Behavioural Neuroscience

几十年来，理解支持记忆的行为和神经过程的动力一直处于行为和神经科学的前沿。通过揭示大脑在正常情况下是如何获取和储存记忆的，这一领域很好地解决了理解记忆在疾病中是如何出错的这一艰巨任务。虽然在这方面已经取得了根本性的进展，但进展仅限于通过在环境中连续呈现刺激而获得的记忆。因此，支持信息跨时间整合的神经过程在很大程度上仍未得到充分探索。具体来说，情感记忆可以在一个现有的和不断变化的记忆网络中传播，连接过去和未来的经历。目前的研究计划将集中于了解记忆传播的神经生物学基础。记忆的传播过程将使用两个公认的行为任务进行研究，即感觉预处理和二阶条件反射。在感觉前条件作用中，新获得的情绪记忆与之前学习到的信息相关联，即回顾性传播。在二阶条件反射中，先前获得的情绪记忆与新学到的信息联系在一起，这就是预期传播。该研究计划将检查三个相互关联的大脑区域，眶额皮质（OFC），周围皮层（PRH）和基底外侧杏仁核（BLA）在学习和回顾和前瞻记忆传播整合的每个阶段的神经动力学。为了做到这一点，在行为过程中，神经活动将被高密度电生理学记录下来。这种方法将与化学遗传学和光遗传学询问方法相辅相成，以描绘参与记忆传播的神经回路。具体来说，在回顾性和前瞻性恐惧传播过程中，将研究OFC、PRH和BLA之间的6条相互通路。这些研究将为记忆的动态本质提供重要的见解，揭示情绪记忆如何整合到现有的神经网络中，以及获得的情绪记忆如何影响新记忆的整合和表征。最终目标是为发展适应性和非适应性记忆如何传播的可推广和转化知识奠定基础科学平台。

The drive to understand the behavioural and neural processes that support memory have been at the forefront of behavioural and neural science for decades. By uncovering how the brain acquires and stores memories under normal conditions, the field is well-posed to tackle the difficult task of understanding how memory goes awry in disease. While fundamental advances have been made in this regard, progress has been limited to memories acquired through contiguous presentations of stimuli in the environment. As a result, the neural processes that support integration of information across time remain largely underexplored. Specifically, emotional memories can propagate across the an existing and ever changing memory network, linking past and future experiences. The present program of research will focus on understanding the neurobiological substrates of memory propagation. The process of memory propagation will be studied using two well-established behavioural tasks, namely sensory preconditioning and second-order conditioning. In the sensory preconditioning, newly acquired emotional memories are linked to previously learned information, that is, retrospective propagation. In second-order conditioning, previously acquired emotional memories are linked to newly learned information, that is prospective propagation. The proposed research program will examine the neural dynamics within three interconnected brain areas, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the perirhinal cortex (PRH), and the basolateral amygdala (BLA) during each stage of learning and integration in retrospective and prospective memory propagation. To do so, neural activity will be recorded using high-density electrophysiology during behaviour. This approach will be complemented with chemogenetic and optogenetic interrogation methods to delineate the neural circuit involved in memory propagation. Specifically, six reciprocal pathways between the OFC, PRH and BLA will be examined during retrospective and prospective fear propagation. These studies will provide important insight into the dynamic nature of memory, shedding light on how emotional memories become integrated into an existing neural network as well as how acquired emotional memories influence the integration and representation of new memories. The ultimate goal is to lay the basic science platform needed for the development of generalizable and translational knowledge of how adaptive and maladaptive memories spread.