Office: Carney 262
Phone: 617-552-8812
Email: cecile.morvan@bc.edu
Primary Advisor: Jon Horvitz
Research Interests: I am interested in understanding what roles dopamine plays in learning and motivation, and how these two elements relate. During learning, dopamine appears to strengthen cortical inputs to the striatum according to their relevance to the organism. If so, is dopamine still necessary once a behavior has become a habit? What is dopamine’s contribution to motivation? How does dopamine mediate goal-directed behavior, and the ability to make self-initiated, spontaneous choices according to what is important to the organism?
Undergraduate Institution/Degree: B.S. in Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology.