EFFECTS OF REVERSIBLE INACTIVATION ON MEMORY AND BRAIN FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The medial temporal lobe's role in memory has been extensively studied invasively in animals, and in humans using neuroimaging. However, the link between human and animal studies would be strengthened if similar techniques can be applied to verify the neural activity associated with behavior. Furthermore, only in directly manipulating function can causative conclusions be made. We propose to combine functional MRI and reversible inactivation techniques to study the roles of the hippocampus in memory in awake, behaving rhesus macaques. This project initiates a line of research that will elucidate the neural basis of mnemonic processing in nonhuman primates using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and temporary inactivation of the hippocampus in awake behaving monkeys using a novelty response paradigm. By permitting assessment of the effects of briefly taking particular neural structures "offline" the combination of these techniques will provide insights into the normal function of the medial temporal lobes that cannot be obtained from studies using permanent lesions or fMRI alone.