Jon C. Horvitz
Professor
Researcher, Behavioral Neuroscience
Additional Departments/Affiliated Programs
Graduate Center
Areas of Expertise/Research
- Dopamine
- Basal Ganglia
- Learning
- Motivation
- Habit
- Reward
- Computational Neuroscience
Building
North Academic Center
Office
7/217A
Phone
212-650-5744
Website
Jon C. Horvitz
Profile
Our research and theoretical work is examining how reward experiences shape the activity of the basal ganglia, and how the basal ganglia helps us to choose our next action.
The undergraduate psychology textbook, Principles of Behavioral Neuroscience, written by myself and Barry Jacobs, came out in June 2022. The 2nd edition will appear in 2027.
Interactive online tutorials accompanying textbook chapters are available for anyone with an interest in brain and mind.
Education
BA: Haverford College, Neuropsychology
Ph.D. : University of California, Santa Barbara, Psychology.
Post doc: Princeton University Program in Neurosciences
Courses
Brain, Mind, Experience, PSY254
Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience, PSY371
Advanced Topics in the Neurochemistry of Learning, PSY31114
Publications
Recent work:
- Horvitz, J. C., Jacobs, B.L. (2022) Principles of Behavioral Neuroscience, Cambridge University Press,
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Stamos, J., Ma, S., Pawlak, A., Engelhard, N., Horvitz, J.C., West, M.O. (2022) Reward vs. motoric activations in NAc Core of rats during Pavlovian conditioning, European Journal of Neuroscience, 1-21, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.15680,
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Dobrovitsky, V., West, M.O., and Horvitz, J.C. (2019 ) The role of the nucleus accumbens in learned approach behavior diminishes with training, European Journal of Neuroscience, 50: 3403-15, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.14523
- Vega-Villar, M., Horvitz, J.C., Nicola, S.M., (2019 ) NMDA receptor-dependent plasticity in the nucleus accumbens connects reward-predictive cues to approach responses, Nature Communications, 10: 4429, doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12387-z