My Lab

Curriculum Vitae (updated 11.1.2009)

Open positions in my lab: We currently have openings for post doctoral fellows interested in model-based fMRI of decision making. To apply please send a CV and statement of past and future research interests by email.

Publications

• SJ Gershman, D Blei & Y Niv (in press) - Context, learning and extinction - Psychological Review 117(1), 197-209. PDF
• Y Niv (2009) - Reinforcement learning in the brain - The Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 53(3), 139-154. PDF
• MM Botvnick, Y Niv & A Barto (2009) - Hierarchically organized behavior and its neural foundations: A reinforcement-learning perspective - Cognition 113, 262-280. PDF
• MT Todd, Y Niv & JD Cohen (2008) - Learning to use working memory in partially observable environments through dopaminergic reinforcement - NIPS 2008. PDF
• D Schiller, I Levi, Y Niv, JE LeDoux & EA Phelps (2008) - From fear to safety and back - Reversal of fear in the human brain - The Journal of Neuroscience, 28(45), 11517-11525.
• P Dayan & Y Niv (2008) - Reinforcement learning and the brain: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 18(2), 185-196. PDF
• Y Takahashi, G Schoenbaum & Y Niv (2008) - Silencing the critics: Understanding the effects of cocaine sensitization on dorsal and ventral striatum in the context of an Actor/Critic model - Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2, 86-99. PDF
• Y Niv & G Schoenbaum (2008) - Dialogues on prediction errors - Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(7), 265-272. PDF
• Y Niv, ND Daw, D Joel & P Dayan (2007) - Tonic dopamine: Opportunity costs and the control of response vigor - Psychopharmacology, 191(3), 507-520. Abstract PDF
• Y Niv, D Joel & P Dayan (2006) - A normative perspective on motivation - Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(8), 375-381. Abstract PDF
• P Dayan, Y Niv, B Seymour & ND Daw (2006) - The misbehavior of value and the discipline of the will - Neural Networks, 19(8), 1153-1160. Abstract PDF
• Y Niv, ND Daw & P Dayan (2005) - How fast to work: Response vigor, motivation and tonic dopamine - In: Y Weiss, B Scholkopf & J Platt, eds., Neural Information Processing Systems 18, 1019-1026, MIT Press (Outstanding Student Paper Award). Abstract PDF
• ND Daw, Y Niv & P Dayan (2005) - Uncertainty based competition between prefrontal and dorsolateral striatal systems for behavioral control - Nature Neuroscience, 8(12), 1704-1711. Abstract PDF
• Y Niv, MO Duff & P Dayan (2005) - Dopamine, Uncertainty and TD Learning - Behavioral and Brain Functions 1:6 (4 May 2005), doi:10.1186/1744-9081-1-6.Abstract Open Access Full text
• Y Niv, D Joel, I Meilijson & E Ruppin (2002) - Evolution of Reinforcement Learning in Uncertain Environments: A Simple Explanation for Complex Foraging Behaviors - Adaptive Behavior 10(1), 5-24. Abstract PDF
• D Joel, Y Niv & E Ruppin (2002) - Actor-critic models of the basal ganglia: New anatomical and computational perspectives - Neural Networks 15, 535-547. Abstract PDF

• JER Staddon & Y Niv (2008) - Operant conditioning. Scholarpedia, 3(9):2318.
• Y Niv & PR Montague (2008) - Theoretical and empirical studies of learning. In: PW Glimcher et al, eds., Neuroeconomics: Decision making and the brain, Chapter 22, 329-249, Elsevier. email me for PDF
• Y Niv & M Rivlin-Etzion (2007) - Parkinson's disease: Fighting the will? - Journal of Neuroscience 11777-11779. PDF
• Y Niv (2007) - Cost, Benefit, Tonic Phasic: What do response rates tell us about dopamine and motivation? - Annals of the New York Academy of Science 1104, 357-376. PDF
• P Dayan, ND Daw, & Y Niv. (in press) - Theoretical and computational neuroscience: Learning, action, inference and neuromodulation. In: L Squire et al, eds., New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
• Y Niv, ND Daw & P Dayan (2006) - Choice values - Nature Neuroscience 9(8), 987-988. PDF
• ND Daw, Y Niv & P Dayan (2006) - Actions, Policies, Values, and the Basal Ganglia - In: Bezard, E editor, Recent Breakthroughs in Basal Ganglia Research, Nova Science Publishers Inc., New York, USA.

• Y Niv, J Edlund, P Dayan & JP O'Doherty (2008,talk) - Neural prediction errors reveal risk sensitivity in instrumental choice - Israeli Human Brain Mapping, Tel Aviv, Israel.
• Y Niv, P Dayan & JP O'Doherty (2008, poster and spotlight presentation) - Decision making: Neural prediction errors show risk sensitivity - COSYNE 2008 - Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City, Utah.
• D Schiller, Y Niv, I Levy, JE LeDoux & EA Phelps (2007, poster and featured short presentation) - Reversal of fear learning in the human brain - Linking Affect to Action: Critical Contributions of the Orbitofrontal Cortex, New York Academy of Science Symposium, NY, USA.
• Y Niv, JA Edlund, P Dayan & JP O'Doherty (2006,poster) - Neural correlates of risk sensitivity: An fMRI study of instrumental choice behavior - Society for Neurosciences Abstract #664.8.
• Y Niv, ND Daw & P Dayan (2005,poster) - The effects of motivation on rates of responding: A reinforcement learning approach - European Brain and Behavior Society Meeting 2005, Dublin, Ireland.
• Y Niv, P Dayan & D Joel (2005,talk) - The effects of motivation on habitual behavior - Associative Learning Symposium 2005, Gregynog, Wales.
• Y Niv, ND Daw, D Joel & P Dayan (2005,poster) - Motivational effects on behavior: Towards a reinforcement learning model of rates of responding - COSYNE 2005 - Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City, Utah. Abstract
• ND Daw, Y Niv & P Dayan (2005,talk) - Uncertainty-based competition between prefrontal and striatal systems for behavioural control - COSYNE 2005 - Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Salt Lake City, Utah. Abstract
• Y Niv, MO Duff and P Dayan (2004,poster) - Asymmetric Coding of Temporal Difference Errors: Implications for Dopamine Firing Patterns - In: IBAGS VIII - The 8th Triennial Meeting of the International Basal Ganglia Society, Crieff, Scotland. Abstract (PowerPoint Poster)
• Y Niv, MO Duff & P Dayan (2004,talk) - Dopamine, Uncertainty and TD Learning In: CNS2004 - The Thirteenth Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting, Baltimore, Maryland. Abstract (PowerPoint Presentation)
• Y Niv, MO Duff & P Dayan (2004,talk) - The Effects of Uncertainty on TD Learning In: Cosyne 2004 - Computational and Systems Neuroscience, Cold Spring Harbor, NY. Abstract (PowerPoint Presentation)
• Y Niv, D Joel, I Meilijson & E Ruppin (2001,talk) - Evolution of Reinforcement Learning in Foraging Bees: A Simple Explanation for Risk Averse Behavior - In: Proceedings of the Tenth Computational Neuroscience meeting (CNS), Monterey, California, 2001. Also in: Neurocomputing 44(1), 2002, 951-956. Abstract Short version MSWord Full text PDF
• Y Niv, D Joel, I Meilijson & E Ruppin (2001,talk) - Evolution of Reinforcement Learning in Uncertain Environments: Emergence of Risk Aversion and Probability Matching - In: J. Kelemen and P. Sosik eds., Advances in Artificial Life - Proceedings of the Sixth European Conference, ECAL 2001, Prague,252-261. Abstract Full text PDF

• Y Niv, P Dayan & D Joel (2006) - The effects of motivation on extensively trained behavior - Leibniz Technical Report, Hebrew University, 2006-6. Abstract (PDF)

• PhD Thesis - Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2007): The effects of motivation on habitual instrumental behavior (full thesis here)
• MA Thesis - Psychology Department, Tel Aviv University (2001): Evolution of Reinforcement Learning in Uncertain Environments (PDF)

Courses

• PSY338/NEU338 - Animal learning and decision making: Psychological, computational and neural perspectives (Spring 2009; will be taught again Fall 2010)
• Visiting lecturer in course on Reinforcement Learning at the Hebrew University (with Hagai Bergman and Nathaniel Daw, Summer 2009)
• Minicouse on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (with Nathaniel Daw, Summer 2008)
• Introduction to Learning and Behavior: Conditioning and the Brain (Hebrew University, Spring 2006)
• Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course (Tutor; Computational Modeling group - 2005)
• Introduction to Learning and Behavior (Hebrew University, Spring 2003)
• Psychology Seminar - Modeling Spatial Behavior (Tel Aviv University - 1999)

Conferences/Workshops

• Batsheva Seminar on Reward and Decision Making in the Brain, February 2010, Jerusalem (co-organizers: Hagai Bergman and Daphna Joel)
• NIPS Workshop -- Hierarchical Organization of Behavior: Computational,Psychological and Neural Perspectives, December 2007, Whistler (co-organizers: Matthew Botvinick and Andrew Barto)
• Gatsby Foundation Workshop: Motivation and action selection, June 2005, London (co-organizers: Nathaniel Daw and Peter Dayan)

Miscellaneous and links

• ICML Tutorial: The Neuroscience of Reinforcement Learning (video lecture, 2:20 hours)
• Machine Learning at Princeton
• Shiatsu 3rd year project: Shiatsu treatment of abused children (Hebrew WORD file - 88K)
• Seminar project: Reinforcement Learning and the Basal Ganglia (2001) (PDF - 212K)
• Foraging MiniRobot experiment - QuickTime Movie (1.3M) Better resolution version (8.8M)
• Classics in the History of Psychology - The classic papers in psychology ONLINE
• PsychWeb - Resource for psychology links
• The Psi Cafe - Resource for psychology links

Some of my favorite hangouts in... (inspired by this page)

• London
• New York
• Tel Aviv

Photo gallery (permanently under construction)