" Who knows what I want to do?  Who knows what anyone wants to do?  How can you be sure about something like that?  Isn’t it all a question of brain chemistry, signals going back and forth, electrical energy in the cortex?"  

Don DeLillo, White Noise

Research in the Walton lab focuses on how different aspects of value are learned and used to guide decision making within defined brain systems.  We are particularly interested in how neurochemicals such as dopamine regulate these processes on a moment-by-moment timescale.  The laboratory uses a range of cutting-edge recording and interference techniques to address these questions.  The long-term goal is to use information gleaned about these systems in the normal brain to better understand how decision making goes awry in neuropsychiatric disorders.

We are generously supported by The Wellcome Trust, MRC, and BBSRC