Award
National Institute of Mental Health 1R01MH138416-01A1
The functions of the claustrum in flexible decision making.
Recipient
Johns Hopkins University
Award Amount
$608,086.00
Ceiling
$608,086.00
Awarded
March 26, 2026
Identifier
1R01MH138416-01A1
Research project funded by NIH to study the role of the claustrum in cognitive flexibility and decision-making, involving neurophysiological experiments and modeling to understand neuropsychiatric disorders.
Description
This project aims to test whether interactions between the cerebral cortex and the claustrum contribute to decision-making and learning across different timescales. The experiments focus on the role of the claustrum in generating flexible behaviors using tasks such as dynamic foraging and reversal learning, involving cortical areas like the medial prefrontal cortex and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. The study investigates neuronal activity encoding decision variables, the influence of claustrum projections on cortical activity, and the necessity of claustrum neurons for flexible decision-making and learning. The findings are expected to enhance understanding of the claustrum's role in cognitive flexibility and its implications for neuropsychiatric disorders.