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Topics Dopamine and Cognition Collaboration with Dr. Jon Horvitz, and graduate students Amy Hale and Won Yung Choi to examine the role of the neurotransmitter dopamine in three functions associated with working memory: the selection or activation of task-relevant information, inhibition of task-irrelevant of information and maintenance of this information in the absence of sensory stimulation. This project attempts to bridge results from animal pharmacology with studies from normal and patient (Parkinsonís disease) populations. Collaboration with Dr. Rick Benninger, Queenís University, Kingston, ON, on the effects of typical and atypical anti-psychotic medications on reward-based learning in schizophrenia. Results suggest that probabilitistic classification learning, a form of non-declarative reward-related learning, is impaired in schizophrenic patients treated with typical, but not atypical, antipsychotic medications. This form of learning has previously been shown to be impaired in Parkinsonís patients, who have damage to the neostriatum (Knowlton, Mangels, & Squire, 1996). Representative Publication:
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