fMRI of Neural Circuits in Associative Learning

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The neural circuits underlying associative learning and memory may be better understood by studying their activity in parallel with changes in behavior during and after learning a well-defined behavioral paradigm. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used in the conscious rabbit to examine simultaneously in multiple regions, hemodynamic changes related to eyeblink conditioning. Activity in the thalamocortical sensory, limbic/forebrain, and cerebellar circuitry present during eyeblink conditioning will be examined during and after each trial in which a conditioned stimulus (CS), the vibration of a whisker row, is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US), a corneall airpuff. A sequence of functional images obtained in sessions of conditioning and consolidation will allow comparisons within each animal of hemodynamic responses before and after learning, as compared to the control (pseudoconditioning) conditions.