Seminar Series – Kate M. Wassum, Ph.D.
Event Date & Time
September 30, 2020 at 12 NoonLocation
Virtual ZoomEvent Details:
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGY
SEMINAR SERIES
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
12:00pm – Virtual Presentation
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
Brain Research Institute
Integrative Center for Learning & Memory
Integrative Center for Addictive Disorders
University of California, Los Angeles
Corticolimbic Circuitry in Reward Learning and Pursuit
To make adaptive decisions we must cast ourselves into the future and consider the outcomes of our potential choices. This prospective consideration is informed by our memories. I will discuss our lab’s recent work investigating the neural circuits responsible for encoding, updating, and retrieving reward memories for use in the considerations underlying decision making. We have taken a multifaceted approach to these investigations, combining recording, modern circuit dissection, and behavioral tools. Our results are generally indicating that the orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala work in a circuit to participate in these functions. The cognitive symptoms underlying many psychiatric disorders result from a failure to appropriately learn about and/or anticipate potential future events, making these basic science data relevant to the understanding and potential treatment of mental illness.
For more information, please contact the Department of Pharmacology
Ann Miller at 567-4205 (millera5@uthscsa.edu)
