Here you will hear from Armin and Kerry who will discuss how our brains decipher between different stimuli in order to understand our surroundings and make decisions.

Hearing with your brain
Dr Kerry Walker (Associate Professor of Neuroscience) @K_M_M_Walker
All day, every day, your brain transforms the linear pressure wave reaching your eardrum into a rich inner world of complex auditory scenes. My research group investigates how nerve cells (neurons) in the brain make this happen. We measure the electrical and chemical reactions of neurons in the hearing centres of the brain, and use this information to decode how neurons represent the melody of a familiar tune, parts of speech sounds, or the location of sounds in space.

Risk vs Reward: How do we train our brains to make choices?
Dr Armin Lak (Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellow) @ArminLak
Central to the organization of our behaviour is the ability to predict the values of outcomes to guide decision-making. Deciding between different scenarios is more than just weighing up their pros and cons, and requires combining their learned value with one’s sensory confidence. Using state-of-the-art imaging and behavioural techniques, we trained mice in a visual task that probes this combination to uncover how we use a reward-based system to influence our decision-making.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The annual Pint of Science festival brings scientists and their research to you! This year, there will be a mixture of events happening during the week of 17th May. Each night will provide a unique line up of talks, demonstrations, quizzes, and live experiments.

The UK’s Pint of Science Festival will take place online from Monday 17th May to Thursday 20th May 2021, with LIVE shows and a virtual sci-art exhibition, Creative Reactions.

Each evening we will be streaming live to the Pint of Science UK YouTube channel (youtube.com/pintofscience) at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm (UK time) from over 35 locations across the country. All shows are free to watch, and with nearly 70 live shows you are sure to find something which quenches your thirst for knowledge!

As all the shows are live, you can join in and ask questions via the chat and interact with our hosts and presenters.

Details of all shows can be found at pintofscience.co.uk/events/online with an interactive booklet to help you navigate the full programme pintofscience.co.uk/pint21.

See: pintofscience.co.uk/organisation/oxford for more information.