Michele A. Basso, Ph.D.

A Short Biography:

Dr. Michele A. Basso is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Neurobiology. She studied Neuroscience at Stony Brook University in NY and was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Eye Institute, NIH. After serving as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Madison, she moved to UCLA to join the faculty and direct the Fuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience. The work performed in her laboratory is aimed at unravelling the neuronal circuits of decision-making in health and disease. Her work spans multiple species and employs multiple technologies designed to understand how memory and sensory information are combined to give rise to our decisions. 


Work Titles
UCLA Professor, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior Professor, Brain Research Institute
Education:
Degrees:
Ph.D.
Academic Experience:
Certifications:
Certification Type:

Contact Information:

Email Address:

mbasso@mednet.ucla.edu

Work Email Address:

mbasso@mednet.ucla.edu


Work Phone Number:

310 825 9941

Mailing Address:

635 Charles Young Dr.
Box 957332
Los Angeles, CA 90095


Research Interest:

The neuronal circuits of decision-making

When sensory information is ambiguous, we must rely on other evidence, such as our memories for similar past experiences, to guide our choices of action. Dr. Basso's work is aimed at understanding how the brain combines memory and sensory information to guide decisions and how these processes are impaired in diseases. 

Detailed Biography:

Dr. Michele A. Basso is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Neurobiology. She studied Neuroscience at Stony Brook University in NY and was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Eye Institute, NIH. After serving as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Madison, she moved to UCLA to join the faculty and direct the Fuster Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience. The work performed in her laboratory is aimed at unravelling the neuronal circuits of decision-making in health and disease. Her work spans multiple species and employs multiple technologies designed to understand how memory and sensory information are combined to give rise to our decisions. 

Publications:

A selected list of publications:

Perugini Alessandra, Basso Michele A   Perceptual decisions based on previously learned information are independent of dopaminergic tone Journal of neurophysiology, 2018; 119(3): 849-861.
Odegaard Brian, Grimaldi Piercesare, Cho Seong Hah, Peters Megan A K, Lau Hakwan, Basso Michele A   Superior colliculus neuronal ensemble activity signals optimal rather than subjective confidence Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2018; 115(7): E1588-E1597.
Crapse Trinity B, Lau Hakwan, Basso Michele A   A Role for the Superior Colliculus in Decision Criteria Neuron, 2018; 97(1): 181-194.e6.
May Paul J, Basso Michele A   Connections between the zona incerta and superior colliculus in the monkey and squirrel Brain structure & function, 2018; 223(1): 371-390.
Basso Michele A, May Paul J   Circuits for Action and Cognition: A View from the Superior Colliculus Annual review of vision science, 2017; 3(1): 197-226.
Ghitani Nima, Bayguinov Peter O, Basso Michele A, Jackson Meyer B   A sodium afterdepolarization in rat superior colliculus neurons and its contribution to population activity Journal of neurophysiology, 2016; 116(1): 191-200.
Perugini Alessandra, Ditterich Jochen, Basso Michele A   Patients with Parkinson's Disease Show Impaired Use of Priors in Conditions of Sensory Uncertainty Current biology : CB, 2016; 26(14): 1902-10.
Basso Michele A   Monkey neurophysiology to clinical neuroscience and back again Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2016; 113(24): 6591-3.
Crapse Trinity B, Basso Michele A   Insights into decision making using choice probability Journal of neurophysiology, 2015; 114(6): 3039-49.
Grimaldi Piercesare, Lau Hakwan, Basso Michele A   There are things that we know that we know, and there are things that we do not know we do not know: Confidence in decision-making Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2015; 55: 88-97.
Bayguinov Peter O, Ghitani Nima, Jackson Meyer B, Basso Michele A   A hard-wired priority map in the superior colliculus shaped by asymmetric inhibitory circuitry Journal of neurophysiology, 2015; 114(1): 662-76.
Vokoun Corinne R, Huang Xin, Jackson Meyer B, Basso Michele A   Response normalization in the superficial layers of the superior colliculus as a possible mechanism for saccadic averaging The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2014; 34(23): 7976-87.
Ghitani Nima, Bayguinov Peter O, Vokoun Corinne R, McMahon Shane, Jackson Meyer B, Basso Michele A   Excitatory synaptic feedback from the motor layer to the sensory layers of the superior colliculus The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2014; 34(20): 6822-33.
Mahamed Safraaz, Garrison Tiffany J, Shires Joel, Basso Michele A   Stimulation of the Substantia Nigra Influences the Specification of Memory-Guided Saccades Journal of neurophysiology, 2013; 39(1): .
Powers Alice S, Basso Michele A, Evinger Craig   Blinks slow memory-guided saccades Journal of neurophysiology, 2013; 109(3): 734-41.
Vokoun Corinne R, Jackson Meyer B, Basso Michele A   Circuit dynamics of the superior colliculus revealed by in vitro voltage imaging Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2011; 1233(2): 41-7.
Li Xiaobing, Basso Michele A   Cues to move increased information in superior colliculus tuning curves Journal of neurophysiology, 2011; 106(2): 690-703.
Shires Joel, Joshi Siddhartha, Basso Michele A   Shedding new light on the role of the basal ganglia-superior colliculus pathway in eye movements Current opinion in neurobiology, 2010; 20(6): 717-25.
Vokoun Corinne R, Jackson Meyer B, Basso Michele A   Intralaminar and interlaminar activity within the rodent superior colliculus visualized with voltage imaging The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2010; 30(32): 10667-82.
Kim Byounghoon, Basso Michele A   A probabilistic strategy for understanding action selection The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2010; 30(6): 2340-55.
Gooding Diane C, Basso Michele A   The tell-tale tasks: a review of saccadic research in psychiatric patient populations Brain and cognition, 2008; 68(3): 371-90.
Liu Ping, Basso Michele A   Substantia nigra stimulation influences monkey superior colliculus neuronal activity bilaterally Journal of neurophysiology, 2008; 100(2): 1098-112.
Basso Michele A   Electrical stimulation of nervous system tissue. Introduction Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2008; 32(3): 331.
Li Xiaobing, Basso Michele A   Preparing to move increases the sensitivity of superior colliculus neurons The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2008; 28(17): 4561-77.
Kim Byounghoon, Basso Michele A   Saccade target selection in the superior colliculus: a signal detection theory approach The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2008; 28(12): 2991-3007.
Utter Amy A, Basso Michele A   The basal ganglia: an overview of circuits and function Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2008; 32(3): 333-42.
Basso Michele A, Liu Ping   Context-dependent effects of substantia nigra stimulation on eye movements Journal of neurophysiology, 2007; 97(6): 4129-42.
Smith Joshua J, Hadzic Vezira, Li Xiaobing, Liu Ping, Day Tiffany, Utter Amy, Kim Byounghoon, Washington Ida M, Basso Michele A   Objective measures of health and well-being in laboratory rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) Journal of medical primatology, 2006; 35(6): 388-96.
Li Xiaobing, Kim Byounghoon, Basso Michele A   Transient pauses in delay-period activity of superior colliculus neurons Journal of neurophysiology, 2006; 95(4): 2252-64.
Li Xiaobing, Basso Michele A   Competitive stimulus interactions within single response fields of superior colliculus neurons The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2005; 25(49): 11357-73.
Basso Michele A, Pokorny Jennifer J, Liu Ping   Activity of substantia nigra pars reticulata neurons during smooth pursuit eye movements in monkeys The European journal of neuroscience, 2005; 22(2): 448-64.
Basso Michele A, Uhlrich Daniel, Bickford Martha E   Cortical function: a view from the thalamus Neuron, 2005; 45(4): 485-8.
Williamson Shawn S, Zivotofsky Ari Z, Basso Michele A   Modulation of gaze-evoked blinks depends primarily on extraretinal factors Journal of neurophysiology, 2005; 93(1): 627-32.
Basso Michele A, Wurtz Robert H   Neuronal activity in substantia nigra pars reticulata during target selection The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 2002; 22(5): 1883-94.

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