CONTROLLABILITY AND THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON COGNITION

有相当多的证据支持这样一种观点， 可以影响认知及其神经生物学相关因素。 的 一个有机体的控制或缺乏对其控制的认知影响 然而，环境还没有得到系统的研究。 目的 因此，这项建议的目的是研究长期控制的影响， 缺乏对环境压力的控制对逃避学习的影响，选择性 注意力、工作记忆和空间记忆。 此外，影响 慢性可控性将在非认知， 传统上被环境改变的生理变量 应激因素，如食物摄入量、体重和血浆皮质酮。 最后，这里提出的一系列研究将审查 隔海马系统介导的认知效应 可控性 这将通过评估以下方面的影响来实现： 逃逸时隔海马系统几个组成部分的损伤 在可控性训练后学习。 获得的数据 建议的实验可能对未来的研究具有重要意义。 慢性可控性对认知发展的影响， 老年动物的认知能力 此外，从 这里提出的实验也可能对 隔海马疾病的环境因素 功能障碍，如阿尔茨海默病。

There is considerable evidence to support the idea that the environment can influence cognition and its neurobiological correlates. The cognitive impact of an organism's control or lack of control over its environment has not been systematically studied, however. The purpose of this proposal, then, is to examine the impact of chronic control or lack of control over environmental stress on escape learning, selective attention, working memory, and spatial memory. In addition, the effects of chronic controllability will be assessed on non-cognitive, physiological variables that are traditionally altered by environmental stressors, such as food intake, body weight, and plasma corticosterone. Finally, the set of studies proposed here will, examine the role of the septohippocampal system in mediating the cognitive effects of controllability. This will be accomplished by assessing the effects of lesions to several components of the septohippocampal system on escape learning after controllability training. Data obtained from the proposed experiments could have significance for future studies of the effects of chronic controllability on cognitive development, and on cognition in the aged animal. Furthermore, data obtained from the experiments proposed here could also have implications for the role of environmental factors in diseases characterized by septohippocampal dysfunction, such as Alzheimer's Disease.