Stephanie Lazzaro, Second-year PhD student, Center for Neural Science

I am interested in understanding where and how value is represented in the brain, and how values are transformed into choices. I am also interested in looking at how neural activity can predict those choices. I am working with Dr. Bijan Pesaran to elucidate how different brain areas work together to make decisions. We use multi-unit electrode arrays to simultaneously record neural activity in the frontal and parietal cortex while a subject makes choices between options associated with varying amounts of reward. By looking at correlations between spiking and local field potential activity in different brain areas, I hope to gain a better understanding of the underlying decision-making process. I am also interested in uncertain decisions, such as when the options have similar or equal values, and hope to use my measurements of neural activity to predict choice even in these uncertain situations.

I chose to pursue my PhD at NYU because the faculty is engaged in research that parallels my own interests in decision-making. The faculty uses a wide range of techniques from electrophysiology to functional MRI, and the research environment encourages interdisciplinary collaboration. There is frequent interaction between the faculty and students of the neuroscience, psychology, and economics departments at weekly seminars. I have enjoyed learning about these different approaches to studying decision-making, and I hope to apply that knowledge to my own research throughout my career.

During my first year of graduate school, I worked with Dr. Pesaran to build my electrophysiology setup, design a choice experiment, record neural activity from multiple brain areas while a subject makes choices, and am now analyzing the behavioral and neural data from my experiment. I hope to equip myself with an array of tools to analyze and understand decision-making, and the multidisciplinary environment at NYU is ideal for that purpose.