Postdoctoral associate

Laboratory of Hyojung Seo, Ph.D in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine (https://seolab.yale.edu), is recruiting a talented and motivated postdoctoral researcher who will investigate cortico-striatal mechanisms underlying temporal credit assignment during reinforcement learning. Learning a desirable course of actions through experience requires proper credit assignment based on an accurate causal model between pairs of causative action and resulting outcome that are often separated in time, and by intervening events. Nevertheless, it remains unknown how brain learns an accurate causal model and employ it to solve temporal credit assignment.

Using a novel behavioral paradigm “lagged bandits”, we seek to address these questions by analyzing neural activity recorded with high-density probes (e.g. Neuropixels) simultaneously from cortical and subcortical regions of non-human primates, in combination with chemogenetic circuit manipulation and computational modeling. This project is supported by the BRAIN Initiative.

Strong candidates should have a Ph.D in neuroscience, psychology/cognitive science, or related fields and be proficient at methodology in systems neuroscience such as neurophysiology, electrical/chemo-/optogenetic stimulation, and computational modeling/analysis of behavioral and neural data. Candidates with strong computational backgrounds are encouraged to apply, as they can leverage resources of the laboratory such as existing neural dataset and resources for artificial neural network simulation.

Interested applicants should send their applications to Dr. Hyojung Seo (hyojung.seo@yale.edu). The application should include: (1) CV; (2) A brief statement of research interests; (3) Contact information for 3 references.

Yale is an affirmative action equal opportunity employer. Yale values diversity among its students, faculty, and staff. Women, persons with disabilities, protected veterans, and underrepresented minorities are encouraged to apply.