Studies in neural plasticity

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This research is aimed at understanding how the brain operates to allow rodents, and by extension humans, to learn and remember information. The research uses rodents learning to navigate in a simple laboratory task in a way that is similar to the way rodents learn to navigate in their environment to find and remember places containing food and water, mates, nesting sites, and other things important for survival. Some of the research involves making very small amounts of damage in very specific brain areas, or delivering very small amounts of electric current precisely to restricted brain sites, or the recording of brain electrical activity. The behavioral performance of the animals and the exact form and strength of the recorded brain activity will be used to infer how information is stored and retrieved. The expected benefits are a better understanding of how the brain stores and retrieves information, and better information for the development of treatments for brain disorders involving memory loss.