Ilana Witten

Ilana Witten is Professor at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University. Her research investigates the neural mechanisms underlying reward learning, decision-making, and behavioral control using integrative approaches including optogenetics, rodent behavior, electrophysiology, and computational modeling.

Research focuses on:

• Neural circuit mechanisms of reward seeking behaviors
• Striatal contributions to learning and decision-making
• Neurobiology of individual differences in behavior
• Integration of sensory information with reward outcomes
• Neural plasticity during learning processes

Publications center on dopaminergic systems, striatal function, and neural circuit dynamics. Recent trends include work on prediction errors, neural representations of prior information, and circuit mechanisms of behavioral control.

Lab: Leads the Witten Lab at Princeton Neuroscience Institute investigating neural circuits of reward and decision.