MEMBERS
Sami El-Boustani
Sami El-Boustani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the AV短视频. Following his background in theoretical physics, he developed a strong interest in neurosciences. He pursued his training with a a Master's degree in Cognitive Science, a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and postdoctoral positions at MIT and EPFL, specializing in computational modeling and experimental techniques to study sensory processing and cortical plasticity in vivo. In 2018, he established his own lab at the AV短视频 through an Eccellenza Professorial fellowship.
Sami El Boustani is fascinated by decision-making and its relation with mental health. Using mice as a model, his lab studies motivation, attention, and internal representations in decision-making. He aims to uncover neural circuits maintaing internal models of the world.
Learning and using internal representation models for decision-making
The research laboratory of Sami El-Boustani is engaged in a project that aims to investigate how internal representations influence sensory processing and decision-making in mice. Through visuo-tactile tasks, the laboratory seeks to understand the cellular mechanisms underlying multisensory representations in the mouse brain. Using cutting-edge techniques, the laboratory observes cortical circuit dynamics in behaving animals, providing unparalleled insights into brain function. The goal is to generate data that support the existence of inference signals and elucidate their impact on behavior. The laboratory's research bridges the gap between cognitive, systems, and cellular neuroscience, offering a comprehensive understanding of experience-dependent decision-making. This work has potential implications for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders involving inference and learning impairments, such as schizophrenia.
Brain circuits for joint decision-making and observational learning
This research project, conducted by Sami El-Boustani's laboratory, delves into coordinated behaviors in joint decision-making tasks and the role of sensory cue exchange. Focusing on rodents, the project explores how they exchange sensory cues during exploration to enhance coordination and resource access. By investigating the underlying mechanisms and the impact of information exchange on internal representations, particularly in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the project aims to uncover the nature of sensory cue exchange and its simultaneous representation in the brains of cooperating individuals. Specially designed tasks promoting coordination and observational learning in pairs of mice will provide insights into the dynamics of cooperation. The future findings have the potential to reveal fundamental forms of communication and insights into alterations in brain circuits associated with neurological conditions characterized by asocial behaviors, such as autism.
