Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2011 Feb;95(2):152-8. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2010.10.003. Epub 2010 Oct 19.
Professor Richard F. Thompson and his highly influential work on the brain substrates of associative learning and memory have critically shaped my research interests and scientific approach. I am tremendously grateful and thank Professor Thompson for the support and influence on my research and career. The focus of my research program is on associative learning and its role in the control of fundamental, motivated behaviors. My long-term research goal is to understand how learning enables environmental cues to control feeding behavior. We use a combination of behavioral studies and neural systems analysis approach in two well-defined rodent models to study how learned cues are integrated with homeostatic signals within functional forebrain networks, and how these networks are modulated by experience. Here, I will provide an overview of the two behavioral models and the critical neural network components mapped thus far, which include areas in the forebrain, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, critical for associative learning and decision-making, and the lateral hypothalamus, which is an integrator for feeding, reward and motivation.
理查德·汤普森教授在关联学习和记忆的大脑基质方面的卓越工作极大地影响了我的研究兴趣和科学方法。我非常感谢汤普森教授对我的研究和职业生涯的支持和影响。我的研究计划的重点是关联学习及其在控制基本动机行为中的作用。我的长期研究目标是了解学习如何使环境线索能够控制进食行为。我们使用两种明确的啮齿动物模型中的行为研究和神经系统分析方法来研究学习线索如何与功能前脑网络中的稳态信号整合，以及这些网络如何被经验调节。在这里，我将概述这两种行为模型以及迄今为止映射的关键神经网络成分，其中包括大脑前区、杏仁核和前额叶皮层等与关联学习和决策相关的区域，以及外侧下丘脑，它是进食、奖励和动机的整合者。
