OxTalks is Changing
During Michaelmas Term, OxTalks will be moving to a new platform (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
For now, continue using the current page and event submission process (freeze period dates to be advised).
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Neural population geometry and neuroeconomics
The seminar is to be held in the Lecture Theatre 2 (lower ground floor), not the usual seminar rooms (Seminar Room 7/8).
Recent theoretical and empirical advances in neuroscience suggest that geometries of neural population codes can implement simultaneous generalization and differentiation. That is, they can allow brains to represent both the general features of categories and, at the same time, maintain a separate representation, as would be needed for category membership. I will explore how these principles can help resolve three outstanding issues in neuroeconomics. First, the need to compute abstract values during evaluation. Second, the need to flexibly bind values with actions during choice. Third, the need to flexibly bind outcomes and the choices that produced them. I will argue that these principles are even more important in naturalistic choices, such as those characterized by continuous and interactive decisions. In particular, I will examine relevance of coding geometry for the context of prey-pursuit problems.
Bio:
Benjamin Y. Hayden is Professor of Neurosurgery (and McNair Scholar) at Baylor College of Medicine. His lab investigates neural mechanisms of reward, decision-making, executive control, and flexibility, often in naturalistic contexts and with human intracranial recordings; he also examines how these neural processes relate to psychiatric disorders (e.g. depression, anxiety, addiction).
Date:
6 November 2025, 13:00
Venue:
Lecture Theatre 2 (Lower ground floor) Life and Mind Building South Parks Road, OX1 3EL https://lifeandmind.web.ox.ac.uk/
Speaker:
Professor Benjamin Hayden (Baylor College of Medicine, USA)
Organising department:
Department of Experimental Psychology
Organisers:
Dr Fei-Yang Huang (University of Oxford),
Dr Sophia Shatek (University of Oxford),
Dr Ali Mahmoodi (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
beacon-seminar@psy.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Dr Laurence Hunt (University of Oxford)
Part of:
Department of Experimental Psychology - Cognitive & Behavioural Neuroscience Seminar series (BEACON)
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editors:
Anne-Marie Honeyman-Tafa,
Fei-Yang Huang
