Joe Paton is a Professor and Principal Investigator at the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. He leads the Paton Lab which focuses on understanding how animals determine which environmental cues are predictive of behaviorally relevant events, known as the credit assignment problem. His research combines behavioral experiments with neurophysiological recordings in rodents to investigate neural mechanisms of time perception and decision making. Dr. Paton's research interests center on interval timing, temporal processing in the brain, and the neural basis of learning. His work particularly examines how the striatum and dopamine systems contribute to time perception and how animals solve the credit assignment problem through statistical inference in the time domain. His lab employs advanced techniques including optogenetics, neural recordings, and computational modeling to address these questions. Analysis of Dr. Paton's recent publications reveals a strong focus on striatal function in timing processes, with particular attention to how neural populations encode temporal information. His work bridges behavioral neuroscience with computational approaches, demonstrating how timing mechanisms influence decision making and learning processes. The research spans multiple levels from cellular mechanisms to behavioral outputs. Midbrain dopamine neurons control judgment of time (2016) Striatal dynamics explain duration judgments (2015) A Scalable Population Code for Time in the Striatum (2015) The Neural Basis of Timing: Distributed Mechanisms for Diverse Functions (2018) Dr. Paton has mentored numerous PhD students and postdoctoral researchers through the INDP (International Neuroscience Doctoral Program) and supervises a diverse team including research technicians, postdocs, and students. His lab has contributed significantly to understanding the neural basis of time perception and its role in learning and decision making. The Paton Lab also develops experimental tools and frameworks like Bonsai for behavioral neuroscience research.
