The long-term objective of the Jazayeri lab is to develop a mathematical framework for understanding the link between the brain and the mind. To tackle this problem, the lab records and perturbs brain signals in animal models while they perform mental computations. They use normative theories, computational models, and artificial neural networks to understand the building blocks of the mind in terms of the mechanisms and algorithms implemented by the brain.
The lab currently focuses on the following mental computations: (1) anticipation and planning, (2) integration and inference, (3) hierarchical and counterfactual reasoning, and (4) mental navigation.
Biography
Mehrdad Jazayeri is an associate professor and director of education in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and an investigator at McGovern Institute. He received his BSc in electrical engineering majoring in telecommunications from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He then completed his MS in physiology at the University of Toronto, and his PhD in neuroscience at New York University.
Honors and Awards
MIT School of Science award for Graduate Education, 2019
Excellence in Teaching, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2019, 2014
McKnight Scholar Award, 2017
Graduate Teaching Award, MIT, 2016
Klingenstein-Simons Fellow, 2015
Robert Swanson Career Development Professorship, 2015
Sloan Research Fellow, 2014