I am interested in the molecules and circuits in our brain that dictate our actions. Specifically, how we learn about changes in the contingency between actions and its corresponding outcomes. Our lab has previously shown that projections from the parafascicular thalamus to the cholinergic interneurons within the posterior dorsomedial striatum is crucial in learning about changes in action-outcome contingencies. I aim to build upon this finding in my candidature and examine how protein kinase C may modulate these cholinergic interneurons in learning about changes in contingency.