Mark Walton
BA MSc DPhil
Wellcome Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience
- Wellcome Senior Research Fellow
- Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience
Neuropsychology and neurochemistry of decision making
Research Summary
My group are interested in the way in which our brains are able to integrate across these multiple different types of information in order to guide appropriate decisions. We particularly focus on how different aspects of value are learned, represented and used to guide choice behaviour within frontal-striatal-dopaminergic circuits.
The long-term goal is to use the information gleaned about the functional of these systems to better understand how the process of valuation and decision making goes awry in neuropsychiatric disorders.
The laboratory uses a range of recording and interference techniques to address these questions, including electrochemistry (fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to measure sub-second dopamine release and amperometry to record tissue oxygen), targeted lesions, neuropharmacological manipulations, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We are particularly interested to use combinations of techniques in order to investigate communication between brain regions and the causal interactions within these networks.
Our behavioural tasks are designed with an eye to ideas in disciplines such as behavioural ecology, animal learning theory and neuroeconomics as well as behavioural and cognitive neuroscience. These allow us to determine how the different influences on our everyday learning and decision making might be represented in the brain.
Key publications
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Journal article
Papageorgiou GK. et al, (2016), Cell Rep, 15, 221 - 228
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Journal article
Syed ECJ. et al, (2016), Nat Neurosci, 19, 34 - 36
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Journal article
Walton ME. et al, (2010), Neuron, 65, 927 - 939
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Journal article
Gan JO. et al, (2010), Nat Neurosci, 13, 25 - 27
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Journal article
Chakraborty S. et al, (2016), Elife, 5
Recent publications
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A cellular basis for mapping behavioural structure.
Journal article
El-Gaby M. et al, (2024), Nature
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Impaired striatal glutathione-ascorbate metabolism induces transient dopamine increase and motor dysfunction.
Journal article
Malik MY. et al, (2024), Nat Metab
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Do goldfish like to be informed?
Preprint
Ajuwon V. et al, (2024)
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A Cellular Basis for Mapping Behavioural Structure
Preprint
El-Gaby M. et al, (2023)
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Hierarchical encoding of reward, effort and choice across the cortex and basal ganglia during cost-benefit decision making
Preprint
Härmson O. et al, (2023)