Dr. Amy L. Griffin |
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Characterization of hippocampal firing patterns during conditional discrimination and reversalRecent evidence suggests that spatially-selective hippocampal neurons (place cells) show differential firing patterns depending on task requirements. The aim of the current project is to investigate the nature of discriminitive firing patterns during a tactile-spatial conditional discrimination task and its reversal.The conditional discrimination task (left portion of the image) and reversal (right). The rat learns to select the left reward arm in the presence of the wood insert and the right reward arm in the presence of the textured plastic insert. In reversal (right), the rat must now suppress the old rule and reverse the response contingency. |
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Cortico-limbic interactions during suppression of a learned responseModification of established behavioral patterns is dependent upon areas of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). It has become clear in recent years that interactions between the hippocampus and mPFC not only occur, but also may be crucial for working memory performance. The current project will involve a combination of inactivation and recording techniques to investigate precisely how the mPFC and hippocampus interact during a switch from a nonmatching-to-place spatial task to a match-to-place strategy. |
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Single unit recordingIn the Griffin Lab, we simultaneously record from multiple single neurons using a recording microdrive, which contains 16 independently-movable tetrodes, allowing precise localization of an optimal recording site. This technique enables us to record up to 50-100 neurons simultaneously in awake behaving animals. |
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Summary of Neuroscience Center-Funded Research |
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