Giancarlo La Camera
Assistant Professor

Giancarlo La Camera studied Theoretical Physics at the University of Rome and received a Laurea (M. Sci.) in 1999. He went on to obtain a PhD in Neurobiology from the University of Bern in 2003. Between 2004 and 2008 he was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health. After a spell back at the University of Bern, he joined the faculty of Stony Brook University in early 2011, where he is currently Assistant Professor of Neurobiology & Behavior.

Research

Our laboratory is interested in the neural underpinnings of reward-based learning and decision-making; how these processes depend on contextual factors; and how they shape our processing of relevant stimuli (i.e., how we ‘see’ and interpret the world). Reinforcement Learning, the theory of learning to predict rewarding outcomes, investigates the basis of how we make reward-based decisions. These are of the utmost importance in everyday life but are also at the core of much standard laboratory practice (think e.g. of Pavlovian or instrumental conditioning). We pursue a biologically plausible theory of reinforcement learning, i.e., a theory where populations of spiking neurons carry out the computation in accord with the principles of biophysics. In this context, one question of special interest to us is that of ‘state’ formation. Examples of ‘states’ could be the internal state of the subject; an external stimulus; or in general the combination of all factors that together contribute to a decision. To address the question of how neural circuits learn to make decisions, the problem of state formation must be solved first. This is a formidable problem, one that seems not ripe for investigation yet. A simpler question, that may be amenable to analysis, is how populations of spiking neurons can learn to identify relevant stimuli and extract meaningful segments from a continuous sensory stream. This process, and how it is affected by context, is currently a major focus of our research.

Humans and animals are very susceptible to context, such as the way an option is framed; how much it cost to reach a particular state; or whether we were hungry or sated when a choice between two different foods was given to us. Context is likely to exert a strong influence on how information is processed in the brain and, thus, on our own understanding of the neural code. Biologically relevant theories of context-dependent learning are in their infancy, and our lab is developing tools and ideas to further their development.

The way we learn and make decisions also affects the way we perceive and evaluate new stimuli and contexts, which in turn will affect our ability to learn and make decisions, and so on, as in a ‘circular’ process of reciprocal interplay between ‘top-down’, ‘cognitive’ aspects of decision-making, and ‘bottom-up’, sensory coding of external inputs. We are also interested in modeling this interaction and its possible computational consequences for coding the relevant states.

In addition to seeking a theoretical understanding of these issues, we team up with other groups in the Department of Neurobiology and elsewhere to test our models against empirical data.

Selected Publications

• T. Minamimoto, G. La Camera, and B.J. Richmond, Measuring and Modeling the Interaction Among Reward Size, Delay to Reward, and Satiation Level on Motivation in Monkeys, J Neurophysiol 101:437-447, 2009
• M. Giugliano, G. La Camera, S. Fusi and W. Senn, The response of cortical neurons to in vivo-like input current: theory and experiment II. Time-varying and spatially distributed inputs, Biol Cybern 99(4-5):303-18, 2008
• G. La Camera, M. Giugliano, W. Senn and S. Fusi, The response of cortical neurons to in vivo-like input current: theory and experiment I. Noisy inputs with stationary statistics, Biol Cybern 99(4-5):279-301, 2008
• G. La Camera and B.J. Richmond, Modeling the violation of reward maximization and invariance in reinforcement schedules, PLoS Comput Biol 4(8): e1000131, 2008
• G. La Camera*, A. Rauch*, D. Thurbon, H-R Lüscher, W. Senn and S. Fusi, Multiple time scales of temporal response in pyramidal and fast spiking cortical neurons, J Neurophysiol 96(6): 3448-3464, 2006
• E. Curti, G. Mongillo, G. La Camera and D.J. Amit, Mean-Field and capacity in realistic networks of spiking neurons storing sparsely coded random memories, Neural Comput 16(12): 2597-2637, 2004
• G. La Camera, A. Rauch, H-R Lüscher, W. Senn and S. Fusi,
  Minimal models of adapted neuronal response to in vivo-like input currents, Neural Comput 16(10): 2101-2124, 2004
• A. Rauch*, G. La Camera*, H-R Lüscher, W. Senn and S. Fusi,
  Neocortical pyramidal cells respond as integrate-and-fire neurons to in vivo-like input currents, J Neurophysiol 90(3): 1598-1612, 2003

Laboratory Personnel

• Lucinda Davies — Sr. Postdoctoral Associate
• Luca Mazzucato – Sr. Postdoctoral Associate
• Luisa Le Donne - Graduate Student