# A hierarchy of timescales for switching between states of neural activity during consumption decisions

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $321,305

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The investigators will combine experimental studies with computational simulations to uncover
the neural circuit mechanisms underlying taste choice behavior. A fundamental question to be
addressed is how the neural activity induced by a given taste is impacted by the recent
sampling of another taste and/or by the expectation that another taste is forthcoming. We will
analyse data produced from ensemble recordings of neural activity and make use of
optogenetic techniques that alter neural activity, to further our work on how specific features of
such activity impact behavior during a decision making task. These data will provide fuel to our
modeling efforts, with which we will produce a framework that can generalize to other sensory
modalities, whenever decisions are based on a consideration of one stimulus at a time (even if
two stimuli are present) rather than on a parallel processing of two or more stimuli
simultaneously—that is, this novel framework will allow us to understand the behavior of
animals when faced with a choice between any two separate stimuli.
Thus, a transformative aspect of the research will be the development of a new framework for
the analysis of decision-making when the choice to be made is whether to stick with the current
stimulus or to switch to another. In such decision making tasks, which are ubiquitous in natural
settings, the stimulus itself is chosen by the subject rather than being controled by the
experimenter. Our recordings of the animal's behavior simultaneously with its neural activity
allow us to tightly constrain these first dynamic models of such a process.
Taste is an important, albeit underused, modality for addressing issues of sensory processing,
in that it has a strong connection to behavior—indeed it is well-nigh impossible for an animal to
sample a taste without a behavioral response. Moreover, given that tastants can be intrinisically
hedonic or aversive, animals are internally driven to make responses and will do so without the
months of training—which inevitably rewires the brain—required for animal training in behavioral
tasks based on other sensory modalities. Therefore taste is ideally suited to the study of
naturalistic decision making.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10058284
- **Project number:** 5R01NS104818-04
- **Recipient organization:** BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Donald B Katz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $321,305
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-15 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10058284

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10058284, A hierarchy of timescales for switching between states of neural activity during consumption decisions (5R01NS104818-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10058284. Licensed CC0.

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