Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ChangeBehavNeuro (Novel Mechanism of Behavioural Change)

Teaser

Multiple disorders can benefit from behavioural change such as addictions, mental and food disorders. Current methods of behavioural change rely on self-control or external reinforcement. Here, we explore the behavioral boundaries and neural basis of a novel mechanism of...

Summary

Multiple disorders can benefit from behavioural change such as addictions, mental and food disorders. Current methods of behavioural change rely on self-control or external reinforcement. Here, we explore the behavioral boundaries and neural basis of a novel mechanism of behavioral change that does not rely on external feedback or self-control. We study the behavioral and neural differences between reinforced and non-reinforced change and how memory is related to value-based decision-making. We aim to shed light on the basic scientific components of behavioural change mechanism in order to develop and inform real-world novel interventions.

Work performed

We investigated the generalizability and boundaries of the novel non-reinforced behavioral change effect and reveled that this novel mechanism of behavioral change relies on changes in visual sensory mechanisms. We further developed a new behavioural task to change behavior with reinforcement as well study the neural basis of reinforced habits in humans.

Final results

We have published four manuscripts including the generalization of the non-reinforced effect, demonstrating its reliance on plasticity on visual regions and it’s putative link to frontal regions. In addition, we established a novel reinforced behavioral change paradigm. We expect additional papers to be published by the end of this project.

Website & more info

More info: http://schonberglab.tau.ac.il/.