Contact erin.rich (at) mssm (dot) edu
Visit my laboratory website for the most up-to-date information: Rich Lab
I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The Rich Lab will move to the Center for Neural Science at New York University in 2025
Research
My research focuses on understanding the biological basis of complex behavior and cognition. I am particularly interested in how affective processing - in other words how much you do or don't like something - interacts with cognitive and perceptual processing to give rise to learning, memory and decision-making. My principal approach is recording neurophysiological signals from the brain while a subject engages in tasks that tax these abilities.
Book Chapters
Simon, J., Rudebeck, P.H., Rich, E.L. From affective to cognitive processing: Functional organization of the medial frontal cortex. In Roesch, M., Amarante, L., Laubach, M., Brockett, A. (Eds.) What does Medial Frontal Cortex Signal During Behavior? Insights from Behavioral Neurophysiology. International Review of Neurobiology, 2021 Vol 161. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2020.11.011.
Rich, E.L., Averbeck, B.B. Neurophysiology: Differentiating functional contributions across prefrontal cortex. In Banich, M.T., Haber, S.N., Robbins, T.W. (Eds.) The Frontal Cortex: Organization, Networks, and Function” Strüngmann Forum Reports, 2024 Vol 34. MIT Press. ISBN:9780262549530.
Murray, E.A., Averbeck, B.B., Badre, D., Constantinidis, C., Cools, R., Curtis, C.E., Fellows, L.K., Mitchell, A.S., Murray, J.D., Rich, E.L., D’Esposito, M. Functional fractionation and integration: Physiology, Networks, and Behaviors. In Banich, M.T., Haber, S.N., Robbins, T.W. (Eds.) The Frontal Cortex: Organization, Networks, and Function” Strüngmann Forum Reports, 2024 Vol 34. MIT Press. ISBN:9780262549530.
Recent Papers
Nguyen, D., Rich, E.L., Wallis, J.D., Louie, K., Glimcher, P.W. Neuronal representation of the decisional reference point in monkeys. BioRxiv 2024.12.20.629801; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.20.629801.
Perkins, A.Q., Rich, E.L. Attention-dependent attribute comparisons underlie multi-attribute decision-making in orbitofrontal cortex. BioRxiv 2024.11.12.623291; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.12.623291.
Yang, F.C., Chiang, F.K., Rich, E.L., Burwell, R.D. Pulvinar perturbation causes functional reorganization of visual attentional information in posterior parietal cortex. BioRxiv 2024.09.29.615686. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.09.29.615686.
Simon, J., Rich, E.L. Neural populations in macaque anterior cingulate cortex encode social image identities. Nat Commun. 15, 7500 (2024). doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51825-5.
Simon, J., Rich, E.L. Stimulating social interest: The translational value of basic investigations into frontal cortex function. Neuron 2024 Aug 7, 112(15):2461-2463. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.07.004. Commentary for Fan et al., 2024.
Perkins, A.Q., Gillis, Z.S., Rich, E.L. Multi-attribute decision-making in macaques relies on direct attribute comparisons. J Cog Neurosci 2024 Jun 26, 1-19. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_02208.
Chien, J. Wallis, J.D., Rich, E.L. Abstraction of reward context facilitates relative reward coding in dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex. J Neurosci 2023 Aug;43(33):5944-5962. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0292-23.2023.
Chiang, F.K., Wallis, J.D., Rich, E.L. Cognitive strategies shift information from single neurons to populations in prefrontal cortex. Neuron 2022 Feb 16;110(4):709-721.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.11.021.
Afzal, M.F., Márton, C.D., Rich, E.L., Rajan, K. TRAKR - A reservoir-based tool for fast and accurate classification of neural time-series patterns. BioRxiv 2021 https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.13.464288.
Enel, P. Perkins, A.Q., Rich, E.L. Heterogeneous value coding in orbitofrontal populations. Behav Neurosci 2021 Apr;135(2):245-254. doi: doi.org/10.1037/bne0000457.
Perkins, A.Q., Rich, E.L. Identifying identity and attributing value to attributes: reconsidering mechanisms of preference decisions. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021 Oct;41:98-105. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.04.019.
Enel, P., Wallis, J.D., Rich, E.L. Stable and dynamic representations of value in the prefrontal cortex. Elife 2020 Jul 6;9e54313. doi: 10.7554/eLife.54313.
Rudebeck, P.H., Rich, E.L., Mayberg, H.S. From bed to bench side: reverse translation to optimize neuromodulation for mood disorders. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2019 Dec 23;116(52):26288-96. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1902287116.
Rudebeck, P.H., Rich, E.L. Orbitofrontal cortex. Curr Biol 2018 Sep 24;28(18):R1083-R1088. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.018.
Rich, E.L., Stoll, F.M., Rudebeck, P.H. Linking dynamic patterns of neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex with decision making. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2017 Nov 20;49:24-32. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.11.002.
Santacruz, S.R., Rich, E.L., Wallis, J.D., Carmena, J.M. Caudate microstimulation increases value of specific choices. Curr Biol 2017 Nov 6;27(21):3375-3383.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.051.
Rich, E.L., Wallis, J.D. Spatiotemporal dynamics of information encoding revealed in orbitofrontal high-gamma. Nat Commun 2017 Oct 26;8(1):1139. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01253-5.
Rich, E.L., Wallis, J.D. Decoding subjective decisions from Orbitofrontal Cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2016 Jul;19(7):973-80.
Rich, E.L., Wallis, J.D. What stays the same in orbitofrontal cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2016 May 26;19(6):768-70. Commentary for Xie and Padoa-Schioppa, 2016.
Rich, E.L., Wallis, J.D. Medial-lateral organization of the orbitofrontal cortex. J Cogn Neurosci. 2014 Jul; 26(7):1347-62.