Talk by Dominik Bach (Zürich): "Action-selection under threat: algorithms and neural circuits"

Affective Neuroscience and Psychophysiology & RTG2070 

Colloquium

Dominik Bach (University of Zürich)

09.01.2019 18:00 - 20:00 — GEMI, Raum 1.134

Appropriate behaviour under threat is key to survival. In my talk, I
will ask what are the computational algorithms and neural
controllers by which biological agents decide on what to do, and
how. Non-human animal data tentatively suggest a specific
architecture that relies on tailored algorithms for specific threat
scenarios. To investigate this in humans, I will discuss the translation
of approach-avoidance conflict (AAC), a classical rodent anxiety
model, to human computer games involving virtual threat. I will
analyze possible cognitive-computational algorithms for behavioral
control and learning in these tasks, and their neural
implementation.