Meet Professor Matthew Rushworth: Learning, inference and decision-making in the brain

How does the brain learn from experience, make inferences about the world around us and use that knowledge to guide our decisions?

These are some of the fundamental questions explored by Professor Matthew Rushworth FRS, Watts Chair and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Head of Department at the University of Oxford, whose research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying decision-making and action selection.

Professor Rushworth is particularly interested in the roles played by the prefrontal and cingulate cortex, and how interactions between different brain regions contribute to cognitive processes such as decision-making and attentional selection.

We caught up with him ahead of the Festival to find out more about his research and what delegates can expect from his plenary.

Your research explores how the brain learns from experience and uses that knowledge to guide decisions. What do we know about how the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus work together to help us learn and make sense of the world around us?

"We know that the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are parts of the brain that mediate flexible adaptive behaviour. In many situations we have to respond in different ways, even opposite ways, to the same stimuli, because there is a change in context. We think that prefrontal cortex and hippocampus track which context we are in now so that the choices that we make are appropriate for that situation. They are able to do this because they construct representations of these contexts and the links between them. In some cases, for example, it might be appropriate to keep track of where we are in physical space but in other cases, it is important to keep track of where we are in a more abstract, conceptual spaces. The representations that are built in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus that allow us to do this reflect the experiences that we have had but they also allow us to make inferences about new situations."

Your BNA2027 plenary will focus on mechanisms for learning and inference in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. What are some of the most interesting developments in our understanding of these brain systems, and what questions are still unanswered?

"We have learned a great deal about both the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in recent years. We have a sophisticated understanding of how the hippocampus navigates through space and of reward-guided decision making mechanisms in prefrontal cortex. What we know less about is how the same mechanisms are adapted to allow us to navigate the types of interconnected social worlds that are just as important for humans as the physical world. When we study the brain and behaviour, we typically need to do two things. First, we need to record its activity and establish how it is correlated with behaviour. Second, we need to understand whether the brain activity really is causally responsible for the behaviour. We have been limited in the tools that we can use to do this especially when we study the human brain but new approaches such as transcranial ultrasound stimulation have begun to allow to look at the human brain in ways that were not possible only a few years ago."

You’ll be joining us in Belfast for BNA2027 as a plenary speaker. Without giving too much away, what would you like delegates to take away from your talk – and why is understanding learning and inference important for neuroscience more broadly?

"The talk is trying to explain some of the mechanisms that allow us to make sense of the world around us. Not only is this one of the fundamental functions of the brain, it is also an ability that is compromised or lost when we are affected by aging, neurological or psychological illnesses. In such cases we struggle to make sensible inferences about what is happening and what to do next. For the healthy brain, however, the same inferences seem effortless."

Meet Matthew at BNA2027

Matthew will be a keynote speaker for the Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience theme at BNA2027 – the 8th International Festival of Neuroscience, taking place in Belfast from 25–28 April 2027.

Date: Tuesday 27thApril 2027

Time: 17:05

BNA2027 brings together researchers, clinicians, industry, policymakers and patient representatives from across neuroscience for four days of science, collaboration and community.