Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258 In the early stages of substance abuse, subjects receive a drug that is highly reinforcing and are thus likely to repeat the actions that led them to obtain it.  This is termed positive reinforcement. However, in a minority of people who develop an addiction phenotype, negative reinforcement also causes a behavior to be repeated, but in this case, the action causes a bad feeling or situation to go away. The mesolimbic dopamine system, which is thought to generate a teaching signal, is involved in the selection of advantageous behavioral repertoires. This brain pathway is under […]

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258 The vast majority of drugs fail when trying to go from animals to humans.  Some fields fail more than others, with psychiatry being at the pinnacle of a competition no field wants to win.  Understanding behavior has been difficult enough, delineating what went awry at the genetic and environmental level throughout development, to give rise to a myriad of disorders characterized by their behavior – is there a haystack big enough for that one needle?  Then developing drugs targeting those […]

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258 The claustrum is a small brain region forming dense synaptic connections with most of the cerebral cortex. However, the function of this region remains a mystery. I will highlight recent work from our group mapping the connectivity of claustrum neurons and determining how these cells control distinct cortical modules to participate in cognitive functions such as memory.

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258 It is well established that after vision loss, capabilities of the other sensory systems can be enhanced. However, particularly in animal models of vision loss, little has been done to examine how vision loss leads to alterations in the ‘blind brain’, and how these changes affect an animal's behavior. Here I will discuss our recent work describing changes in neuronal activity and animal behaviour in mice following vision loss.

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258

Zoom option if unable to attend in person: Zoom link here (click on “Join a meeting”) Meeting ID: 91512 289258 Passcode: 289258

A hidden repertoire is a functional configuration in the brain that supports behaviour but is seldom used. As a complex system, the brain can show a broad range of configurations for the same function. This "many-to-one" property imparts our brain with resilience during normal operations but also in the face of adverse events, such as damage or disease. I will cover the evidence for these repertoires and cover strategies for investigation, and the implication for the I will also relate the existence of such repertoires to variations in the qualia of our experience.