This project investigates how distributed brain networks integrate valence signals during cost–benefit decision-making. In a head-fixed behavioral paradigm, mice make choices that balance potential rewards against costs such as delay, effort, or risk. The study focuses on the basolateral amygdala (BLA) as a central hub for valence processing. By optogenetically activating projection-defined BLA subregions while performing brain-wide Neuropixels recordings, the project will examine how valence-related signals propagate through downstream brain regions and influence decision-making circuits across the brain. This approach will allow researchers to determine how changes in positive or negative valence bias choices and shape neural activity across distributed networks, providing mechanistic insight into how emotional signals influence decision processes. Because dysregulation of BLA-prefrontal interactions is implicated in psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and addiction, the project also aims to establish a general experimental framework for studying how emotional processing shapes decision-making at the circuit level.

The IBL Core will support the project by collaborating on the development and standardization of the experimental hardware and software infrastructure used in the task. This includes technical support for a synchronization device, integration with the emerging bpod-core behavioral control framework, and guidance on open-source hardware documentation and community distribution. The collaboration will also provide consultation on electrophysiology rig design, best practices for repeated Neuropixels recordings across multiple brain regions, and standardized procedures for electrophysiology data quality control to ensure compatibility with large-scale neuroscience data analysis workflows.