Timing and Associative Learning

描述（由申请人提供）：时间能力是适应性行为的基础。熟练的动作顺序是精心计时的。是否采取行动的决定取决于对何时采取行动合适的了解。对行动所需时间的记忆通常是大多数普通活动的基础，比如计划一天的活动或知道过马路需要多长时间。这种对时间的学习在很大程度上是自动的，是行为组织的基础。时间紊乱和预期扭曲与许多精神疾病有关，包括注意缺陷多动障碍、精神分裂症和抑郁症。这项资助的目的是了解时间是如何被学习、记忆和用来指导行为的。公共卫生相关性：许多行为障碍在时间和预期方面存在缺陷。抑郁症、精神分裂症和注意力缺陷多动障碍都与时间感知扭曲和预测可预测事件的能力变化有关。吸毒和其他习惯性高危行为与预测长期后果的能力下降有关。对预期学习机制的理解将导致更广泛和有效的行为和生物学治疗。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to time underlies adaptive behavior. Skilled motor sequences are carefully timed. Decisions about whether or not to take an action depend on knowledge of when they are appropriate. Memories for how long actions usually take underlies most ordinary activity such as planning a day or knowing how long it takes to cross a street. This learning of time is largely automatic is a foundation of behavioral organization. Disordered timing and distorted anticipation are associated with a number of psychiatric disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia and depression. The purpose of this grant is to understand how times are learned, remembered and used to guide behavior. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: There are deficits in timing and anticipation in many behavior disorders. Depression, schizophrenia and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder are all associated with distortions in time perception and changes in the capacity to anticipate predictable events. Drug-taking and other habitual high-risk behaviors are associated with diminished capacity to anticipate long-term consequences. An understanding of the mechanisms of anticipatory learning will lead to more widespread and effective behavioral and biological treatments.