MRC Transition Support. CDA. Jill O'Reilly.

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My research is concerned with how our brains build models of the environment in which we live, and use those models to make decisions and plan behaviour. My research group's approach to understanding the brain is to use computational modelling. We develop experimental games that simulate problems people face in the real world, such as choosing between two options that cannot be clearly seen. Then we code algorithms (implemented in computer programmes) that solve the tasks in different ways, and test which algorithm is the best fit to human behaviour. Next, we use our knowledge of brain circuits to work out how these algorithms could be computed by populations of neurons in a real brain. I measure brain activity in humans using non-invasive imaging techniques such as MRI. Some of my models also make predictions about how different brain chemicals (neurotransmitters and neuromodulators) affect the processing of information by the brain. To test these hypotheses, I will give healthy volunteers small doses of drugs that affect neurotransmitter concentrations and observe the resulting changes in their behaviour and brain activity.A major technical challenge for my research programme is that we cannot simply record the activity of neurons in the human brain, without opening up the skull. To test our hypotheses in non-invasive experiments, we need work out how the modelled activity of neurons will be reflected in signals we can measure using non-invasive techniques like brain scanning (functional magnetic resonance imaging or magnetoencephalography). During the last four years, we have spent most of our time on solving this problem and are now confident that we have good models. However, we have not yet been able to complete the planned drug studies, which require a lot of slow and careful work to be done safely.I am now applying for additional funding for my research programme to help me complete the proposed research. The bulk of the funding is to retain a key staff member in my team. Some of the funding is to buy out a percentage of my time from teaching so I am able to spend more time focussing on research and supporting my team.