Phone
Office Location
Aidekman Building
197 University Ave
Newark, NJ 07102
Exploring the neural circuits that drive value-based decision-making and motivated behavior.
In the McGinty Lab at Rutgers University in Newark, we ask how the brain represents value, and how these value representations guide actions and decisions. Our ultimate goal is to understand the neural basis of everyday decision-making and motivated behavior.
The lab’s core technique is behavioral electrophysiology. We measure single neuron activity in the frontal lobe, limbic system, and basal ganglia, in animals engaged in decision-making and other value-based tasks. These experiments also incorporate array recording, microstimulation, pharmacological, and computational techniques. With these techniques, we aim to understand how value is encoded across a number of brain regions, and, critically, how the functional circuitry connecting these regions enables the brain to construct a value code from sensory stimuli.
To learn more, visit www.mcgintylab.org, or contact Dr. McGinty at vince.mcginty@rutgers.edu.
Research Initiatives
The McGinty Laboratory studies how the brain represents value, and how these value representations are used to act or decide. At a high level, our goal is to understand human brain function by examining the neural architecture common to all primates, through a combination of behavioral methods, neurophysiology and computational modelling.
Education
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, 2008
B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 2001