Motivation
Motivation drives us to do things. Many brain disorders impair motivation, causing apathy or impulsivity. This can be catastrophic, leaving patients disabled, and is of course very stressful for carers. Understanding the anatomy and chemistry of motivation may permit treatments of these disorders.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) studies how thoughts could be made up from simple computations. AI is a rapidly evolving field and is currently dominated by neural networks, which use basic arithmetic - like adding and multiplying numbers - to generate complex behaviours. By comparing these networks to the brain, we can understand diseases that produce abnormal thoughts and behaviours.
Working memory
Remembering what we have just seen, done, or are about to do, is a natural ability for most of us. However certain diseases can interfere with these kinds of short-term memory. By studying how groups of neurons interact to retain information over brief intervals, we may begin to understand how this goes wrong in neurodegenerative diseases.