Neural mechanisms of reward processing and cognitive control

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Adults often refrain from snacking before dinner but they sometimes succumb to temptation. Such decisions between immediate vs. delayed gratification recruit neurocognitve mechanisms for cognitive control (how people regulate their attention, thoughts, and actions in accord with high-level goals and intentions) and reinforcement learning (how decisions are informed by rewards and punishments received in the past). My research indicates that reward signals for cognitive control can be seen in people's "event-related brain potentials" or ERPs, otherwise known as "brainwaves." Accordingly, I use ERPs, in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging and computational modelling, to elucidate the brain mechanisms underlying complex decision making and the problems that result when these mechanisms are impaired, such as occurs in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and addiction.