Current research interests.
The Section uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the
neurobiological mechanisms underlying learning and memory in primates.
In monkeys, the approach involves: (a) studying the effects of
selective cerebral lesions on the performance of specially designed
behavioral learning and cognitive memory tasks in various sensory
modalities, in the attempt to separate and identify different mnemonic
functions and localize their critical neural substrates in the basal
ganglia and limbic system; (b) applying anatomical tracing techniques,
to reveal how the different substrates belonging to a functional family
are organized as components of a neural system or circuit; (c)
recording electrophysiological activity within the identified
substrates, to determine the nature of the information those neurons
receive and transmit before, during, and after learning; and (d)
injecting pharmacological agents into those same substrates, to relate
the learning-dependent changes in behavior and neuronal activity to the
underlying cellular and synaptic mechanisms. The learning and memory
mechanisms uncovered in the research on monkeys serves as the basis for
a search for homologous mechanisms in brain-damaged patients examined
both neuropsychologically and with quantitative magnetic resonance
techniques. The human research is conducted in collaboration with a
team at the Institute of Child Health, University College London
Medical School.
|
|
