Investigating sequences: Integrated studies in humans and animals

We perform sequences of tasks, such as making a sandwich, every day. We have to plan and execute a series of goals, in the correct order, in order to accomplish this. We also have to organize routine motor actions (such as cutting a tomato or slicing bread) and be able to adapt them to changing circumstances (such as getting a tomato from the refrigerator or the garden). We have very little understanding of how the brain accomplishes these tasks. Broadly, we seek to understand how the brain represents and organizes such cognitive and behavioral sequences through research that combines animal and human experimental models.