J. Douglas Steele

General cognitive function and the brain's structural connectome

The paper shows that general cognitive function is supported by a widespread white matter network across multiple brain regions and connectivity measures.

Electrophysiological Correlates of Reward Processing in the Human Ventral Tegmental Area

The paper uses intracranial recordings from patients with chronic cluster headache to show that the human VTA encodes reward-related signals during learning.

Focused ultrasound neuromodulation of mediodorsal thalamus disrupts decision flexibility during reward learning

This study shows that disrupting the mediodorsal thalamus with focused ultrasound reduces decision flexibility during reward learning in patients with essential tremor.

General and specific patterns of cortical gene expression as substrates of complex cognitive functioning

The paper identifies general and specific patterns of cortical gene expression related to cognitive functioning using principal component analysis and validates them across datasets.

Impaired value-based decision-making in Parkinson's Disease Apathy

This study investigates decision-making impairments in Parkinson's disease patients with apathy using reinforcement learning tasks and fMRI, finding reduced value-based choices and distinct neural activation patterns.

Pallidal neuromodulation of the explore/exploit trade-off in decision-making

This study shows that neuromodulation of the globus pallidus interna affects exploration in decision-making tasks by altering evidence accumulation rates.

Local CpG density affects the trajectory of age-associated epigenetic changes

The paper shows that local CpG density influences age-related DNA methylation changes in humans by analyzing longitudinal methylation data and SNP data from 600 individuals.

Integrated methylome and phenome study of the circulating proteome reveals markers pertinent to brain health

The paper identifies DNA methylation and proteomic markers associated with brain health through integrated methylome and phenome analyses.

Tonic dopamine, uncertainty and basal ganglia action selection.

This paper presents a computational model of the basal ganglia that shows tonic dopamine modulates explore-exploit decision making by affecting action selection precision under uncertainty.

Opposing patterns of abnormal D1 and D2 receptor dependent cortico-striatal plasticity explain increased risk taking in patients with DYT1 dystonia

The paper shows that increased risk-taking in DYT1 dystonia patients is explained by a model with opposing D1 and D2 receptor-dependent cortico-striatal plasticity abnormalities.

Maladaptive striatal plasticity and abnormal reward-learning in cervical dystonia

This study investigates abnormal reward-learning in cervical dystonia using computational modeling and finds that decreased D2 cortico-striatal synaptic plasticity explains impaired reversal learning.

Neuroticism Impairs the Use of Reward Values for Decision-Making in Major Depression

This study shows that neuroticism impairs reward learning and decision-making in major depression patients compared to healthy controls.

Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activity during reinforcement learning discriminates response to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in depression.

This study identifies dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activity patterns during reinforcement learning that predict response to computerised CBT in depression.