The long-term objectives of the research program are to better understand the relative involvements of the cortex, hippocampus, and septum in cognitive functioning; to document the relationship between the age of the organism at the time of brain injury and sparing or recovery of behavioral functions; to investigate environmental stimulation following brain injuries as a therapy to facilitate behavioral recovery and the use of environmental stimulation early in life to produce a brain that is less vulnerable to such injuries; and to provide an environment in which undergraduate students will be encouraged to develop an interest in biomedical research and will gain experience in all aspects of this research. The proposed research will: (1) Continue the studies of factors influencing the performance of normal rats on operant tests and the Maier 3-table cognitive test; (2) Compare the effects of brain injuries to the hippocampus, neocortex, and septum at 1 and 70 days of age on performance on the DRL operant task to data from previous experiments using the Maier 3-table cognitive spatial test; (3) Produce brain injuries at one day of age, raise subjects in enriched environments from birth to 70 days, and test for recovery of behavioral functions; (4) Raise animals in enriched environments form birth to 70 days, produce the brain injury after extensive environmental enrichment, and test for sparing of behavioral deficits -- a test of the redundancy theory; (5) To maintain the Morris Brown College research and teaching neuropsychology laboratory in which minority undergraduate students can function as research participants and gain first-hand knowledge of biochemical research techniques; to encourage these students to take an active interest in a research career; to produce an increase in the number of minority students who choose research careers, and to prepare these students to compete effectively for admission to and retention in graduate programs in psychology and behavioral neuroscience. This research will lead to a better understanding of normal cognitive functioning and the cognitive behavioral deficits following early and later brain injuries in humans; could provide information which can be used in the design of therapy for brain injured humans; will test the redundancy theory of sparing of behavioral functions following brain injuries; and ultimately result in an increase in the number of minority students who develop an interest in a research career in neuroscience or physiological psychology.
