists to translate our work with monkeys in to humans with disease. Although powerful, work with monkeys and humans is limited in its ability to reveal insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cognitive processes. Therefore, to uncover cellular mechanisms, we perform experiments using the in vitro rodent model and biophysical tools such as patch-clamp recording and voltage imaging. In the laboratory we explore fundamental questions in cognitive neuroscience: 1) how are decisions represented in the sensorimotor networks of the basal ganglia and superior colliculus? 2) what are the computational principles that underlie decision-making? 3) how might these mechanisms go awry in disease? and 4) what are the cellular and synaptic mechanisms and dynamic properties of sensorimotor networks in the superior colliculus underlying decision-making?

scuba diving, reading, traveling, movies