Many studies of eye tracking or event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in subjects with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) have yielded inconsistent results on attentional processing. However, recent studies have indicated that there are specific abnormalities in early processing that are probably related to perception. ERP amplitudes in…

Hemispheric asymmetries in global-local visual processing are well-established, as are gender differences in cognition. Although hemispheric asymmetry presumably underlies gender differences in cognition, the literature on gender differences in global-local processing is sparse. We employed event related brain potential (ERP) recordings during…

Brain development is self-organizing in that the unique structure of each brain evolves in unpredictable ways through recursive modifications of synaptic networks. In this article, I review mechanisms of neural change in real time and over development, and I argue that change at each of these time scales embodies principles of self-organizing…

H. Szechtman and E. Woody proposed that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is caused by a malfunctioning brain security motivation system. In the current article, the authors' review of the model suggests that it is limited in the following ways: (a) It is built on a selective review of the empirical literature, (b) it offers no explanation for…

The swiftly growing field of neurobiological research utilizes highly advanced technologies (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, electron microscopy) to mediate between investigators and the brains they investigate. Here, the author analyzes a device called the "slam freezer" that quick-freezes neurons to be studied under the microscope. Employing…

Objective: Children involved in motor vehicle crash (MVC) events might experience angular accelerations similar to those experienced by children with inflicted traumatic brain injury (iTBI). This is a pilot study to determine whether the progression of signs and symptoms and radiographic findings of MVC brain injury (mvcTBI) in children of the age…

Perinatal asphyxia occurs in approximately 1-6 per 1000 live full-term births. Different patterns of brain damage can result, though the relation of these patterns to long-term cognitive-behavioural outcome remains under investigation. The hippocampus is one brain region that can be damaged (typically not in isolation), and this site of damage has…

Motor learning is a very basic, essential form of learning that appears to share common mechanisms across different motor systems. We evaluate and compare a few conceptual models for learning in a relatively simple neural system, the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) of vertebrates. We also compare the different animal models that have been used to…

Synapses formed by the olfactory nerve (ON) provide the source of excitatory synaptic input onto mitral cells (MC) in the olfactory bulb. These synapses, which relay odor-specific inputs, are confined to the distally tufted single primary dendrites of MCs, the first stage of central olfactory processing. Beta-adrenergic modulation of electrical…

The neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) has been shown to modulate cerebellar-dependent learning and memory. Lesions of the nucleus locus coeruleus or systemic blockade of noradrenergic receptors has been shown to delay the acquisition of several cerebellar-dependent learning tasks. To date, no studies have shown a direct involvement of…

The dentate gyrus (DG) subregion of the hippocampus has been shown to be involved in encoding but not retrieval in a spatial maze task (modified Hebb-Williams maze). The first experiment in this study examined whether a lesion to the CA3 would contribute to a similar encoding deficit. A DG group was included in order to replicate previous results.…

The transcription factor cAMP response-element binding protein (CREB) has a pivotal role in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and hippocampus-dependent long-term memory. We recently demonstrated that the dorsal hippocampal CA3 region is involved in memory consolidation of spatial information tested on a Morris water maze in mice. To test whether…

Lesions of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) have long been associated with abnormalities of taste-related behaviors and with failure in a variety of taste- and odor-related learning paradigms, including taste-potentiated odor aversion, conditioned taste preference, and conditioned taste aversion. Still, the general role of the amygdala in…

There is considerable evidence that encoding and consolidation of memory are modulated by emotion, but the retrieval of emotional memories is not well characterized. Here we manipulated the emotional context with which affectively neutral stimuli were associated during encoding, allowing us to examine neural activity associated with retrieval of…

Voltage-gated potassium channels (Kv) are critically involved in learning and memory processes. It is not known, however, whether the expression of the Kv1.1 subunit, constituting Kv1 channels, can be specifically regulated in brain areas important for learning and memory processing. Radioactive in situ hybridization was used to evaluate the…