Previous research in this project investigated behavioral and neural bases of two changes in attentional processing in associative learning mediated by the amygdala central nucleus (CN): the potentiation of orienting to conditioned stimuli (CSs) paired with food unconditioned stimuli (USs), and the enhancement of CS associability that occurs when contingencies between the CS and other events are altered. The proposed research extends that work by investigating the relation of these attentional changes to other aspects of attention, and by continuing systems analysis of these functions. The project will use a variety of behavioral procedures, asymmetrical lesion techniques, transient, reversible inactivation procedures, and electrophysiological recording methods, with rat subjects, to address four specific aims.
The first aim i s to distinguish between CN-systems effects on the acquisition and expression of conditioned orienting and associability changes.
The second aim i s to examine cortical neural encoding of attentional changes in associative learning that depend on CN and its regulation of the basal forebrain cholinergic system.
The third aim i s to examine the roles of CN attentional systems in performance of selective attention tasks.
The fourth aim i s to examine cortical activity during performance of selective attention tasks. This research may provide a basis for new insights into cognitive functions of the amygdala, as well as the integration of cognitive and emotional function. In addition, it may have wide clinical implications, because the neural systems to be studied are involved in a number of pathological conditions, for example, Alzheimer's disease (learning and attention deficits often signal the onset of more complete dementia), schizophrenia (deficits in focusing attention on relevant events and ignoring extraneous events), and various affective disorders (inappropriate assignment of motivational value to life events).

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH053667-11
Application #
6931233
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-7 (01))
Program Officer
Anderson, Kathleen C
Project Start
1995-08-01
Project End
2007-04-19
Budget Start
2005-08-01
Budget End
2007-04-19
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$457,991
Indirect Cost
Name
Johns Hopkins University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
001910777
City
Baltimore
State
MD
Country
United States
Zip Code
21218
Holland, Peter C (2018) Stimulus preexposure speeds or slows subsequent acquisition of associative learning depending on learning test procedures and response measure. Learn Behav 46:134-156
Chang, Stephen E; Smith, Kyle S (2016) An omission procedure reorganizes the microstructure of sign-tracking while preserving incentive salience. Learn Mem 23:151-5
Dailey, Megan J; Moran, Timothy H; Holland, Peter C et al. (2016) The antagonism of ghrelin alters the appetitive response to learned cues associated with food. Behav Brain Res 303:191-200
Schiffino, Felipe L; Holland, Peter C (2016) Consolidation of altered associability information by amygdala central nucleus. Neurobiol Learn Mem 133:204-213
Holland, Peter C; Schiffino, Felipe L (2016) Mini-review: Prediction errors, attention and associative learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem 131:207-15
Holland, Peter C (2016) Effects of amygdala lesions on overexpectation phenomena in food cup approach and autoshaping procedures. Behav Neurosci 130:357-75
Holland, Peter C (2016) Enhancing second-order conditioning with lesions of the basolateral amygdala. Behav Neurosci 130:176-81
Schiffino, Felipe L; Holland, Peter C (2016) Secondary visual cortex is critical to the expression of surprise-induced enhancements in cue associability in rats. Eur J Neurosci 44:1870-7
Asem, Judith S A; Holland, Peter C (2015) Dorsolateral striatum implicated in the acquisition, but not expression, of immediate response learning in rodent submerged T-maze. Neurobiol Learn Mem 123:205-16
Asem, Judith S A; Schiffino, Felipe L; Holland, Peter C (2015) Dorsolateral striatum is critical for the expression of surprise-induced enhancements in cue associability. Eur J Neurosci 42:2203-13

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