The overall goal of the proposed research is to identify and characterize the neurophysiological substrates of certain context-appropriate behaviors. Since the learning context plays an important role in normal learning and memory, developing an understanding of the neuronal mechanisms that underlie context-specific behavior is an important step towards understanding how the brain processes information for future use. More specifically, this project seeks to test the hypothesis that the hippocampus signals contextual information to the cingulothalamic system to produce special patterns of neuronal activity that mediate context appropriate associations and behaviors in a discrimination learning paradigm. This will be accomplished by recording the activity of neurons in cingulothalamic circuitry and the behavior of control rabbits and rabbits with temporary and permanent lesions of the hippocampus while they perform two different discriminative learning tasks in different environments.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
1F31MH012077-01
Application #
2641650
Study Section
Cognitive Functional Neuroscience Review Committee (CFN)
Program Officer
Goldschmidts, Walter L
Project Start
1999-03-17
Project End
Budget Start
1998-09-17
Budget End
1999-09-16
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1998
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
041544081
City
Champaign
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
61820