Our lab studies how the brain learns to predict the sensory world.

Our brains have evolved to make predictions. For instance, when you observe traffic lights changing to orange, you can anticipate the next color. Similarly, when you steer your car to the left, you can foresee how the visual landscape will shift. This process of learning predictions is lifelong and dynamic, enabling us to plan ahead, execute movements swiftly, and infer the causes of sensory stimuli.

The Prediction and Plasticity lab, led by Rebecca Jordan, is a systems neuroscience research group within the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain at the University of Edinburgh. We investigate the mechanisms through which the brain learns to predict sensory inputs, focusing on the cerebral cortex and neuromodulatory systems. Our goal is to understand how disruptions in this process might contribute to the symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders and psychosis. To accomplish this, we employ several advanced systems neuroscience techniques, including in vivo intracellular electrophysiology, virtual reality systems, 2-photon imaging, and optogenetics.