Research
Cognitive processes emerge from the collective activity of interacting neurons. The primary goal of the Rich Lab is to understand the links between the emergent structure and dynamics of neural activity and advanced cognition. Our ongoing work is focused on processes involved in evaluation and value-based choice in the orbitofrontal cortex, and the use of mnemonic strategies in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We aim to provide insights that not only advance our understanding of basic brain function, but also help refine neuromodulation approaches that alter neural activity to achieve therapeutic benefits.
Contact Us
Rich Laboratory
Erin L Rich, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Neuroscience
Location
Office: HESS CSM 10-115
Phone
Office: 212.824.9304
Email
Publications
2024
Multi-attribute decision-making in macaques relies on direct attribute comparisons
Perkins, AQ, Gillis, ZS, Rich, EL
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Neural populations in macaque anterior cingulate cortex encode social image identities
Simon, J, Rich, EL
Nature Communications 15, 7500 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51825-5
2023
Chien, JM, Wallis, JD, Rich, EL.
Journal of Neuroscience. 2023 doi: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0292-23.2023
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Anterior cingulate cortex neurons in macaques encode social image identities
Simon, J, Rich, EL.
bioRxiv 2023
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Multi-attribute decision-making in macaques relies on direct attribute comparisons
Perkins, AQ, Gillis, ZS, Rich, EL
2022
Cognitive strategies shift information from single neurons to populations in prefrontal cortex
Chiang, FK, Wallis, JD, and Rich, EL.
Neuron. 2022 Feb 16;110(4):709-721.e4. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2021.11.021.
Preview by Conen and Desrochers
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Chien, JM, Wallis, JD, Rich, EL.
BioRxiv. 2022
2021
From affective to cognitive processing: Functional organization of the medial frontal cortex
Simon, J, Rudebeck, PH, Rich EL.
In: Roesch, M., Amarante, L., Laubach, M., Brockett, A. (Eds.) What does Medial Frontal Cortex Signal During Behavior? Insights from Behavioral Neurophysiology. International Review of Neurobiology, 2021 Vol 161. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.011
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Heterogeneous value coding in orbitofrontal populations
Enel, P, Perkins, AQ, Rich, EL.
Behav Neurosci. 2021 Apr;135(2):245-254. doi: 10.1037/bne0000457.
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Perkins, AQ and Rich, EL.
Curr Opin Behav Sci. 2021 Oct;41:98-105. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.04.019.
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TRAKR – A reservoir-based tool for fast and accurate classification of neural time-series patterns
Afzal, MF, Márton, CD, Rich, EL and Rajan, K.
bioRxiv. 2021 Oct. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.13.464288.
2020
Stable and dynamic representations of value in the prefrontal cortex
Enel, P, Wallis, JD, Rich EL.
Elife. 2020 Jul 6;9e54313. doi: 10.7554/eLife.54313.
2019
Stable and dynamic representations of value in the prefrontal cortex
Enel, P, Wallis, JD, Rich EL.
BioRxiv, 2019.
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From bed to bench side: reverse translation to optimize neuromodulation for mood disorders.
Rudebeck, P.H., Rich, E.L., Mayberg, H.S.
Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2019 Dec;. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1902287116
2018
Linking dynamic patterns of neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex with decision making.
Rich EL, Stoll FM, Rudebeck PH.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2018 Apr;49:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.11.002
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Curr Biol. 2018 Sep 24;28(18):R1083-R1088. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.018
2017
Caudate Microstimulation Increases Value of Specific Choices.
Santacruz SR, Rich EL, Wallis JD, Carmena JM. Curr Biol. 2017 Nov 6;27(21):3375-3383.e3. Epub 2017 Oct 26. PMID: 29107551
Spatiotemporal dynamics of information encoding revealed in orbitofrontal high-gamma.
Rich EL, Wallis JD. Nat Commun. 2017 Oct 26;8(1):1139. PMID: 29074960
2016
Decoding subjective decisions from orbitofrontal cortex.
Rich EL, Wallis JD.
Nat Neurosci. 2016 Jul;19(7):973-80. doi: 10.1038/nn.4320. Epub 2016 Jun 6. PMID 27273768
Commentary by Conen and Padoa-Schioppa
What stays the same in orbitofrontal cortex.
Rich EL, Wallis JD.
Nat Neurosci. 2016 May 26;19(6):768-70. doi: 10.1038/nn.4305. PMID: 27227365.
2014
Medial-lateral organization of the orbitofrontal cortex.
Rich EL, Wallis JD.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2014 Jul;26(7):1347-62. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00573. Epub 2014 Jan 9. PMID: 24405106
2013
Prefrontal-amygdala interactions underlying value coding.
Rich EL, Wallis JD.
Neuron. 2013 Dec 18;80(6):1344-6. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.11.027. PMID: 24360539
2012
Striatal activity in borderline personality disorder with comorbid intermittent explosive disorder: sex differences.
Perez-Rodriguez MM, Hazlett EA, Rich EL, Ripoll LH, Weiner DM, Spence N, Goodman M, Koenigsberg HW, Siever LJ, New AS.
J Psychiatr Res. 2012 Jun;46(6):797-804. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.02.014. Epub 2012 Mar 29. PMID: 22464337
2011
Challenges of Interpreting Frontal Neurons during Value-Based Decision-Making.
Wallis JD, Rich EL.
Front Neurosci. 2011 Nov 22;5:124. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2011.00124. eCollection 2011. PMID: 22125508
2009 & earlier
Rat prefrontal cortical neurons selectively code strategy switches.
Rich EL, Shapiro M.
J Neurosci. 2009 Jun 3;29(22):7208-19. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6068-08.2009. PMID: 19494143
The neurotrophin-inducible gene Vgf regulates hippocampal function and behavior through a brain-derived neurotrophic factor-dependent mechanism.
Bozdagi O, Rich E, Tronel S, Sadahiro M, Patterson K, Shapiro ML, Alberini CM, Huntley GW, Salton SR.
J Neurosci. 2008 Sep 24;28(39):9857-69. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3145-08.2008. PMID: 18815270
Prelimbic/infralimbic inactivation impairs memory for multiple task switches, but not flexible selection of familiar tasks.
Rich EL, Shapiro ML.
J Neurosci. 2007 Apr 25;27(17):4747-55. PMID: 17460087
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Romero LM, Rich EL. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2007 Jun;147(2):562-8. Epub 2007 Feb 11. PMID: 17363309
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Exposure to chronic stress downregulates corticosterone responses to acute stressors.
Rich EL, Romero LM. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2005 Jun;288(6):R1628-36. PMID: 15886358
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Rich EL, Romero LM. J Comp Physiol B. 2001 Oct;171(7):543-7. PMID: 11686612
Rich Lab
Feng-Kuei Chiang
Instructor
I am interested in cognitive functions of prefrontal cortex, which include working memory, hierarchical learning, and decision-making. Mainly, how prefrontal areas dynamically encode a series of actions/events under the sequential or hierarchical tasks.
feng-kuei.chiang (at) mssm (dot) edu
Joseph Simon
PhD Student
Joe is a senior PhD candidate in the lab studying social information processing during decision-making. He attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience in 2014. Next, he completed a post-bac here at Mount Sinai before starting his PhD in 2017. Joe’s thesis work focuses on the integration of social information during reward localization. His project’s goal is to understand how social information, with respect to nonsocial information, is encoded in the brain when making decisions. Joe was awarded the NIH D-SPAN F99/K00 in 2022; and, following the completion of his PhD, plans to continue research related to social cognition and behavior. Outside of the lab, Joe is interested in photography and a love for penguins.
Awarded: NIH Blueprint D-SPAN Award (F99/K00) 2022
joseph.simon (at) icahn.mssm (dot) edu
Aster Perkins
PhD Student
I am interested in the neural computations underlying complex cognition. My current project seeks to investigate the neural underpinnings of goal-directed decision making in the context of options with multiple goal-relevant features, such as sweetness and likelihood. I hope to understand the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in using information about options to make decisions, as well as the influence of attentional processes on decision making.
Awarded: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellowship (F31)
aster.perkins (at) icahn.mssm (dot) edu
Sam McConnell
PhD Student
Taste expectations and motivated behavior
sam.mcconnell (at) icahn.mssm (dot) edu
Ani Nair
MS Student
Using eye movements to understand cognitive processing
ani.nair (at) icahn.mssm (dot) edu
Past members
Pierre Enel
Instructor. Currently: Senior Machine Learning Scientist, Melonfrost
Zach Gillis
Research Assistant. Currently: MD/PhD student, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Abraham Abdulrazzak
MS Student
Johanna Crimins
Collaborator
Alex Hurowitz
MS Student. Currently: Research Assistant, Columbia University School of Medicine
Jonathan Chien
MS Student. Currently: PhD student, University of Texas at Austin
Pooja Viswanathan
Postdoc
Funding & Awards
2023 – 2028 R01 MH134845 Mechanisms of multi-attribute decision-making
2022 – 2024 R21 MH131900 Mesoscale dynamics underlying expectation bias in the orbitofrontal cortex
2020 – 2025 R01 MH121480 Circuit mechanisms of self-organized cognitive strategies
2019 FBI Scholars Award, Joseph and Nancy DiSabato Research Scholar
(co-investigators Kanaka Rajan and Peter Rudebeck) Mount Sinai announcement
2018 -2022 Pew Biomedical Scholars Program Mount Sinai press release
2018 -2021 Whitehall Foundation Research Grant
2018 -2020 NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
2018 Schneider-Lesser Foundation Junior Faculty Fellowship
2015 – 2020 K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Development Award (NIDA, DA039351)