Cholinergic modulation of learning and learning related plasticity with event-related fMRI

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The project aims to investigate the role of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) in processes of learning and learning related plasticity in the human brain. A more general aim is to implement combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with pharmacological challenges in the context of cognitive tasks in humans. With such an approach the following questions will be addressed in a series of psycho-pharmacological experiments involving event-related fMRI: i) the role of ACh in learning related cortical plasticity ii) the cholinergic contribution to early stages of learning such as novelty detection iii) the cholinergic modulation of simple associative learning processes. A long-term goal of such experiments ist to provide an experimental approach that has relevance to studying mechanismes of recovery and treatment effects in patients with neurological damage, such as stroke, and neurodegenerative disease such als Alzheimers.