Geoffrey Schoenbaum, M.D., Ph.D.

NIH Distinguished Investigator

Cellular Neurobiology Research Branch, Behavioral Neurophysiology Neuroscience Section

NIDA

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Biomedical Research Center
251 Bayview Boulevard
Suite 200, Room 06A705
Baltimore, MD 21224

443-740-2476

geoffrey.schoenbaum@nih.gov

Research Topics

Our lab is interested in the neural circuits mediating associative learning and decision making and how alterations in those circuits contribute to maladaptive behaviors in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction. We use rats as a model system to study behaviors and neural circuits that we believe have direct relevance to understanding the human brain. Areas of particular interest include the orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, striatum, and midbrain dopamine system. Our lab uses behavioral tasks based on principles derived from learning theory, combined with single unit recording, lesions, pharmacological and genetic manipulations to test hypotheses about how these areas interact to support learning and adaptive behavior.

Selected Publications

  1. Takahashi YK, Stalnaker TA, Marrero-Garcia Y, Rada RM, Schoenbaum G. Expectancy-Related Changes in Dopaminergic Error Signals Are Impaired by Cocaine Self-Administration. Neuron. 2019;101(2):294-306.e3.

  2. Sharpe MJ, Chang CY, Liu MA, Batchelor HM, Mueller LE, Jones JL, Niv Y, Schoenbaum G. Dopamine transients are sufficient and necessary for acquisition of model-based associations. Nat Neurosci. 2017;20(5):735-742.

  3. Takahashi YK, Batchelor HM, Liu B, Khanna A, Morales M, Schoenbaum G. Dopamine Neurons Respond to Errors in the Prediction of Sensory Features of Expected Rewards. Neuron. 2017;95(6):1395-1405.e3.

  4. Stalnaker TA, Cooch NK, Schoenbaum G. What the orbitofrontal cortex does not do. Nat Neurosci. 2015;18(5):620-7.

  5. Lucantonio F, Takahashi YK, Hoffman AF, Chang CY, Bali-Chaudhary S, Shaham Y, Lupica CR, Schoenbaum G. Orbitofrontal activation restores insight lost after cocaine use. Nat Neurosci. 2014;17(8):1092-9.

Related Scientific Focus Areas

This page was last updated on November 2nd, 2018