Farzad Ziaie Nezhad

Research Statement

The brain chooses the next course of action based on the Head Direction Cells (HDCs) information, such as deciding which direction to follow or what to do when it gets disoriented. We want to determine how the monkeys orient themselves in an experimental room to obtain food rewards using their 3D HDC network. 

We will be recording brain activities in Thalamic areas first to investigate how the primates’ HDC system tracks where they’re facing in 3D space and second to understand how they make decisions based on this integrated system.