Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience

Wellcome Principal Research Fellow, Professor of Neuroscience
Tel: +44 (0)1223 333779, Fax: +44 (0)1223 333840, E-mail: ws234@cam.ac.uk

We currently offer positions for research in reward and neuroeconomics

1 postdoctoral collaborator in human imaging with behavioural economics

Reward processing in the brain
Our group is interested to relate the mechanics of brain activity to measurable behaviour. We combine behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging techniques to investigate the neural mechanisms of learning and economic decision making at the level of single neurons and individual brain structures. We use behavioural concepts from animal learning theory and economic decision theory to study neural reward signals in specific brain regions, including the dopamine system, striatum, orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala. We currently investigate basic reward and risk decision variables, reward prediction errors, learning, irrational decisions and social interactions.

Colleagues
Raymundo Baez (MSc Max-Planck-Institute Tuebingen)
Zuzanna Brzosko (BSc Univ Oxford)
Charlotte R. van Coeverden (MSc Univ Amsterdam)
Helen Cousins (Computer Associate) (MSc Univ Cambridge)
Kelly M.J. Diederen (PhD Univ Utrecht)
Fabian Grabenhorst (PhD Univ Oxford)
Armin Lak (MSc Sissa Trieste)
Martin O’Neill (PhD Univ St. Andrews)
Alex Pastor-Bernier (PhD Univ Montreal)
William Stauffer (PhD Univ Pittsburgh)
Martin Vestergaard (PhD Technical Univ Copenhagen)

Main Collaborations
Michelle Baddeley & Christopher Harris (Economics Cambridge)
Anthony Dickinson (Experimental Psychology Cambridge)
Paul Fletcher (Psychiatry Cambridge)
Florian Mormann (Bonn University)
Peter Bossaerts & Richard Andersen (Caltech)
Aldo Rustichini (Minnesota University)
Masamichi Sakagami (Tamagawa University)

Main funding
Wellcome Trust
European Research Council
NIH Conte Center at Caltech

Selected publications

Grabenhorst F, Hernadi I, Schultz W. Prediction of economic choice by amygdala neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 109: 18950-18955, 2012

Bermudez M, Schultz W. Sensitivity to temporal reward structure in amygdala neurons. Curr Biol 22: 1839-1844, 2012

Schultz W. Potential vulnerabilities of neuronal reward, risk, and decision mechanisms to addictive drugs. Neuron 69: 603-617, 2011

O'Neill M, Schultz W. Coding of reward risk by orbitofrontal neurons is mostly distinct from coding of reward value. Neuron 68: 789-800, 2010

Burke CJ, Tobler PN, Baddeley M, Schultz W. Neuronal mechanisms of observational learning. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 107: 14431-14436, 2010

Schultz W. Dopamine signals for reward value and risk: basic and recent data. Behav Brain Funct 2010, 6:24, 2010. http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/6/1/24

Bermudez MA, Schultz W. Responses of amygdala neurons to positive reward predicting stimuli depend on background reward (contingency) rather than stimulus-reward pairing (contiguity). J Neurophysiol 103: 1158-1170, 2010

Kobayashi S, Pinto de Carvalho O, Schultz W. Adaptation of reward sensitivity in orbitofrontal neurons. J Neurosci 30: 534-544, 2010

Tobler PN, Christopoulos GI, O'Doherty JP, Dolan RJ, Schultz W. Risk-dependent reward value signal in human prefrontal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 106: 7185-7190, 2009

Kobayashi S & Schultz W. Influence of reward delays on responses of dopamine neurons. J Neurosci 28: 7837-7846, 2008

Tobler PN, O'Doherty JP, Dolan R & Schultz W. Reward value coding distinct from risk attitude-related uncertainty coding in human reward systems. J Neurophysiol 97: 1621-1632, 2007

Schultz W. Multiple dopamine functions at different time courses. Ann Rev Neurosci 30: 259-288, 2007

Schultz W. Behavioral theories and the neurophysiology of reward. Ann Rev Psychol 57: 87-115, 2006. Podcast http://www.in-cites.com/media/index.html

Tobler PN, Fiorillo CD & Schultz W. Adaptive coding of reward value by dopamine neurons. Science 307: 1642-1645, 2005

Fiorillo CD, Tobler PN & Schultz W. Discrete coding of reward probability and uncertainty by dopamine neurons. Science 299: 1898-1902, 2003

Waelti, P., Dickinson, A. and Schultz, W.: Dopamine responses comply with basic assumptions of formal learning theory. Nature 412: 43-48, 2001

Tremblay L & Schultz W. Relative reward preference in primate orbitofrontal cortex. Nature 398: 704-708, 1999

Schultz W. Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons. J Neurophysiol. 80: 1-27, 1998

Schultz W, Dayan P & Montague RR. A neural substrate of prediction and reward. Science 275: 1593-1599, 1997

Schultz W & Romo R. Role of primate basal ganglia and frontal cortex in the internal generation of movements: I. Preparatory activity in the anterior striatum. Exp Brain Res. 91: 363-384, 1992.