Profile

Prof Wolfram SCHULTZ

Co-Principal Investigator

Prof Wolfram Schultz's group is interested to relate the mechanics of brain activity to measurable behaviour. We combine neurophysiological, imaging and behavioural techniques to investigate the neural correlates of goal-directed. We are interested in outcome value (in particular reward) signals in specific brain structures such as dopamine neurons, striatum, frontal cortex and amygdala. These rapid, global, evaluative and supervising neural signals may play a role in decision-making and choice behaviour. In investigating these outcome-coding mechanisms we try to establish a common biological basis for animal learning theory, microeconomic utility and game theories, and behavioural ecology. The larger background is to consider the brain in its capacity for processing reward information as an essential organ for assuring the fitness for survival in an evolutionary framework.

Cambridge

Researchers

CLIC

Research Interest

Key Publications

Prof Wolfram Schultz's Website

Kelly M.J. Diederen, Hisham Ziauddeen, Martin D. Vestergaard, Tom Spencer, Wolfram Schultz and Paul C. Fletcher, Dopamine Modulates Adaptive Prediction Error Coding in the Human Midbrain and Striatum, Journal of Neuroscience 15 February 2017, 37 (7) 1708-1720; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1979-16.2016

Zuzanna BrzoskoWolfram SchultzOle Paulsen (2015) Retroactive modulation of spike timing-dependent plasticity by dopamine, eLife 4:e09685. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09685

Nenad Medic, Hisham Ziauddeen, Martin D. Vestergaard, Elana Henning, Wolfram Schultz, I. Sadaf Farooqi and Paul C. Fletcher, Dopamine Modulates the Neural Representation of Subjective Value of Food in Hungry Subjects, Journal of Neuroscience 10 December 2014, 34 (50) 16856-16864; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2051-14.2014

Wolfram Schultz et al. (1997). A Neural Substrate of Prediction and Reward, Science, 275,1593-1599, DOI:10.1126/science.275.5306.1593

Achievements