Flexible minds: how do we decide what to do next?
What enables the brain to imagine possibilities, weigh up options, and decide what to do next? In a recent SWC Seminar, Professor Loren Frank shared his research into the neural basis of cognitive flexibility – the brain’s amazing ability to adapt thoughts and behaviours in response to changing environments. In this Q&A, Professor Frank explains how his lab has developed naturalistic tasks in rats to reveal how the hippocampus represents not only where an animal is, but also where it could have been or might go next. He also explores the potential implications for understanding imagination and psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia.