Simone Ferrari Toniolo

Simone Ferrari Toniolo is a BBSRC Discovery Fellow and Research Fellow at the University of Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology, affiliated with the Neurophysiology of Reward research group. His work focuses on neuronal mechanisms underlying economic and social decisions, combining neurophysiological techniques (large-scale recordings, transcranial ultrasound) with mathematical models from economic theory. He investigates how neurons drive complex behaviors, particularly social learning and interaction in primates, targeting brain regions like the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and dopaminergic midbrain.

Education: He holds a Master's in Physics (specializing in electronics/cybernetics) and a PhD in Neurophysiology from the University of Rome, Italy. Previously, he conducted postdoctoral research in Wolfram Schultz's lab at the University of Cambridge (UK), studying reward and economic decision-making in primates.

Research Themes: His research bridges neuroscience and economics, exploring how neuronal activity encodes subjective value, probability weighting, and social interaction. Collaborators include Fabian Grabenhorst and Mark J. Buckley. He emphasizes rigorous mathematical modeling to characterize decision-making processes and social learning dynamics.

Publications: Toniolo's recent work includes studies on dopamine neuron coding of subjective value, cross-species risky choice comparisons, and population-level neuronal dynamics during joint action. His research highlights the neural basis of utility functions and probability distortion in primates.

Awards/Grants: While no specific awards are listed, his BBSRC Discovery Fellowship underscores his contributions to translational neuroscience. His work aims to inform theories of decision-making and improve understanding of social cognition.